Relaxing day – Thursday 6 June
Today was an easier and more relaxing day. We did a shorter distance – only 43 km (from Aš to Klingenthal). Although there were still a lot of hills, they were reasonably graded (easier for cycling). It was also not quite as hot, with the forecast high only around 20 degrees. We didn’t even drink all our water!
We left really early, around 8am. We did our first 20 km in an hour, as the road was mostly downhill, on roads without much traffic. The main event during this part of the ride was crossing the border into Germany again.
We rode through Bad Elster – past a huge spa. (German towns whose name starts with “Bad” are spa or health towns). The next section of cycle way was brand new and luxurious. The sign says that it is funded by European Union funds for regional development. We saw these signs alongside a number of the new cycle ways between villages in Czech – but this is the first one we can read!
This section of Elster cycle way funded by EU funds for regional development 
The cycle way was alongside a railway track again after Adorf, to Markneukirchen. We stopped here, as we saw they had a tourist info office. They didn’t really have any useful information on cycling trails – it is evidently not a big part of the tourist offering in this part of the world. However we did catch sight of the worlds largest violin – in the musical instrument museum alongside the tourist office. This area is known for its violin makers, and a group of them built this beast. It is 4.27m long and the bow is 5.22m. It is takes three musicians to play it – one on the strings and two on the bow. You can see it on YouTube here – https://youtu.be/KetMm_70QmM
After Erlbach we got onto a long forest road (mostly uphill). It was very scenic and pleasant, with a good tar surface (with not too much bike pushing). We didn’t see another bike or car on this road – it was very peaceful.
We rode past a huge, almost deserted hotel/ ski resort at Landesgemeinde – the area must be very popular in winter. Parts of our forest road were directly on the Czech border. At one point you could cross the border on a little footpath adjoining our road, with only a stone marking the border.
The tar surface changed to gravel near the top. The downhill road to Klingenthal was so steep that we got off our bikes and pushed them for part of the way, to save our brakes.
The town of Klingenthal is mostly known for its large ski jump (which we didn’t see as we were not keen on riding up the mountain). The town centre was very quiet when we got there. It felt like a bit of Klingenthal spilled over the border – we rode across and found a bunch of budget shops and a restaurant just on the other side. It seems that these exist to entice German bargain hunters – with a focus on selling alcohol and cigarettes. There was a lot more activity on this side of the border. The restaurant turned out to be nicer than I thought at first glance. It was busy, with everyone sitting on the veranda out front. We were keen to spend our remaining Czech currency (Korona), so we had a meal (goulash with the now familiar Czech style dumplings). We also bought some chocolate and sweets at the store.
Our Gasthaus was a traditional German style country hotel – friendly and comfortable. We had a light meal and some beers at the hotel restaurant in the evening.