Lądek-Zdrój rest day: Day 156

A day resting in an old spa town.

Lądek-Zdrój is really two places; Zdrój is an old spa town while Lądek is also old but more typical of a town in these parts. Walking there this morning to a bakery marked on Google Maps I found a typical cobbled square with a church in the middle. Apart from the spire the church was completely covered in scaffolding, a renovation project under way. In front was a Baroque sculpture with the gold highlights (such as stars around a saints head) which I was becoming familiar with. Both parts of Lądek-Zdrój are a mixture of new, old and decrepit. Grand old buildings from the 19th century have broken windows and bare brick where the rendering has been removed, maybe to prevent it falling on passers-by before there is money to replace it. Newly renovated buildings look stylish in pastel colours. Sprinkled among are modern constructions of variable merit. At the bakery in Lądek I intended to buy a croissant and coffee, except it was not a croissant that I pointed to but bread shaped in a similar crescent. Nevertheless it did for my breakfast.

As I returned to the Zdrój it began to rain as forecast, another good reason for a rest day. Cautiously I entered the main spa building in wet clothing, climbed up the stairs and admired the domed interior. People were sitting around waiting for their treatments (or else for the rain to stop). As it was too early for the café at the Pump Room I visited a nearby equally old café where I had a decent raspberry cheesecake and coffee (not a latte as I tried to ask for but good enough).

Most of the remainder of the day I spent bringing my blog up to date, washing, buying supplies etc.. Most nearby restaurants seem to close at 6 pm on a Monday, so I settled for a pizza as the restaurant that stayed open a bit later. Gorgonzola and pear with a non alcoholic lager with mint and lime.

E3 in Western Czechia; Some Comments

The E3 between Bumbalka and Králický runs through two types of landscapes: forested mountains and between them, lower hills with farmland and patches of woodland. 

To the east the mountains are the end of the Carpathians to the west of this section they are the start of the Sudety. The Sudety are covered with conifers, the Carpathians have more mixed woodland. Although there are no villages in these uplands there is accommodation each night at mountain hotels and huts, the wooden buildings at Pustevney in the east are particularly attractive. In the Sudety the hotels are at small ski resorts, but welcome tourists in summer.

In the lower, but still hilly, land between these mountains there are plenty of villages and small towns. Some have attractive squares and historic buildings such as the castle at Hradec nad Moravici.

All of the route is well waymarked and signed. The paths and tracks are normally good. There are a few observation towers on the route and being in Czechia, beer is widely available. 

Králický Sněžník to Lądek-Zdrój: Day 155

Up and down forested mountains today visiting the remains of a castle and unusual rock formations.

Rising at 6 am from my camping spot under the trees I hoped to spot a wild animal this morning. Over night I had heard them, moving about and vocalising, but there was no sign on them this morning.

I walked down to the base of a narrow valley containing Kamienica, then walked up the other side. After crossing the ridge it was downhill again into the next valley of Nowa Morawa. From there the gravel road curled upwards through the forest, the summit always appeared to be around the next bend, but never was. Finally I did reach the high point of the track then followed a narrow tarmac road and various paths down towards Stary Gearałtów in the base of another valley.

On the last section there was a side path up to the Trzecia Siostra (Three Sisters). These were two large slopping, slabs of rock (a type of metamorphic rock call gneiss) and a separate tower. Two climbers were preparing to climb one of the steeper sides. As I continued down to the village others were coming with their helmuts and rock climbing gear. Apparently a dragon once lived where the rocks now stand. He captured three men from the nearby village. Their wives set out to see what happened to them. In seeing the dragon they are so petrified they turned to stone forming the rocks of the Three Sisters. While the dragon was distracted by them their husbands escaped from the cave where the dragon was holding them. They have been searching for their wives ever since.

Approaching Stary Gearałtów I briefly left the woodland behind and walked through hay and over grassland. After crossing the ribbon development of the village by the fire station, I started up the other side of the valley, sadly on the wrong track, for the second time today! On both occasions I missed inconspicuous turn offs. Annoying as it was adding extra distance to an already long day. There was then another climb.

At the first summit, finally reached by a steep and rough path, there were a collection of low walls made of angular, uncemented rocks, all that remains of the medieval Karpień Castle.

