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A walk from Jetrichovice to Srbská Kamenice

A few weeks ago, I took the bus northwards from Stará Oleška, through Srbská Kamenice, to the southern edge of Jetrichovice. From there, I made my way back to Srbská Kamenice, first following the blue and then the green waymarked routes.

The blue waymarked route leaves the road on the left, shortly after the bus stop, where the road goes to the right, zigzagging down to the centre of Jetrichovice. Initially it follows a gravel track which gives vehicular access to several houses, before becoming a footpath, heading into the forest.

After about one and a half kilometres, there is this wayside shrine or Calvary. It has recently been restored – the little plaque on the tree giving more details, but only in Czech 🙂

Shortly afterwards, the path descends into the village of Všemily. On the right is this former school which has been converted into a private house.

The towering peak of Ružovský vrch © Ricky Yates

All along the route, the towering peak of Ružovský vrch is nearly always visible, seen here soon after the route crosses the road through the village and begins ascending the hills on the other side.

First World War memorial in Všemily © Ricky Yates

Slightly further along the path is this First World War memorial, declaring ‘Die Heimat ihren Söhnen‘ – a reminder that until 1918, this area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and predominantly German-speaking. All of those commemorated have Germanic surnames.

Towering sandstone rock outcrops © Ricky Yates

After passing the village cemetery, the blue waymarked route heads into the forest once again, alongside towering sandstone rock outcrops of which this is one of the best examples.

At Pod Borovinou, I finally left the blue waymarked route and turned right onto the green waymarked route, seen here passing through grassland on the edge of the forest.

Concrete bunker built in late 1930s © Ricky Yates

Along this path are two concrete bunkers, built by the Czechoslovak government in the late 1930s, as defences against possible Nazi invasion. I’m planning another blog post with more photographs and background about these structures. However, I have previously written about similar fortifications in the Orlické hory which you can read here.

Descending to Srbská Kamenice © Ricky Yates

The grassy path then gently descends to the northern end of Srbská Kamenice, with Ružovský vrch once more overlooking the scene.

Food & drink at Pension Vesna © Ricky Yates

My walk was completed by walking along the road to the centre of Srbská Kamenice where on this occasion, I patronised the bar-restaurant of Pension Vesna. This was my meal ahead of it being consumed 🙂 Best wishes for the enjoyment of my meal were expressed on the neighbouring window, in the two languages spoken by nearly all visitors.

Enjoy your meal in Czech & German 🙂 © Ricky Yates

A walk from Stará Oleška to Srbská Kamenice

This blog post is an invitation from me for you to join me on one of my favourite walks through the CHKO Labské Pískovce, the landscape protected area in which my new home is situated.

Leaving my front door and heading to the crossroads in the centre of Stará Oleška…..

……I join a footpath that takes me around this small lake, Malá Oleška……

……and then alongside the large lake, Olešský rybnik.

Partway alongside the lake, the yellow waymarked route, heads off into the forest, following the valley of the Olešnicka, the stream that flows from the two lakes.

It passes under this overhanging rock……

…….before joining the road at the edge of the village of Janská. On the right of this photograph are some former industrial buildings which are being converted into homes by private individuals. No doubt an inexpensive way to become a homeowner 🙂

The yellow waymark arrow points left © Ricky Yates

At the T junction, the yellow waymark arrow tells me to turn left into the centre of Janská.

The path heading up from Janská © Ricky Yates

Shortly afterwards, the route leaves the road and heads uphill into the forest.

It is a steady climb for nearly two kilometres but the view at the top makes the effort more than worthwhile.

Signpost at Pod Strážištem © Ricky Yates

Reaching Pod Strážištem, at 396m, the highest point on the walk, the yellow waymarked route heads downhill. Unfortunately, you cannot properly read the sign in this photograph as it is partly obscured by leaves 😉

The yellow route descending steeply from Pod Strážištem © Ricky Yates

The decent is steep! This photograph doesn’t fully convey how steep it is. I always make sure I have my trekking pole with me before taking this route.

Srbská Kamenice with Kostel sv Václava above the village © Ricky Yates

Near the bottom of the decent, by taking a slight detour to the right, you reach a wonderful viewpoint with the village of Srbská Kamenice spread out before you. To the left is this view with Kostel sv Václava above the village on the far side of the valley.

Srbská Kamenice with Ružovský vrch beyond © Ricky Yates

Straight ahead is this view of the village with Ružovský vrch beyond. The yellow waymarked route reaches the centre of Srbská Kamenice, directly opposite the yellow building with a car parked in front of it, which you can see in the bottom left of the photograph. This houses the Tourist Information Centre which has lots of helpful literature, but only in Czech and German. Likewise, the staff only speak Czech or German.

Ve starém kráme, Srbská Kamenice © Ricky Yates

I usually reward myself at the end of my walk with a beer or two and a meal at Ve starém kráme, seen here from the path that leads up to Kostel sv Václava. Whilst there is a shorter and more direct green waymarked route back to Stará Oleška, I normally make sure I’ve finished eating and drinking in time to catch the last bus of the day, back to my front door.

Children and grandchildren

As I mentioned at the beginning of my previous post, during my recent UK visit, as well as attending the Ordination of Deacons service in Sheffield Cathedral, I was also able to spend time with both my adult children and their families. This is a brief photographic family blog post before returning once more, to writing about life in my new home in North Bohemia.

