Ryžoviště to Rýmařov: Day 148

Another day of walking through trees and by fields of grass before reaching the historic town of Rýmařov.

Examining my left leg last night before bed I found the skin mottled red from the my use of the compression sleeve, mainly between its base and the top of my sock, a discolouration still there this morning. I also found a small blister where the lower end of the brace rubbed my leg. There was also a blister on my right heel but that often happens, I just live with it. However I was not sure how the skin damage associated with the brace would develop over the course of my walk. Consequently I decided on a rest day in two days time after the first big climb of my walk.

After breakfast I discovered I had locked myself out of my room for the second time! Using Google Translate I had to ask the lady to open it again before she left with her husband for church.

Today's walk like previous days was through woodland and by large grass fields. In the woods there were areas of very tall thin beech trees. Branches of rowan trees beside the road were bending down under the weight of all their red berries. Yellow and white flowers dotted the roadside beside swathes of cut grass.

I diverted off the track to visit Strálek Castle. Or at least I could have in the 13th and 14th century. All that remained were mounds and ditches in the forest covered with trees. I also passed a sign pointing to a place for rescuing disabled animals, like owls with broken wings judging by the pictures. Periodically there were large scale maps posted on information boards which were helpful to quickly see how much ground I had covered and what was coming it.

Only having 18 kilometres to walk I arrived at Rýmařov.around 2 pm. On the outskirts the apartment blocks had been tastefully painted in pastel colours. In the centre the town square was also an attractive area with well maintained buildings. Photographs in the town museum showed that little had changed in the square in the last hundred years except the cars and people. One picture from the Second World War period showed massed German troops in formation. Many Germans once lived in the area but were expelled after the War. A helpful member of staff showed me around the museum, explaining the exhibits in halting English (all the written descriptions were in Czech). There were the usual bits of pottery from archaeological digs, boundary stones, mineral specimens and religious vestments. It seems the town once had a textile industry and there were mines in the country around. The museum had paintings by a local artist and photographs sensitively taken of people in the nearby villages by a fellow called Jindřich Štreit. The lady showing me around also spoke about some of the local traditions. On Easter Monday one of these involved men going around with willow whips to symbolically strike ladies on the legs, in return the ladies give them painted Easter eggs or chocolates. It did not sound a very politically correct or pleasant tradition.

Leaving the museum behind I walked to the campsite 30 mins away where the town stretched into the next ones. Unfortunately it was closed (contrary to reports on the internet), a couple with a pair of white, furry samoyeds were tidying up after a wedding. So I had to walk 30 minutes back into town to a hotel which fortunately had a room for me at a reasonable price and a restaurant open for food.

Budišov nad Budišovkou to Ryžoviště: Day 147

A day crossing large fields and woodland drapped over hills, with a few villages on the way.

Leaving Budišov nad Budišovkou early, on a gravel road through fields, I met two dog walkers. The first dog looked at me suspiciously, the other came up for a sniff, his owner smiled and said something in Czech, so I smiled to. 

Yesterday and this morning I could see a large lookout tower. I was hoping my route would take me to it. The trail plunged into woodland close to it but my GPS indicated my route left the main track by a small crucifix and shelter avoiding this structure. A sign indicated I should stay on the gravel track to reach the tower so I made a deviation off the E3 to visit the landmark. At the observation tower I found a young couple in a sheltered area beneath it, their sleeping bags wrapped around them and their bicycles nearby. Somewhat embarrassed by their obvious demonstration of affection for each other, after a quick "Dobry Den" I climbed the many stairs to the top. It was a tall one. I could see back to Budišov and across the surrounding hills. In the other direction, the high Sudeten Mountains rose in the distance, mountains I would be climbing soon. At the tower's base there were a series of information boards, unfortunately not in English, and as the affectionate couple were very much  focused on each other, blocking my access to some of the boards, I decided to make a swift departure.

The first village was Dvorce with some deary appartment blocks in need of brightening up, although intermittent showers and grey skies did not show them at their best. I found a mini-market where I picked up a late breakfast and stopped to eat it in the main square.

Easy walking on tarmaced and gravel roads followed as the skies gradually cleared. There was a long section beside a stream lined with mature trees of ash and maple, beyond which was a field to the left and a rising wooded slope to my right.

