We finally optimized the route to our favorite swimming hole “Lhota”. The only disappointment in this loop starting at Stará Boleslav is a poor quality of several stretches of the official “Labská cyklostezka” surface. This cyklostezka was built with the help of funds from European union, but obviously some contractors did not make a very good job and parts of this path are in horrible shape. In some places bikers are actually going on the side of this “stezka” because the ground is better than broken asphalt surface.
However, riding along Labe is still very relaxing. Since the water quality in Labe is quite reasonable, local authorities built several “beaches” along the bank, either by filling accesses to the water by sand, or just dropping the sand directly to the river. After crossing Labe at point 2 and passing through Káraný (from where the drinking water is sent to Prague by mega pipe), you will cross another river Jizera. On the right-hand side of the bridge over Jizera you can see another beach in the middle of the river.
From that point you will be riding through a mixed forest for another 13 km to another beach on lake Lhota. You will have a choice to pay an entrance fee at point 11 and select normal or nudist beach, or to continue to point 12, where the same (but much smaller) beach is free. And as a bonus, you can experience Vilíkova Langošárna, the kiosk making “langoš” using a secret recipe for their dough. On the way through Hlavenec, you may consider taking a little side trip to the monument of Charles VI at point 9. We were talking about that in our earlier post.
When you arrive to the bank of Labe at the point 13, be ready for a little bumpy ride to point 14. And the best place for refreshment you will find at another beach at point 16 – Beach Bar U Paula.
As we said, this is probably the most enjoyable way to lake Lhota, but there is one pretty dangerous place at point 4, where you have to cross a highway in a tight curve, so, please, pay extra attention there. We visited Lhota twice in one week and boy, the route has changed a lot. After the storm in the midweek, the route was littered with fallen trees. Well, you cannot miss these obstacles, you will just have to figure out how to climb over or under them… If you are going for just a quick dip on a beach, you can use the second map starting at a small parking lot at the gas station U čtyř kamenů (former motorest which was burned down by the fire inspector), and return riding through sometimes barely noticeable forest roads.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/kakuvagana 41 km, basically no elevation gain. To see these rides in context, check our interactive maps.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/kuhofutoko 12.5 km.