The last time I was with my son Phillip and daughter-in-law Lisa, was on their wedding day, eleven months previously. They have since then, actively taken notice of the third reason that marriage is given, according to the liturgy of the Church of England, ‘as the foundation of family life in which children may be born and nurtured’. This photograph was taken at lunchtime on Lisa’s last day at work before going on maternity leave 🙂

Likewise, I hadn’t seen my daughter Christa, son-in-law Ian and grandson Finley, since the wedding ceremony on 30^th July 2016. Whilst Finley had inevitably grown since I last saw him, what I most noticed was how vocal and talkative he had become, even if he struggled at times to know what to call me 🙂

My grandson Finley, driving his car © Ricky Yates

Finley, trying to use his mother’s mobile phone, having just eaten an ice cream 🙂 © Ricky Yates

As well as these two photographs of Finley, for the first time in many years, I managed to get a photograph of Phillip and Christa together, seen here sitting on a bench in the garden of Christa’s home in Daventry.

Finally for this post, to bring everything right up-to-date, on Wednesday 2^nd August, I became a grandfather for the second time, when my daughter-in-law Lisa, gave birth to Pearl Yasmin Yates. Below are a couple of photos of my new granddaughter whose acquaintance I look forward to making, later this year.

My new granddaughter Pearl © Phillip Yates

Ordination in Sheffield

With the newly ordained deacon, Rev’d Dagmar Wilkinson © Ricky Yates

I spent from Thursday 29^th June – Tuesday 4^th July in the UK, staying with my son Phillip and daughter-in-law Lisa, at their home in Nottingham. I was able to spend time with them both and also with my daughter Christa, son-in-law Ian and grandson Finley, at their home in Daventry.

However, on the morning of Sunday 2^nd July, I set off early to drive up the M1 to Sheffield Cathedral, in order to attend a service for the Ordination of Deacons. One of those to be ordained was my Czech friend Dagmar Wilkinson.

Dagmar comes originally from Kuncice pod Ondrejníkem in North Moravia but has been living and working in the UK for about seven years. She discovered the Church of England whilst working in a pub which was adjacent to Portsmouth Cathedral. She started worshipping there and in due course, became Head Server.

Dagmar first found me via this blog over four years ago, at the time when she was beginning to explore the possibility of a vocation to train for ordained ministry. It has been my privilege to support her through the various hurdles she has had to jump through, culminating in being recommended for training following her Bishop’s Advisory Panel (BAP), earlier in 2015.

Dagmar has spent the past two academic years, studying theology at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, just outside Oxford. She was very fortunate in being to arrange for her four-week long summer placement in July 2016, to be at Westminster Abbey. But one thing not allowed by this Royal Peculiar, was for her to preach, something that is normally part of a long summer placement – see my post about Lea Williams and his time in Prague.

Therefore at the suggestion of her Placements Tutor, Rev’d Dr Jane Baum, Dagmar asked if would be possible for her to preach at St. Clement’s, Prague, whilst in the Czech Republic visiting her family. So on Sunday 7^th August 2016, Dagmar was the preacher at our Sung Eucharist that morning. She also willing agreed to help me with a bilingual wedding the previous day, between William (English man), and Kristýna (Czech lady), held at Chateau Trebešice, near to her brother’s home in Caslav.

At the wedding of William & Kristýna © Ricky Yates

Having been released by Portsmouth Diocese, Dagmar found a training parish for her curacy lying between Sheffield and Rotherham – the Benefice of Aston-cum-Aughton with Swallownest and Ulley. Hence her Ordination as Deacon, took place in the Diocesan Cathedral in Sheffield.

The ordination service was a wonderful occasion featuring hymns and music across the Christian spectrum – from Graham Kendrick’s ‘Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name’ to ‘Veni Creator Spiritus – ‘Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire’. I very much enjoyed meeting members of Dagmar’s family who had flown over for the occasion, along with several of her UK friends. Equally enjoyable was meeting Dagmar’s training Incumbent, Rev’d Frances Eccleston and discovering amongst other things, that like me, she was born in Coventry. And it was to the day, the twenty-eighth anniversary of my own ordination as a deacon on 2nd July 1989.

Standing between Dagmar & her training Incumbent Frances, surrounded by Dagmar’s family & friends © Ricky Yates

Here we all are, following the ordination service. A great privilege to stand between two ordained ladies!

Bar-Restaurace U Soni

Three doors down the road from my new home in Stará Oleška, is Bar-Restaurace U Soni. It has been a real find and an absolute godsend since moving here. But if you go online, you will be hard-pushed to find any reference to it at all. It doesn’t have its own website. The building does not appear as a bar-restaurant on any online map.

The one reference I could find, gave the address incorrectly as Stará Oleška 76 when it it should be Stará Oleška 86. Putting the incorrect address into an online map will send you to the completely wrong location. To find the correct location, click on this link.

This blog post is therefore my small attempt to rectify the lack of information about Bar-Restaurace U Soni and give it a bit of publicity that it so richly deserves!

Let’s start with the beer. The one in the photograph on the left is the first on the list below – for my UK readers that is £0.74 for 0.5l, which is very slightly less than a pint. Even the most expensive offering is still less than £1.00 a pint!

As for the food – the photograph below was taken on either our first or second visit, a few days after arriving in the village, and shows both our meals. Total cost CZK 310 – £10.00. As you can see, each dish comes decorated with raw vegetables and fruit, a far healthier offering than in most Czech restaurants 🙂 And the portions are copious!

As my cooking facilities in the house are quite limited, until I get the kitchen refitted which will hopefully happen in July, I have become a regular at U Soni. As a reward for my patronage, I have recently twice been presented with a free dessert. Below is the second of these from two nights ago.

Do come and visit Stará Oleška. And do come and visit and support Bar-Restaurace U Soni.