Route Circuit Rider CZ - Stage 5  

Šumava - the largest continuous area of forest in Central Europe and the biggest national park in the Czech Republic - was the setting for Stage 5 of my cycling circumnavigation of the Czech Republic. It was a stage of two halves: a brutally hilly first 100 km and a flatter latter section. Instead of following the relatively easy Šumava Cycle Trail (Šumavská magistrála), I elected to use lesser known and more interesting paths that pass through some of the remotest areas of the park. The climbing began as soon as I left the official start in Nýrsko and culminated the next day at the viewing tower on top of Poledník, at 1,315 metres above sea level the highest point of my entire journey around the Czech border. Later, I visited the source of the Vltava, the river on which Prague stands. On day 3 I followed the 45-kilometer-long Schwarzenberg Canal, formerly used to transport timber out of the forest towards Vienna. As well as the Czech Republic, I rode through parts of Germany and (for the first time on my circuit ride) Austria. On the final morning I took a detour in search of the most southerly point in the Czech Republic, before catching the train home from Horní Dvořiště.