Nová Bystřice - Litschau - Reingers - Artolec - Nová Bystřice

The starting point and destination of the trip is the train station in Nová Bystřice. The route follows the marked cycle route no. 1007. After passing through the town, the road goes around the local golf club, rises to an elevation, and after a few hundred meters on an old military concrete road, we reach a crossroads. Here we leave route 1007 and turn left towards Haugschlag. On the left side, we first have the Blanko pond and a gravel forest road which after 500 m joins a local road - this is where we leave the Czech Republic and continue on Austrian roads and paths to Litschau. The first village is Haugschlag. It is possible to turn left to the church and then return to the main road, which about 200 meters behind the fire station turns right. On the way uphill, we pass the local golf course.

The road continues through the forest and for more than two kilometers descends to Josefsthal (Josefov barns). At a bend in the road, there is an old wooden bell tower. Here we turn left towards Litschau. The road starts to climb steeply, but after about 600 meters we turn left onto a local road and continue for about two kilometers to the village of Schlag. A pleasant gravel road winds through small forests, meadows, and around a pond. In Schlag, we turn right and climb a long hill above Litschau and descend into the town. In the square it is possible to lock bikes in racks and walk around. In the middle of the square, a summer bar serves good coffee and ice cream sundaes. We had a pleasant lunch in a restaurant in the lower part of the square. Above the church, there is a weaving museum.

In Litschau, we join the EuroVelo 13 route. EV13 is a well-marked international cycle route stretching across Europe for more than 10,000 kilometers from Finland from the North Sea down to Turkey. More about this part of the route can be found on www.ev13.eu.

EV13 is well marked, and we follow it through Schandachen to the village of Leopoldsdorf where, at the local pond in the village square, we turn left to Reingers.

In Reingers, there are many monuments and references commemorating the expulsion of Germans from the Czech lands after World War II. Several trails remind of this difficult period of our shared history. You will also find an educational hemp trail and a hemp museum with a cosmetics shop and a bistro offering a range of hemp-based foods.

From Reingers, we take the shortest way back to Bohemia. Part of the route leads along the 20th Century Trail and the Lost Villages cycle route. We cross the border at the edge of the forest and for about 200 meters the path goes through a little-maintained forest road. Soon we rejoin the asphalt forest road on which EV13 runs. This is at the cross marking the lost village of Staré Hutě. The road continues uphill. After about 250 meters, when the ascent of the cycle route changes to descent and the trail turns right, we turn left and continue climbing a signless asphalt road. This shortcut gradually ascends to below the summit of Větrov (713 m above sea level), where we rejoin cycle route 1007 and after about 100 meters pass the highest point of today's cycle trip.

From here we descend through Artolec back to Nová Bystřice. The only climb on this part of the route is the last few meters to the station. We are back, and the station bar is still open.