walking – Page 5

Orlické hory

This post will be more pictures than words, in an effort to give a broader overview of the Orlické hory / Adlergebirge / Eagle Mountains. All the photographs are from our recent holiday in the area between Monday 24th June – Tuesday 2nd July. They stand in stark contrast to those illustrating my post from our earlier visit at the beginning of April 2013, in which snow was the predominant feature 🙁

The main mountain ridge of the Orlické hory oscillates between being just under or over 1000 metres above sea level, with Velká Deštiná the highest point at 1115 metres. Most of the mountainside is forested which means much welcome shade when walking and and a very unspoilt natural habitat. The downside is that trees often prevent the visitor from having a clear view over the surrounding area, one of the rewards I expect from climbing a mountain 🙂

Viewing tower on the summit of Anenský vrch © Ricky Yates

In some places, such as here on the top of Anenský vrch (991m), this problem has been overcome by the building of a viewing tower. But when I reached the top of Velká Deštiná (1115m), I discovered that the tower I had seen in a photograph dating from 2001, has since been dismantled and is yet to be replaced.

View across the Orlické hory from the summit of Anenský vrch © Ricky Yates

The Orlické hory have long been a popular area for walking in summer and skiing in winter. This is the Masarykova chata, opened in 1925 to provide accommodation and meals for visiting tourists and named after Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. His bust stands proudly on a pillar in front of the chata. But it was fascinating to see on display, an old black and white photograph dating from the mid-1930s, which described the building as being die Sudetenbaude im Adlergebirge. Yet another illustration of chequered history of this area.

During our walks we also encountered two things we were not expecting to see.

Firstly, this amazing field of lavender, which looks as though it belongs in Provence in the south of France, rather than in north-east Bohemia.

Nebeská Rybná Church with the fouth green alongside! © Ricky Yates — Nebeská Rybná Church with the fourth green alongside! © Ricky Yates

Secondly, a recently created nine-hole golf course at Nebeská Rybná, with the fourth green alongside the village Church!

When Ricky went to Rícky

Ricky at the entrance to Rícky. Sorry about closing my eyes! © Ricky Yates

In January 2012, I wrote a post entitled ‘Exploring the Czech Republic‘, in which I told of my discovery of a place in the Czech Republic which bears my name – Ricky. As I explained in that post, the village is actually called Rícky v Orlických horách, and there should be a hacek, a little hook, above both the ‘R’ and the ‘c’ in ‘Rícky, as there should be above the ‘c’ in ‘hácek’. But as I know from past experience, for technical reasons that are beyond my comprehension, if I put one in, the letter will appear as ‘?’ in the text of this blog.

‘Rícka’ means ‘stream’ and so with the ‘a’ replaced with a ‘y’, the word is made plural meaning ‘streams’. ‘v Orlických horách’ simply means ‘in the Eagle Mountains’. Therefore, part of the reason for our trip to the Orlické hory, was so that Ricky could finally fulfil his longstanding ambition of visiting Rícky 🙂

Rícky v Orlických horách lies about seven kilometres north of Rokytnice v Orlických horách. After a peaceful night’s sleep in Pension Rampušák in Rokytnice, our plan was to walk to Rícky the next day. However, rather than the sunshine and blue skies that had greeted us upon our arrival in Rokytnice, we awoke to a howling wind blowing existing lying snow into greater drifts, and fresh snowflakes falling from the sky. We spent the morning in the warmth of our room, debating what we should do.

Following lunch in the restaurant of Pension Rampušák, we decided to brave the weather and go. So we set off and walked three kilometres out of Rokytnice up to Horní (Upper) Rokytnice where the road to Rícky branches off to the left. Just as we arrived at the road junction, along came the local bus service from Rokytnice to Rícky. We paid our fare of CZK 17 (£0.54) each, and hopped on. Four kilometres later, after a journey over a twisty snow-covered road, we arrived in the centre of Rícky.

Ricky at the centre of Rícky 673m/2200ft above sea level © Ricky Yates

Rícky v Orlických horách is a ski centre in winter and a base for walking holidays in summer. Covered in unusual late season snow, it was caught between its two identities. Other than a couple of mothers meeting their children coming home from school on the bus, the place was dead!