Later I walked beside large fields of grass and wheat. After the next two villages I followed tracks through woodland, beech and spruce, to the top of a hill where there was a red and white radio tower at the summit. From there it was downhill (steeply) to the village of Dětřichov nad Bystřici. 

The shop where I was hoping to pick up a snack for lunch closed early on Saturday so I went to the "Motorest". This was set up for meals with lines of tables so there was a bit of confusion when I just wanted a lemonade and soup.

Then it was 6 kilometres along a road that was in the process of being resurfaced. It was closed to vehicles altough a few came along anyway and as it was the weekend no work was being done.

Ryžovišitě, the village where I am staying tonight has had a bit of care. The appartment blocks have been painted in attractive squares of pastel green and grey. 

My accommodation was in a village house, there was no sign outside but I confirmed from the picture on booking.com which one it was. The lady was very apologetic for no particular reason, and struggling to say a few things in English until she managed to master Google Translate. I offered her Google Translate on my phone but she persevered with hers.  

Dinner was roasted knee, as I ordered. Rather a lot of fat but the pork went well with the horseradish sauce, dill pickles and "garlic" bread which had herbs instead of garlic. Raw garlic and onions were provided but I decided against them. Dessert was bramborové šišky, I did a Google Search on it. A bit like gnocchi in shape it is made of potato, flour and egg mix, cooked, drizzled with melted butter and dusted with poppy seeds and icing sugar. Better than it sounds.

I ate my dinner at a table outside. Typical of many other village houses things were a little higgeldy-piggeldy. Old abandoned appliances were visible and the house extension was a bit makeshift. For this I liked it as I was sitting at a typical Czech village house eating local food, I travel to enjoy different things and hotels can be rather similar. A couple were making use of the sauna. They came out in their towels large, pink and shiny with a beer in their hands. Was this the beer sauna I wondered?

Kružberk to Budišov nad Budišovkou: Day 146

A short but circuitous walk today with a dam and road walking.

As I walked further than expected yesterday, this morning I only had 11 kilometres to walk, arriving at my campsite a little before 1 pm. 

Walking out of Kružberk I went by the small church of St Peter and Paul. Despite the majority of Czechs not admitting to any religious belief there are plenty of churches, sometimes two per village, in addition shrines and crosses are frequent. However looking inside this church, through the bars preventing entry, it did not look much used, maybe more a memorial to past belief.

The first section of trail was along the Moravice River valley, I stopped to admire an impressive outcrop of rocks on the valley side. Photos on an information board showed people climbing them.

Further on I came to a sizeable dam completed in 1955 to generate hydroelectricity.

After the dam, and the lake it created, the E3 ran along a road for several kilometres. A pity a quieter route was not chosen for this international path. Eventually it turned off to add a big northerly diversion, on peaceful grassy tracks beside large green fields that were drapped over gentle hills. Part of the track was lined with yellow and red fruits, possibly a kind of small plum.

My walk ended at Budišov nad Budišovkou, a large village with a campsite where I am spending the night. The lady in reception did not speak English. She gave me a key and detailed instructions in Czech with a bit of German. After a little research I discovered it operated the tall, main gate. Presumably it is closed at night. I want to leave early in the morning so I am worrying about what to do with the key, assuming I need it to get out of the campsite. There is a café on the site where I had lunch (pork risotto) and later dinner (chicken schnitzel). As the day progressed the site filled up with people, maybe having a weekend away, children played, men drank beer grouped on tables, dogs watched from under them. Annoyingly a group of young men pitched their tents close to mine.

The village was a mixture of modern and old buildings, some of the latter were in a poor state of repair, render missing, while others were smartly painted yellow and white, one even had window boxes of geraniums. Above them loomed the twin, bulbous spires of the Church of the Assumption. Sadly the Slate Museum was only open Saturdays thos time of year. In a Cukrárna beside the main square I stopped for a coffee and chocolate confection among the ladies.

I have had numerous emails from the place I have booked for tomorrow. As well as offering evening meals they such things as a beer bath are available. Being adventurous I selected a roasted knee for dinner, it seemed appropriate, but I skipped the wine spray. Although a long 31 kilometres away I have passed  a lazy afternoon which should set me up for tomorrow.

Hradec nad Moravici to Kružberk: Day 145

Today a walk up the valley of the Moravice River, a longer walk than expected as I booked accommodation for the wrong month!

