7th day - July 15th From Prague with sore 'butt' to Kolin

Meanwhile, a morning routine had developed: washing, packing, breakfast. I actually wanted to go down the Prague-Troja canoe whitewater canal with a rented kayak. But there were already some local training canoeists on the demanding course who had priority. Because several calls to the opening service of the Ev. Salvador Church in the center were unsuccessful, I decided to leave Prague again today. I had already been in the 'Golden City' several times and even twice professionally with a youth group. So I chose the district town of Kolin on the Elbe - about 70km away - as a destination for the day and hoped to visit the Ev. Church in Nymburk.

However, it was not easy to find the right bike path out of the city and, secondly, it first went steeply uphill out of the picturesque Moldau Valley. I got lost several times. The bike navigation app NAVIKI was not really helpful, so I went in the direction that made sense to me geographically. For kilometers, I followed a heavily traveled arterial road to the east. Only on the outskirts did the app show an appropriate route. I found the shortest road to the nearby Elbe and then only needed to follow International Elbe Cycle Path No. 2 - that was my plan. After an 8 km long gentle descent from the Prague heights in the surrounding area, I was back on the banks of the Elbe. However, the Elbe cycle path is no longer so beautifully smooth asphalted on long sections, but rather a gravel path with bumps and obstacles or a very narrow bumpy sandy strip (photo). My average speed reduced to around 10 km/h. At one point, there was even a very narrow bridge with a risk of falling into a tributary to be crossed (photo). However, the constant slight vibrations for my 'butt' were more serious. Sitting on the saddle was painful and certain areas became sore. So I decided to declare the intermediate destination Nymburk as my final destination.

I quickly found the Ev. Church just outside the center. Because the responsible pastor was not there, her son (photo), who was mowing the lawn, willingly opened the entrance gate of the quite large Ev. Church of the Bohemian Brethren - briefly BB - in Nymborg (photo).

He reported that the parish has about 200 members, of which around 40 attend the worship service on Sundays. I thought this was pretty good, compared to our worship services in Germany. In this city too, there is a talented volunteer cantor who lets the organ and his guitar resound during worship services. The pastor's son showed me the numerous activities of the parish on a notice board, such as a children's group and a senior circle. Just last week, he organized a Christian children's summer camp with about 40 children.

The Ev. Community of the BB in Nymborg has currently also taken in 2 Ukrainian women with their children in the parsonage. Almost all communities report this current challenge. The biggest challenge for the Ev. BB community in Nymburk is the future conversion of the financial system when the payment of Ev. pastors by the state expires in 2030. The development of its own contribution system is currently the biggest discussion and challenge. The Ev. pastor already addressed this issue in Melnik. The pastor's son also showed me the Hussite Church opposite, which has an even smaller number of members than the BB. There are individual joint ecumenical events, otherwise each community works for itself.

We said goodbye after an hour, the pastor's son started the lawnmower again and I took another photo of the Hussite Church opposite (photo) and of the mighty historic city wall at the city's outskirts (photo).

Then I wanted to find a campsite on the banks of the Elbe fairly soon. However, the Elbe cycle path was quite busy with cyclists, inline skaters, and walkers for the next 15 kilometers, and I only found a discreet campsite 10 km before Kolin, but it was nice and quiet on an Elb bend, with a covered seating area, and the nearby anglers were more interested in whether their bait was wobbling than in my strange activities with my gas stove. With a red sore butt, I crawled into my tent that evening.