On our seven kilometre walk back to Rokytnice, Sybille took the picture at the beginning of this post and I took the one below, both of which I trust, illustrate how much lying snow there was, despite it being early April when Spring flowers should be appearing.

Bus stop shelter with snowdrift © Ricky Yates

And below is a photo of the most exposed part of our return walk, with Sybille walking past piles of snow that are nearly as high as she is! So much for a pleasant Spring walk – but at least now, Ricky has finally visited Rícky 🙂

Sybille walking between Rícky and Rokytnice © Ricky Yates

Walking the Šárka Valley

Red route signpost — Signpost for the circular red route. EL. DR. is an abreviation of 'Elektrická dráha' - 'Electric railway': another name for the tram system. © Ricky Yates

I have blogged previously about the Šárka Valley Nature Reserve, a wonderful steep-sided wooded valley that lies beyond the Baba ridge which in turn, lies immediately behind the Podbaba flats complex where we live. There are a series of waymarked paths which enable this wonderful green oasis to be explored on foot with points every few kilometres, where public transport can be accessed.

Since we moved to Prague, Sybille and I have explored various parts of the valley, following a variety of the paths including walking from the Divorka Šárka tram terminus at the western end of the valley, all the way back to our flat which lies just beyond the eastern end. That walk was along one half of the circular red route and I traversed it once again with my sister Jenny when she visited us last August.

However, on my day off last Monday 9^th August, I finally managed to do what I’ve been wanting to do ever since I discovered the joys of the Šárka Valley – I walked the complete circular red route from one end of the valley to the other and then back round again on the other side. According to the signpost that is 20.5 km and if you add in the walk up the hill to reach the route and the walk back down the hill to return to the flat, I reckon it is 22 km in total.

Panelaks — View across the fields to the panelaks of Bohnice © Ricky Yates

I walked the route in an anti-clockwise direction, initially walking along the Baba ridge to its eastern extremity where the signpost in the photograph above is situated. The path then passes through woodland and down to the bottom of the valley at Dolní Šárka – ‘Dolní’ means ‘lower’. Then it climbs back up through the woods on the other side, emerging at the top to the view in this next photograph – a beautiful field of wheat swaying in the breeze but in the distance, the communist era panalaks rising from the suburb of Bohnice.

Path through the forest — The red route through the woods. Note the red & white waymark on the tree © Ricky Yates

The route then follows the northern edge of the wooded valley before re-entering woodland, dropping down and through the village of Nebušice and on through the most spectacular part of the valley – Divorka (Wild) Šárka before emerging near the tram terminus of the same name at Dolní Liboc. As I was walking the final part of this section, the heavens decided to open with one of the ‘heavy showers’ the BBC Weather website had promised. It therefore gave me a good excuse to shelter in the McDonald Restaurant that is situated alongside the tram terminus and enjoy a ‘Double Cheeseburger Meal’ whilst waiting for the rain to stop.

The slightly shorter return route is the one I had walked previously twice last year and took me through more attractive woodland before dropping down to the little settlement of Jenerálka. Then the route has one more climb back up to the beginning of the Baba ridge from where I could walk back down the hill to the Chaplaincy flat. Fortunately, there was no more rain and I arrived home in the late afternoon, pleased to know that I can still walk over 20 km without too much difficulty.

Disintegrating boots — My disintegrating walking boots © Ricky Yates

However, when I came to take my walking boots off, I got a shock that I was not expecting. I discovered to my horror that whilst walking, my boots had been slowly disintegrating. As can be seen in the photograph below, the central section of the sole and heel of each boot has turned to rubbery powder leaving a gaping hole on the side of the heel of the left boot. I last wore my boots during the very snowy weather we had here in Prague this past winter and can only postulate that maybe the salt used by the city authorities has affected the rubber.

These are the boots that I wore to walk 1500 km along the Chemin de St Jacques/Camino de Santiago. They are so comfortable I shall be extremely sad if I have to part with them and have the difficult and expensive task of wearing in a new pair of boots. Fortunately, there is still a culture here of trying to repair things rather than just throwing them away. So in the next few days, I shall pay a visit a shoe repair shop I have once previously patronised, in the hope that something can be done and that my much-loved walking boots are not deemed to be beyond repair.