Yesterday the E3 headed north to Hradec nad Moravici, today it started by going south. The switchback was probably because instead of picking the shortest route, those planning it wanted walkers to see the best sights in Czechia, which included the castle I visited yesterday.

When planning my itinerary I had vaguely imagined that today's walk down the valley of the Moravice would not be too strenuous. I was wrong. Although occasionally running beside the river, the E3 usually climbed up and down the valley sides or else cutting out a big loop of the river. The valley is an incised meander. Millions of years ago a meandering river ran across a plain. Then tectonic plates collided pushing up the hills of the area. As fast as the hills were rising the river was eroding down into the metamorphic rocks and basalt, cutting a valley in the shape of its meandering. This meant that to miss out a loop of the incised meander of the current valley, it was necessary to climb up its steep side and descend to the other end of the loop. The valley sides were wooded, flat areas of grass covered the valley floor. Occasional houses may have been holiday homes. A sign informed me I was in the Moravice Natutal Park, another said I was in the Krajina Břidlice Geopark. Once the area was mined for slate.

Žimrovice was the first village today, I walked straight down the main street and into the woods, reaching a small canal a few kilometres later.

The Weisshuhnův kanál was built in 1891 and provided water for a hydroelectric power plant and was a means of transporting logs to a paper mill. My route went by the exit of a tunnel cut through the rock for the canal.

Shortly after I first reached the canal there was a stall selling drinks. As it claimed to be open I rang the bell which summoned a lady who served me home made lemonade.

Podhradi was the next village. A few miles after was a campsite. I read somewhere on the Internet that it was permanently closed, however this was not true, it was open with noisy children in the play area. This was annoying as I might have planned to stay there, although it was a bit early in the day to stop. As it had a bar, I went in for another lemonade, raspberry this time, and an ice lolly.

Up until this point the paths and tracks on the route had been good, although maybe with too many road sections, however after the campsite the path deteriorated. It ran on a steep slope above the river. In places the path had slipped away. There was some maintenance as trees that had fallen over the path had been cut up. Nevertheless there were bits requiring hands as well as feet. The path end with a beautiful display of golden rod erupting in a clearing.

I had booked a room at a penzion in Zálužné, a strung out village along the river. After completing a form on a website an entry code was provided. I entered this on the door but an electronic voice told me it was incorrect. After trying a few times the door sounded an alarm. Nobody came to see what was up, the place was devoid of people. Then suddenly a loud voice began speaking, I was startled until I realised it was the village loudspeakers with a public announcement. Looking again at my emails I realised I had booked for 3 October....and it was still early September. I tried to rearrange the booking but the phone signal was not adequate for the task. Not wanting to walk back to the campsite I decided to continue on the E3 and maybe wild camp. To camp overnight I would need more water. There were plenty of springs and streams marked on the map, but when I reached them they were all dry. Czechia like England has had a drought. 

Fortunately within a few kilometres a phone signal emerged which was strong enough to book a room at the next village of Kružberk. It was over 7 kilometres away so I hurried along the tracks to get there. A pity as on the way was the old spa complex of Jánské Koupele. Once a thriving resort offering various treatments it was abandoned in 1994 after later incarnations as a Hitler youth camp, children's sanatorium and recreational centre. It was sad to see so many, once fine buildings delapidated with broken glass in their windows and missing render. The path took me over a bridge under the remains of lamposts that once lit the way to additional buildings on the other side of the valley.

My alternative accommodation in Kružberk proved very good, in the old mill building I ate trout fresh from their own fish farm. At the accommodation I had originally planned to stay at I discovered the restaurant was closed for the winter, so matters turned out for the best. Despite the longer walk today the sore on my leg seems to be healing. I wore my compression sleeve beneath my brace today, so maybe that helped.

Fulnek to Hradec nad Moravici: Day 144

An easy walk today through villages, along roads and woodland paths to the Castle at Hradec nad Moravici.

Leaving Fulneck I followed a tree lined rough road through fields passing a few morning dog walkers. On a deviation through broad leafed woodland on a blue waymarked path I spotted a sign on a tree. Google Translate revealed it was a quiz for small children, this included taking counters from the bags in a plastic container beneath the tree and adding them numbers on them together. One set of counters were marked 2, the other 3, so not too difficult! 