Further on there were more towers of gneiss among the trees. On the final one a steel platform had been erected. I climbed the steps up to it and admired the view down to Lądek-Zdrój. Many people had walked up to see the rocks and view today for a Sunday afternoon walk. The path they had climbed up and which I now descended was steep and rough with scattered rocks. Despite this people of all ages were making their way up.

I was relieved to finally reach my accommodation, my feet were hurting and I worried about stumbling over loose rocks on the path and injuring myself. Lądek-Zdrój is an old Spa towns, and I am staying in one of the old villas that has been refurbished as a hotel.

After arriving I first showered and then checked my naked body in the mirror for ticks as I had earlier caught two insects that looked like ticks crawling on me. All I could spot was flabby skin on my belly! Then I checked out one of the coffee shops, sadly the cheesecake (sernik) was not up to standard, gelatine based rather than baked. I had a huge beefburger back at the Hotel which operates my villa, one of those stacked with so many layers of patty, cheese, tomato, pickles and lettuce that no way could you eat it with your hands, and a collapse of the structure was inevitable when cutting it with knife and fork. Curiously the bun was black. After I had a Polish vodka as a digestive. 

Králický to Králický Sněžník: Day 154

A morning walking over fields and through villages followed by an afternoon of climbing through forest back to the mountain hut where I stayed at yesterday. I then kept going for an hour or so to reduce the distance for tomorrow and wild camped.

I noticed the attitude to dogs in this area is similar to that in Britain, in that they are treated as companion animals rather than guard dogs to scare wolves, bears and passing hikers. At breakfast this morning there was a white dog one with its owners, another stayed at the mountain hut yesterday. On TV last night a demonstration by police dogs made the evening news. Dog biscuits could be spotted on café counter tops. Little balls of fluff enthusiastically attempted to pull their owners up hills. One very small dog was in a little pouch on his owners chest.

The E3 makes a loop from Králický Sněžník summit to Králický Town on the Czech side then back up to the mountain hut close to Králický Sněžník summit on the Polish side. I believe this was because the E3 was here following the Eisenach–Budapest (EB) Trail, which in Pre-Schengen days, and especially prior to the fall of the Iron Curtain, had to take hikers across the border at an official checkpoint. Those days are now gone, nevertheless I followed the loop, maybe after feeling a little guilty for cutting out a similar loop at the Slovakia-Poland border.

My day began with a walk along the road through the scattered settlement of Boboszów. There were a two humorous pieces on the roadside: rolls of hay made to look like bees and two gentlemen sitting on the roof of a bar. There were also places selling trout (it is farmed in the area) and cleaning products. 

Yellow waymarks then led me over fields to Międzylesie, a large village with an attractive cobbled square, or more correctly triangle. Within the triangle was a little park with a fountain and a column topped by and surrounded by statues of a religious nature, with gold highlights.

I bought a coffee and a slab of cheesecake from a bakery but did not enjoy it as much as I expected being still full from the enormous breakfast I was given this morning. At the table allocated to me there were slices of cheese, cold meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, watermelon and bread, balls of cream cheese, rolls, grapes and other fruits. Then scrambled eggs arrived garnished with bits of spring onion followed by a piece of cake filled with plums and blueberries. 

I continued over grass covered hills passing small settlements and a group of horse riders, now on the blue waymarked route that would take me through Poland. However my continued efforts did little to work off my full belly. At lunch time I unexpectedly arrived at a stall selling bigos (a stew), blueberry pancakes and other delights but could only manage a Coke. The stall was by a busy car park serving a bike park where mountain bikers zoomed around little paths. Young men were out enjoying a Saturday ride. 

After the stall a long continuous climb through forest eventually took me to the mountain hut by Králický Sněžník summit. Beneath the trees the ground was carpeted with blueberry bushes. People had been collecting them, there was a basin full by the stall, maybe ready for those blueberry pancakes. I assumed a large red sign indicated I had entered a nature reserve.

At 4:15 I reached the mountain hut where I had stayed overnight previously. This time I just stopped to fill up with water, I decided against staying there as I wished to walk a few extra kilometres so as to reach Lądek-Zdrój tomorrow. Also, when I visited on Thursday the hut was busy, today being a Saturday night it was heaving. I wanted a night in the cool, fresh mountain air so was planning to wild camp. 

Leaving the area of the mountain hut my route was obstructed by extensive electric fencing enclosing a flock of sheep. Apparently the sheep encourage wild flowers, presumably by eating any bushes or tree saplings trying to grow. A diversion was marked but I was annoyed as it meant not only a little extra distance but also loss of height followed by the inevitable climb. I followed the crowds of people heading down the mountain at the end of their day out, before climbing onto an inconspicuous, quiet path to the regain the blue route I should have been on.

