Ricky Yates

Šárka Valley © Sybille Yates

I am often asked, both by old friends in the UK and by new friends here in Prague, whether there are things I miss now that I live in a European capital city rather than the Oxfordshire countryside. I usually respond by saying that the only thing I miss is being able see fields and hedgerows directly from the windows of my home. But although I now live in an urban rather than a rural environment, the countryside is not very far away. Just behind the Pat’anka flats complex where we now live is Prírodní Park Šárka – Lysolaje, the Šárka Valley Nature Reserve, an amazing steep-sided wooded valley which once you enter it, seems a million miles away from the busy city environment even though it isn’t!

The main way to explore the Šárka Valley is on foot. There is a network of paths many of which are waymarked. Thus, aided by a 1 : 50 000 Turistická Mapa, we have begun to explore this beautiful green oasis that lies on our doorstep. Probably the most interesting route is the ‘red route’ waymarked by red & white marks very similar to the French balises that mark long distance footpaths in France.

The complete ‘red route’ is circular but we haven’t yet managed to walk all of it in one go. However, since Easter we have walked nearly all of it in different sections. Twice we have taken the tram almost the complete length of Evropská, to the terminus appropriately called Divorká Šárka (Wild Šárka). This lies at the western end of the valley and the ‘red route’ passes just below the tram terminus station. The other extremity of the ‘red route’ lies at the top of the hill behind our flats complex. So we have been able to walk in either direction along the waymarked route and arrive back at our flat. The great advantage of going out to Divorká Šárka and making our way back is that the last part of the walk is always downhill!

In many ways I now have the best of all worlds – all the amenities of this wonderful capital city yet with this beautiful green wooded reserve almost on my doorstep.

Footpath in Šárka Valley © Sybille Yates

Red route waymarking © Sybille Yates

Forsythia in full bloom © Sybille Yates

Apologies to those who follow my blog that I haven’t posted anything for just over two weeks. I’ve got three excuses. The first is suffering from bloggers block – not really knowing what to write about. The second is we’ve just had Holy Week & Easter – a somewhat busy time in my profession and about which I will write in due course. And the third is the complete change in the weather we have experienced here in Prague meaning that it has been much more fun to be outside rather than sitting before the computer!

On the night of Saturday 28^th – Sunday 29^th March, all across Europe, the clocks went forward by one hour. Here in Prague, we are now two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Central European Summer Time (CEST) which remains one hour ahead of the UK who are now on British Summer Time (BST). However, calling it ‘summer time’ did seem rather odd bearing in mind that in the week before the clocks went forward, we’d had several snow showers! But in the week following the clock change, as March became April, suddenly Winter became Spring. In fact it was almost more like Winter became Summer!

For the past twelve days or so, we’ve had clear blue skies during the day with ever increasing hours of sunshine and temperatures into the low twenties Celsius. And as each succeeding day has a few more minutes’ daylight and a few minutes less darkness, the change is quite astounding. You see and experience it in so many ways.

Out of the ground have sprung a whole array of spring flowers in a variety of bright colours. You see them in the flowerbeds of public open spaces, in window boxes hung on balconies and in the private gardens of those lucky enough to have ground-floor flats or houses. Forsythia is flowering bright yellow and all those trees that should have blossom, have blossomed!

We often walk up the steep tarmac path called Pat’anka that leads from our flats complex up to a fascinating suburb of late 1920s/early 1930s Bauhaus houses above. We walk to exercise our legs, enjoy the wonderful view across the city at the top of the hill, visit the Albert Supermarket, as well as to enjoy some occasional liquid refreshment in the Na staré fare Bar-Restaurant. In just one week, the wooded slope that the steep path traverses has gone from bare trees and branches to every shade of green imaginable.

At the back of the Na staré fare Bar-Restaurant, there is a wonderful shaded courtyard which we had previously only ever seen through the window. For the past ten days it has been furnished with tables, chairs & sun umbrellas and we have enjoyed eating meals there al fresco. Likewise in the city centre, every bar & restaurant that can, now has tables and chairs outside so that customers can enjoy the warmth and the sunshine.

It is not only nature and the Hotel/restaurant/bar trade that has suddenly gone into Spring/Summer mode, so has most of the resident population. Throughout the winter months, most Prague women have dressed in jeans or trousers with leather boots. Very rarely did you see a skirt, no doubt because it was too cold. Suddenly, skirts are everywhere and only occasionally are they of the mid-calf or below variety. Nearly all the younger ladies, together with quite a number of the not-so-young ladies, wear them knee length or above, often considerably above!!! Many men are in shorts whilst the builders working on the final part of our flat complex development opposite are bare-chested & displaying their six packs as they fabricate steel mesh & pour concrete.

Whilst it has been wonderful to finally be able to enjoy this amazing city in warmth and sunshine, there are two downsides. After three months (January – March) of being able to walk freely through the historic areas and across Charles Bridge with relatively few people around, the tourist season has now re-started with a vengeance. We are threatening to start wearing tee-shirts declaring ‘I’m not a tourist, I live here!’ And today I found the first two unwelcome visitors of a different kind in our bathroom – mosquitoes! Unfortunately, one of them found me first. I have a lovely bite on my left forearm!