I soon reached my first village, Lukavec. Despite a good sized breakfast I was tempted by a retro ice cream sign and duly bought one from the shop.

As I was walking through the village trumpet music suddenly started from loud speakers attached to lamposts. A long message in Czech followed. Many villages in Czechia and Slovakia have these loud speakers. Google's artificial intelligence told me the local mayor's office used them to publicise local events and other items of interest to the villagers. In addition they form part of the Civil Defence system to warn of threats to peoples' safety.

From Lukavec it was up a wooded valley on what may once have been a road. A jogger ran by me then stopped to speak with a lady picking yellow flowers. As I approached the village of Leskovec I passed a large building beside the stream, an old water mill according to a later information board.

After an uphill walk over grassland I arrived at a third village of Lesni Albrechtice where a further ice cream sign tempted me over to a stall beside a car park. Buying their cones ahead of me were a German couple walking the Eisenbach-Budapest trail which the E3 follows for a while, they started 2 months earlier. I was one of the few long distance walkers they had met. They were walking in the opposite direction to me so asked about the difficulty of the West Slovak section. I muttered a few reassuring words in reply. Later I thought I should have told them of my blog which might have given them more insight.

Woodland followed and the kilometres soon passed on a good track as I thought of other things. Lost in my daydreams I accidentally started on tomorrow's route and had to retrace my steps to where a track led to the castle at Hradec nad Moravici. 

Unfortunately there were no tours of the castle in English but I was able to look around the outside and view the courtyard of the main building. Similar to many places in the area it had a long history, however the current "castle", which was more a large stately home, dated from the late 16th century when it was rebuilt in the renaissance style. The main, white building was surrounded by others from various dates including the gatehouse, the red castle in front of it and a couple of towers. I thought the square, white tower in Neo Gothic style quite attractive. It was one of the latest additions in the late 19th century. As I ambled around a black box suddenly started playing a Beethoven Sonata; good background music probably played as the composer had visited the castle which had a long association with music and musicians. Also appropriate as tonight I am staying at the nearby Hotel Sonata.

The main town is down the hill from the castle and has (at least one) good coffee shop where I enjoyed a slice of cheesecake with my latte.

Suchdol nad Odrou to Fulnek: Day 143

A busy train trip from Krakow to Suchdol nad Odrou followed by a walk through a landscape rather greener than the one I left behind in England. 

Crowds of people were trying to enter the Leo Express train. Tickets were allocated to reserved seats. Unfortunately people heading in one direction down the narrow carraige aisles were obstrucing people heading in the other direction, as they all struggled to reach their allocated seats. The stalemate was compounded by people blocking the aisle as they tried to force their bulky bags onto the inadequate and overcrowded luggage racks above the seats. Eventually the chaos settled into a sort of jumbled order on the busy train and I looked out the window from seat 3/91 at the suburbs of Krakow as they segued into the surrounding farmland. 

The name Leo Express was misleading as the train proceeded over Poland at an exceedingly slow pace, dropping to a crawl as it approached level crossings, possibly as they were not working. We speeded up in Czechia, and I had to hurry off when the train stopped briefly at Suchnol nad Odrou before continuing to Prague. My confusion over the lack of a raised platform caused me some hesitation. 

The station offered the opportunity for a lunchtime snack before I started my walk. I dined on an open sandwich of ham and "Russian egg" served with a raspberry lemonade (available on draft beside the beers). Suitably replete I walked through the village of Suchdol nad Odrou, a ribbon development beside the roads each side of a stream. It boasted two churches, one with a bulbous spire and the other with a neogothic tower. 

Everything was green, a contrast to the straw coloured grass, burnt brittle by the sun and starved of rain, in the fields I left behind in England. Apples, rosehips and the berries of hawthorn added colour to the wayside. Apart from Suchnol  and the village of Kletne I walked through woods, grassland and fields where something harvested a long time ago left lines of pale stalks standing.

A short walk today of 12 kilometres with only a modest amount of ascent over low tree-covered hills. At times, looking back, I could see the higher Carpathian Mountains that I had walked down earlier in the year.

