The Elbe Cycle Route (Elberadweg in German) is part of an international network of cycling routes all over Europe. It is integrated in the system of currently 37 river cycling routes in Germany and by far the most popular route for cyclists in this country.
The Elbe Cycle Route starts in Prague on the Vltava, which joins with the Elbe river about 50 km from Prague. It then runs for about 980 km until it ends in Cuxhaven at the North Sea. Part of it falls together with the EV7 of the EuroVelo network.
After a fairly adventurous part of the Route on the Czech side of the river one reaches the famous Elb Sandstone Mountains and crosses the border to Germany. Shortly after this the Route leads through Dresden and later through other cities like Meißen, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Dessau, Magdeburg, Tangermünde, Lauenburg, Hamburg, Cuxhaven.
There are many small villages with old churches and other interesting sites along the way. A lot of restaurants and pensions offer their service to the weary after a day of cycling.
One of the main reasons however for its popularity is probably the fact that there are no significant level changes from Dresden on. It is practically downhill all the way from Dresden to Cuxhaven.
The Elbe Cycling Route is marked throughout Germany with a special sign.
Famous quotes containing the words cycle and/or route:
“Only mediocrities progress. An artist revolves in a cycle of masterpieces, the first of which is no less perfect than the last.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an eidolon, named Night,
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
Out of space—out of time.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)