// 2025-09-03 // by chrissy
I noticed, I really should improve my english, especially in speaking and writing. So I find it a good idea, to write this blog post in english language.
I really like hiking a lot. So when it comes to the planning of a weekend, I’ll have a look to openstreetmaps and public transport schedules for finding out, whether a particular plan is a good idea or not.
The spontaneous plan for 2025/08/31 was taking a train to Oberwiesental, with transfers in Flöha and Cranzahl, then hike to Ostrov nad Ohří - around 20 kilometres and then take a train from there with transfers in Ústí nad Labem, Děčín and Bad Schandau.
Starting at 07:52am in Dresden Hbf. with RE3 to destination Hof Hbf., I reached Flöha on time at 08:42am. After a short confusion if my transfer is in Flöha or in Chemnitz Hbf. I decided to leave the train in Flöha which turned out to be the right decision. The Regionalbahn RB80 to Cranzahl arrived on time and so, I enjoyed the great views out of the window when going into the Ore Mountains.
From Cranzahl to Oberwiesental there is a narrow-gauge railway with historic railcars and steam locomotives. They accept the Deutschlandticket but they charge a fee for the historic material which is 10 € per day. So when one is taking just a one way trip in this relation, a single ticket for 9,50 € is slightly cheaper then using the Deutschlandticket with the “SDG-Historik-Zuschlag”.
The landcape beside the the railway there is just beautiful and I had really good time looking out of the window letting the condensate and sood from the steam engine raining on my head. Not to mention, we arrived Oberwiesental on time.
Starting and the railway station in Oberwiesental it is just about 4 kilometres to the summit of Klínovec, which is 1243 m above sea level. I made it in about one hour to get there. Up there one will earn a phantastic view to the North Bohemian Basin with its surface coal mines, power plants and other related industries. In the other direction one will get a view to the Fichtelberg - the highest mountain in Saxony which is just a few metres lower than the Klínovec.
There are several chairlifts to the summit which are used for skiers during the winter time and mountainbikers in the summer. When going there with a mountain bike one can enjoy several mointainbike trails for going downhill.
After enjoying a glass of nonalcoholic beer I have choosen a hiking trail to go downwards to Jáchymov.
Jáchymov, formerly known as St. Joachimsthal has been known for centuries for its silver mines and later its uranium mines. The silver coins minted there in the 16th century gave the Taler and later the Dollar their names. Later there were found and eventually mined several uranium containing minerals. Marie Curie discovered the element Radium in pitchblende found in Jáchymov. In this time there were founded several spas, where one can take a bath in Radon (which is a product from nuclear decay) containing water. The uranium mines became larger over time and many prisoners were forced to work there.
Uranium mining in Jáchymov ceased in the 1964 and today it is once again a spa, but now with visible traces of the time when the uranium mines there were the largest in the world.
I enjoyed the landscape while hiking downwards and made some - not reliable measurements with one of my geiger counters to see, if one can measure there something. The background radiation was a little bit increased compared to other places, but its hard to measure anything above roughly estimated 3 µSv/h.
Since I was still in time to reach my train connection back to Dresden, I decided to have a little lunch break. In Jáchymov one can choose from several restaurants with affordable prices. I took one a little bit outside and enjoyed a nice lunch.
I continued my path over the Mlýnská stezka to Ostrov nad Ohři and arrived half an hour before my train arrived.
The train from Cheb to Praha hl.n was a modern InterJet from the České dráhy and we arrived on time in Ustí nad Lábem hl.n. Since the ticket seller in Ostrov was not able to sell me a ticket the whole way to Dresden Hbf., I could not take the intended connection with the Eurocity from Ustí nad Lábem to Dresden and I had to rely on the regional trains.
After a short shopping trip to get a drink and a snack, I took my next train do Děčin. Despite the fact, that the railway between Děčin and Bad Schandau is fully electrified, one has to take a diesel railcar, when not taking a (more expencive) Eurocity. This connection (U28) goes every other hour from Děčin via Bad Schandau to Rumburk. The railcar itself is owned by DB Regio Südost but is operated by České dráhy.
In Bad Schandau the platforms were full of people waiting for an S-Bahn or at least for an rail replacement service. But none of them had arrived for several hours, when I arrived there. The U28 has a planned stay for 10 minutes there and so I was able to figure out what to do. Since there was a cutted cable at a railway signal near Pirna, it was unlikely that there will be any train going to Dresden this evening. So I took the fallback and continued my travel with České dráhy to Šluknov where my mother picked me up and took me home to my parents house.