I followed this for an hour or so through the forest, initially contouring the mountain before a rough and twisting track downhill. Then I decided I had hiked far enough to make tomorrow's walk a manageable distance. From all the evidence of forestry work, such as tree trunks piled up ready for transport, I concluded I was now outside any nature protected area where camping might not be permitted. Although the track I was following was on a mountainside, with steep slopes unsuitable for comfortable camping, I could see from my mapping App there was a flatter area created by a side valley. Here was where I pitched my tent under trees a hundred metres or so from the track. I could still hear people coming down the track as darkness fell at 7:30 pm, but no-one disturbed me as I ate a light tea.

Králický Sněžník to Králický: Day 153

A long descent today to the town of Králický.

I slept poorly, and worried every time I moved for fear I would disturb the others in my dormitory. So I was pleased when at 6:30 am my room mates began to stir. Breakfast was not until 8 am although the others had left by then, the shepherd after eating bread and sausage that he had brought with him.

Fortified by scrambled eggs with sausage and a mug of coffee I reclimbed the mountain under grey skies to the observation tower on the summit of Králický Sněžník. From the top of the tower I could see down on clouds pooling in the valleys below, but not for long. Clouds, vague, wispy and ethereal at first, blew over the mountain obscuring the landscape in a white, wet blanket.

I progressed south on the top of the ridge or on its east (Czech) side, sometimes on paths, strewn with awkward shaped rocks, other times on forest tracks (one of which was having a big hole dug in it), always among conifers and often on the Czech-Polish border following the boundary stones. I met others but was not sure whether to say "Dobrý den" (Czech) or "Dzień dobry" (Polish), until the other people spoke.

I met two men who had backpacks with obvious camping equipment. I had said Dzień dobry to them, so they thought me Polish, and they were Czech. Once it was sorted that I was English I asked them if they were camping in the woods (they were) and whether it was a problem. They said no, provided you avoided the tourist areas and those specially protected.

I met them at a second wooden observation tower, constructed of logs with, what looked to me, some "make shift" supports added as an after thought. From the top I could see more clouds in the valley, fluffing at the edges. As it had been lightly raining most of the morning, and would continue for the remainder of the day, visibility was not great.

Eventually the conifers were replaced by large meadows and periodic patches of mixed woodlands. I was coming down to the town of Králický. A little before it I was surprised to see a concrete bunker from the Second World War. It was attached to a small museum about the fortifications and another of tanks, armoured vehicles and other armaments of war. The actual bunker, or maybe more correctly a minor military fortress, was part of the border defences built by Czechoslovakia in the 1930s to defend against a possible German invasion. They were never used.in a shameful event in British history Britain, with France, handed over the Sudetenland at the Munich conference. Without any allies and Poland and Hungary also wishing to take territory from Czechoslovakia, the country was isolated. President Beneš did not believe he had a option. It was either agree to Hitler's demands or fight a war they could not win. But allowing the aggressor to take territory, in the hope that they will not want more, was a mistake one hopes America will not make with Ukraine. Today the border the Czech Republic faces at Králický is not with Germany but with Poland, which was moved west at the end of World War 2, to the detriment of Germany and the benefit of the Soviet Union.

Reaching the town of Králický I stopped at a coffee shop for a latte and cake. Walking around the attractive, cobbled square afterwards I found there were other interesting museums. Unfortunately there was no time left to visit any of them.

I had a room booked above a restaurant just over the Polish border a few miles from Králický and a couple of hours later I was having a quick shower there before dinner.

Paprsek to Králický Sněžník: Day 152

Up and down on tracks through the forest today,  before a final climb to the summit of Králický Sněžník.

Heavy rain last night left large puddles of water on the track this morning which I carefully avoided to keep my trousers clean. The sky was overcast and grey. Apart from Králický summit at the end of day, my hike was all through spruce forest, climbing and falling as the route manoeuvred around the mountains.

Buzzing of chainsaws signalled that there was forestry work in progress nearby, invisible in the trees. Huge vehicles which grip, cut and move trees were parked at the trackside. They had muddied the trail with their fat wheels. Kilometres later I marvelled at how quiet it was. Aside from a little cawing of crows all I could hear was my tinnitus.

