Žatec - on a bike through the city of hops

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**The year is 2001. My friend and I are riding our bikes and setting off on a long day-long journey from Pilsen to the city of hops, Žatec. The end of the route ended up being inglorious thanks to the weather, in any case, sit on the bike with us, at least virtually. And pedal hard! We're just leaving. The itinerary is already prepared.**

It is Sunday August 19th. At 6:00 we leave for Žatec. We also risk a slightly more unfavorable weather forecast. It's foggy outside, 17°C. We'll see how it develops further. We are heading to Třemošná. At 6:10 we pass the turn for Škoda - nuclear engineering, the site of the former Bolevec munitions factory, destroyed by explosions in year 1917. We will continue along main road No. 27 until we reach our destination.
The morning is damp and foggy. The sky seems pretty good so far. 6:13, TREMOŠNÁ. The main road is calm for now. Yet. Avg. fast 18.0 km/h. 4.4 km. Everything is being modernized here, houses, new factories, not only for ceramics. Třemošná is a long town. We therefore shorten our journey here by taking a side street around the school to avoid sharp turns. In short, it is very steep. The speedometer blinks, the fog takes effect.
At 8.8 km, we pass an ancient cylindrical milestone with an onion-shaped head, perhaps somehow related to the Plask monastery. However, due to time constraints, we cannot view it properly. Before long, we pass the turnoff to Horní Bříza and the farm Býkov. At the thirteenth kilometer, fog is falling. Visibility 15 m. We turn on all the lights we have. Hopefully the drivers will see us. Visibility drops to about 10 m and after a while to 6. We slow down, afraid that we won't have to stop. Oh woe! Our glasses are starting to fog up! Also, we're entering KAZNĚJOV shortly after.
Visibility is already almost good. There is also a lot of construction and repair here. 15 km. Avg. fast 17.3 km/h. Driving time 50 min. Kaznějov is a modern city with a small chapel and large industrial plants. The road to Kaznějov led alternately between fields and forests, so it should continue until Plas.
We start the climb at the end of Kaznějov. We go down to the village of RYBNICE. We pass a car dealership. There are even sidewalks with castle paving.
At 7:20 we pass the forest turn to Plasy airport, where interesting events took place yesterday. A spectacular descent awaits us on a quality road to Plas. The recommended speed here is 40 km/h. We will try to comply with it. We notice a rut sign in the 1 km section. As we soon find out, the brand wasn't lying - the dormitories are really terrible. Some drivers are forced to brake sharply here. We go down the bends to Plas. If it weren't for the fog, the view of the city would be beautiful. 7:23. Finally PLASY. We cross the Střela River. On the left, we pass a Cistercian monastery with a church and a pond, which is quite dilapidated, but is already starting to be repaired. The entire convent stands on oak pylons, strengthening its foundations on swampy ground. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a constant water level in its underground.

