Decin to Dresden

I was going to call this post 'diversion' as I've been following them all day but as I considered it I thought I could also call it humidity or pretty or maybe just stick with place names. 

There appears to be no one headline for the day so let's deal with a few of the above. It's been humid and hot - a meteorological blip I'm pleased to note. So sweaty have I been that I have heat rash on my knees. Despite liberally spraying factor 50 at regular intervals I'm sure I'm burned and I've drank loads but I still have a tell tale dehydration headache. 

That's the bad bit. 

The good bit was the views. As I travelled out of the Czech Republic and into Germany (marked only by a pillar on a cycle path - that's the EU for you) I was cycling through Saxon Switzerland. Great pillars of rock peep through the trees on the banks of the river. It really was rather lovely. 

Diversions. Like Route Barree in France, Umleitung seems to be cropping up at an alarming rate on the Elbe. Today I scaled a hill into a lovely village and then negotiated a down hill so steep I couldn't get off my bike when it became clear my brakes weren't up to it. Returning to the bike path and my last Czech cafe I noticed normal people - those who pay attention to signs probably - were just using the nice route on the other bank. 

You'd think this would be it but no, I got caught in diversions again and again. Once I even had to take a ferry to be diverted. In the end I stuck to the right bank. It seemed diversion free but also suffered from a distinct lack of decent surfacing and signage. 

Eventually of course, I arrived in Dresden. I was met by a wonderful accordion band playing I don't know what but they were brilliant - all dramatic and acoustic-ey under the city gate. As I was minutes from the hotel, reflecting on how I liked the look of the city, all that humidity finally got itself together into a sudden and massive downfall of rain. In the 100 short metres between me and the hotel I got well and truly soaked. 

At the hotel I checked in and put my bike in the built into the hotel (!) (how cycle friendly is that) bike racks. After a quick trip to the supermarket I've washed everything and set all devices to charge ready for a day of sight seeing tomorrow.

As I arrived at the hotel