I discovered from an information board that I was also on part of the "Via Exulantis" or the "Steps of the Exiles". The exiles were Evangelical Christians from Northen Moravia, the region I was in. To escape persecution in the 18th century 550 of these Protestants fled north west to found a settlement at Helmhut and contribute to the development of the Moravian church around the world. The trail followed their path.

Coming over a ridge approaching Fulnek I was confronted by Fulnek Castle, a large, pale yellow, 16th century rennaisance building. A cement tank stood outside, maybe for renovation or conversion of the closed building. 

Down the hill I found the 18th century Holy Trinity Church. Its inside was in the Baroque style with numerous domes, angels painted on the ceilings, and side chapels with white statues and extensive gilding.

This large church looked down on a square surrounded by attractive pastel coloured buildings. Young people sat on benches and a lady was sitting at a stall hoping to sell fruit and vegetables.

At my bed & breakfast I took off my knee brace, removed the plaster covering the blister it had caused the previous week and examined the wound. A little moist but it sermed no worse, although tomorrow will be a bigger test at 22 kilometres. 

For dinner I ate at a Vietnamese Restaurant as it was the only place I could find where I could sit down to a meal on a Tuesday night. After, having read in a guidebook about the importance of Czech pubs, I visited a "Hospoda" for research purposes (and a beer). There was a bit of confusion as to which beer I wanted, as I was not familiar with any of them I could not really care, which only added confusion. However one of the freedoms that a long walk like this gives you is that no matter how stupid they think you are, you are unlikely to ever meet them again!

Resuming my walk on the E3: Day 142

Today I returned to Krakow in Poland complete with my new knee brace.

During my last trek along the E3 in the Carpathian Mountains, I suffered from pain in my left knee. A long standing problem caused by an injury and the subsequent arthoscopy (knee operation) many years ago. The arthroscopy was a success, in that I had no problems for next nine years, but in 2021, I had to suspend my walk from Land's End to John o'Groats due to my knee. Finding that I had reduced joint space on the inside of my knee, the result of the earlier operation, I was given a steroid injection. This anti-inflamatory injection, together with exercises recommended by a physiotherapist, a compression sleeve and rest days on my walks, allowed me to cover many miles on foot over the next five years, including a 2,800 mile walk from Ireland to the South of France.

Experiencing an increase in the amount of pain on my last trip I returned to the consultant who treated me earlier. This time the X-ray showed a significant loss of joint space on the inside of my leg, too much for another steroid injection to be effective. Given two options, a half knee replacement or an "unloader" brace, I decided on the latter.

X-ray of knee.

My brace was fitted by the National Bracing Centre at Pontyclun. My Össur Unloader Brace is designed to take the weight off the inside of my knee where the joint space is reduced. In addition it helps keep the movement of my knee in the same plane, avoiding it being pushed sideways due to uneven, rocky ground or stumbles. Such movement is often the cause of sharp pain.

My new brace.

Over several longer walks of up to 20 miles I found the brace effective in supporting my knee without any negative effects, although a fellow walker spotted a slight "limp". Unfortunately, six days before my departure to resume my progress along the E3, following a long walk, I discovered a pus filled blister on my calf, which was unexpected as I had felt no pain. To manage this worrying development I stopped using the brace for a few days and the raised area has now settled to a red scab. 

To travel to Krakow I decided to wear my brace today. If the airline lost my rucksack I did not want to loose my brace as well, it being the most expensive item I am taking. To prevent the resurrection of the remains of my blister I have covered it with a large plaster. Many more similar dressings are packed into my already  bulging rucksack.

A lot of people know of my planned walk of over 400 miles through the Sudeten mountains in Czechia and Poland. I will be disappointed if I have to return early because I cannot tolerate my brace. It would seem like failure.

My brace set off warnings as I went through airport security and had to be swabbed. Fortunately I could roll up my trousers far enough for the person on security to reach it. Departure of my flight from Gatwick to Krakow was two hours late in the gathering dusk, which gave me a view of lines of brilliantly coloured lights as the plane turned onto the runway. Later, by shielding my eyes from the onboard lights I could see through the window many clusters of lights, collections of bright pinpricks in black surroundings marking the towns and cities we were flying over. My legs were unsettled as they wanted to start walking after sitting for so long on trains and in the airport. On arrival, with a little help, I managed to extract a ticket for the train from the machine on the railway"s platform. Around 1 am I was in a bed and soon asleep.