A terrible ascent from the Plaska valley awaits us. Local roads are being diligently repaired here. We make sure that the town of Plasy is really enclosed in a valley, because we leave on its other side. 7:36. The state road is even being milled here, so we will be delayed for about a minute by the detouring of the construction machinery. 7:46. The top of the hill. Traveled 25 km. It's strange, but the milled road still continues. Solitude of Sokolka, 497 m a.s.l.
Traveled 25.7 km.
The sun appears between the clouds and the fog. The repaired road ends at 27 km. The older, but better quality continues. The fog is lifting. We continue through the open countryside between the fields in the direction of Hadačka. On our left, we pass the half-covered Sechutice farm.
29.2 km. HADAČKA. It's 8:34. At a local inn, we're drawn to a noble coat of arms. Otherwise, this village is quite arranged; it forms one whole with Výrov, another village to the right of us.
We continue the figure skating. On the left, a beautiful former mine is already shining. the provostship and the monastery of Mariánská Týnice, but unfortunately still in a haze, just like Kralovice with the tomb of the Gryspeks in front of us. The cycle path begins - the parking lane. Traveled 32 km. We drive through the modern parts of KRALOVICE, leaving the beautiful square aside, as we have already visited it in previous years. We also pass a fire station and a strange church with an unplastered brick tower, it looks modern, but the narrow windows indicate its older origins. We also pass the Kralovice dairy, a well-known manufacturer and supplier of Pilsen shops. We leave this town around the repaired bell tower.
HUBENOV. 508 m a.s.l. At 35 km we turn a little to the right from the main road to the worm. brand. This is the former baroque courtyard of the Plask monastery from 1730-34. It consists of a castle, an entrance building and a polygonal storage room (1). We stop at a dirty pond full of loudly squawking ducks. The yard is somewhat dilapidated, but if it were repaired, it would be really beautiful, like Býkov u Hromnice. The yard lying in the meadows is privately owned, inaccessible.
We're back on the road. 37 km. Motorest St. Hubert with a wooden floor. We are leaving the forest. HIGH LIBYN. 39.3 km, av. fast 16.4 km/h. A relatively small and insignificant village, we would say. But a mistake! We are in the village of the year! In the village, a plague column, a pond, a wooden ČSAD stop and a small park. It is quite well maintained here, but some buildings are in a worse condition, unfortunately even the church.
41.8 km. 9:33 – Rakovník District reached, Central Bohemian Region. We continue through a part of the forest called Cat's Trap. To the left of us is the hidden protected area Rybníky u Podbořánek.
It's 9:38. Because of the patch itself, you can't even see the road itself. Fortunately, the quality of the surface did not suffer. SUCCESS. A significantly dilapidated village, the church is in danger of collapsing. 9:34, we pass the bend past the "Ve smyku" pub. Jesenice is only 5 km away. APPLAUSE. 950, 46.3 km. Passing a pretty chapel, the corners of which are lined with reflectors due to unruly drivers speeding through the dark night, we speed away from the tiny village on the deteriorating road.
We don't even count the memorials to the drivers who died tragically. A sharp descent with turns awaits us. The surface of Velké rybník undulates directly below us to the left. (2) We cross the Mlýnský stream and dimly notice the Dolní and Horní Fikač ponds.
9:53 – JESENICE. 48.3 km. A small town with sidewalks and a road lined with trees. We go around the castle with a new yellow facade, a nice church and a museum in the former building. farmhouse. Žatec is approaching, the signs say 29 km. They even have a school supply store in the half-timbered building. Dilapidated school. The information panel says 31°C here, which of course we don't believe. It is probably in the same condition as the information panel in Pilsen near the main post office, announcing 2 degrees even in summer.
The road continues to wind between fields. Jesenice disappears in the distance. The road is full of potholes and mainly ruts. There is even a neglected footpath on its right side. As it turns out, it leads to a cemetery. Šibeniční vrch – we are 460 m above sea level.
Before long, we pass the turns to St. Petersburg (3) and the ruins of Šprymberk Castle on Vlčí kopči. Hopefully we'll see it there sometime.
55 km. We cross the E48, connecting Prague and Karlovy Vary. Directly in front of us on the horizon stands a building reminiscent of Bratislava Castle. However, it will be some kind of cement plant. And of course hops. The sun has come out, but the landscape is still in a haze. We pass the turn with the Louny district sign. On the right, fertile fields with red clay, on the left, a forest.
57.4 km. Ústí region reached - Louny district! Is 10:52, avg. speed 17.2 km/h. ENGINEER. 1053. A special village with farms, but also with sparsely scattered houses. Žatec 20 km! At 11 a.m., we pass OČIHOVEC on the left. The wind is picking up. Traveled 61 km. We are now in OČIHOV, in the part called Hradčany. A white church rises to the left in the center of the village. 61.5 km driven. Ahead of us are hop farms in Žižek's moat. We pass a hop processing plant with many conveyors of green leaves and cones. We are entering a special region with hills. Practically nowhere on the horizon do we see forests, only fields. To the right, a concrete bunker from the other world stares menacingly at us. war, the so-called ropík. Hopefully, heavy machine gun fire will never be heard from it again.
BLŠANY - FK Chmel. 63.4 km. Such a small village, yet so famous in the football world. We notice the repaired town hall, the unfortunately dilapidated church, but also a nice park, rather a village. We have only 15 km left to Žatec. We can still feel road no. 27 under our wheels. We cross the Blšanka river. The steep climb towards the end of the village really caught us by surprise. At the 67th kilometer, fields with corn alternate with fields with sunflowers. It's a pity that the flowers are not turned upside down, so we only see the green area. 69th kilometer. We can't believe our eyes. On the right side of the road, there is a thing that we would expect to see in Western Europe – in a bend, yellow traffic signs and above them – wonder of the world – a solar panel (!!!)
PSOV. No, we are not near Žlutice, but 9 kilometers from Žatec. The village is in a sad state, full of ruins, including the church. The road continues downhill. We are worried about the return trip. 70 km. SÝROVICE. The village is made up of houses from the 1950s. The road is as straight as a bullet. Let us look around, as we look around, far and wide no forest. The landscape is hazy even though the sun is still shining. We are still heading north. 75 km. RADÍČEVES. Žatec 4 km. A completely renovated village with a pond, a castle under reconstruction and a row of trees shading the alleys. And horrible bumps on the side of the road. We continue through a monotonous landscape. It is getting warmer. In front of us, emerging like an oasis in the desert, white blocks of flats. An unmistakable sign of the civilization of a larger agglomeration - Žatec. And we are already taking photos of the renovated historic waterworks by the road from 1890. It gives us the impression of ancient buildings. The weather is starting to deteriorate sharply.
78.16 km. ŽATEC – our goal today! We drive through a housing estate. Sky - almost cloudy. 1210, average speed 17.8 km/h. The royal city of Žatec. We pass the first of the Žatec churches. He would need to restore. And a museum. We drive through the local park and look for the center. A green house peeks out from one of the side streets – the hop museum. And we're already trudging down to the right on the cobblestones. And finally we see it: a large church and very well-preserved walls with bastions, surrounding the core of the city like a solid shell. All renovated, of course. Through the beautifully repaired yellow gate, we enter the long and irregular square, rather timidly emerging from the shadows of the baroque church. Unpleasant sounds of an approaching storm are heard from the sky. The square is beautiful, with picturesque houses, a white town hall and churches. Unfortunately, we cannot take photos because the weather does not allow us to do so. It starts to rain heavily. And it rains and rains. We are hiding in the archway. Time is pressing us. We must act. We have to find the station. We say these words with undisguised disappointment. So infamous that our route ends? We can't take any chances. The rain doesn't stop. We get dressed and head out. Whipped by streams of water from above and below, we drive through the city. We look for the station and ask local people. Finally. Completely soaked, we find a chipped building.
Barely. Our train leaves in less than 20 minutes. We have a lot to do to get the forms done, tune up our bikes and get ready to go. Of course the weather is improving a bit. But we don't have time anymore. We pay 140 CZK. It is 14:48. We will be in Pilsen around 17:40.
The train is coming. We help load the bikes and sit in the compartment ourselves. We hang up our wet clothes and discuss our route. The dispatcher blows his whistle. Every minute we are closer to Pilsen. An oppressive feeling comes over us. The sun is shining outside again. Yes, next time we will pay more attention to the weather forecast...

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