A warning sign made me wonder what the hazard was, on translating I discovered it said "ATTENTION! STATE BORDERS". I skirted the Czech-Polish border a few times today, marked by white boundary stones with red tops. On looking at one of them I noticed the "CS" carved on the stone had been painted over and replaced by a black "C". A reflection that what is now Czechia (a.k.a. the Czech Republic) was once Czechoslovakia.

I passed a white painted shrine with pictures of the Virgin Mary inside. Nearby was a cross mounted on a concrete slab on which was inscribed "Erected in 1940 by charitable donors. To the Church of God". It was written in German, an indication that German speakers once inhabited the area.

Initially I was alone in the forest, in the morning I only saw one couple picking fungi (they looked to big to be mushrooms). Later, as I approached the mountain top of Králický Sněžník, the numbers of people out walking greatly increased. The summit, reached after a long climb, was the main interest in the area, with crowds of excited youngsters. At the top was an observation tower. As the mountain was in the clouds, there seemed little point in climbing the stairs for a view of whiteness, but many people were doing so. After becoming warm with the exertions of my climb, on stopping on the summit my temperature rapidly dropped in the brisk cold wind that swept over the ridge. After adding two layers I began my descent to a nearby mountain hut just across the border in Poland, where I had arranged accommodation for the night by text.

The mountain hut was not the most modern but a bunk is a bunk. Despite language issues I was shown a bed and managed to acquire a meal. Hearing English being spoken behind me as I finished my food, I asked the couple speaking what brought them to the area. The answer was bryology, the study of mosses. They had joined a Polish group to help with a survey.

The dining room was closed at 6 pm so I retired to my four bed dormitory. Including me there are three of us, a shepherd, a lady hiker and myself. The Polish lady spoke English and gave me a cup of tea. I put my boots outside the dormitory door, which seemed to be the practice but latter worried if my socks were too smelly for the other inhabitants of the room. At my request the lady helped me by suggesting books by Polish authors that I might like to read. By reading books by people who live in a country I hope to gain a little more insight. However the Czech book I am currently reading by an acclaimed authour is not too engrossing.

Ovčárna to Paprsek: Day 151

A day in the spruce coated mountains passing small Ski resorts.

My route today visited four ski resorts, starting with Ovčárna, then Červenohorské Sedlo, Ramozá and finally Paprsek where I am staying the night. None of them were large, not disgracing themselves with two many runs destroying the forest. At this time of year they attracted hikers like myself. Among the ski tows before Ramozá there was an unexpected though welcome snack bar for a coffee and cake. On the trail were lots of people, most with daypacks but a few with multiday camping-sized backpacks. A few dogs joined their owners, straining on their leads and looking inquisitive at the new sights. I exchanged  Dobrý Dens and Ahoys with those whose eye I caught. In the afternoon, on a good section of track, there were two large parties of cyclists. In winter I might have seen cross country skiiers as the signs indicated I was also on a skiing route. Although I was told the amount of snow had been disappointing in recent years.

Tracks varied from tarmac to gravel to scattered lumps of rock that tried to trip me up. I played a game of trying not to displace any fragment of loose rock by carefully placing my feet. One downhill section was heavily eroded, slowing me down as I picked my way over protruding lumps of schist. At the other extreme there were lengths of boardwalk. By walking on the planks of wood, one avoided damaging the fragile peat bog, formed in poorly drained land between the trees (a sign informed me). Unfortunately nature was decaying the planks of wood so one had to be careful of tripping where rotten pieces had collapsed. 

There was a long stretch marked with boundary stones, numbered and many marked "BB". A helpful sign with a paragraph in English told me that these marked the borders between three ancient estates dating from the 14th Century, estates owned by the Liechtensteins, the Žerotins and the Bishop of Wroclaw.

I passed two small buildings looking like shrines. In the first there were plaques on the wall with the names of people and for some, the years they lived between. A place commemorating those who died in the mountains maybe. The second structure was above a spring with pictures of the Madonna and Child and a rope ladder leading to a loft where I suppose you could sleep in an emergency. The spring was emitting only slow drips. An elderly lady sitting nearby pressed a bottle of water into my hand and spoke at length in Czech. It seemed rude not to accept the bottle although I had plenty of water, but maybe it was Holy Water from the spring that the lady had patiently collected, blessed by the Madonna. 

A curious wayside monument expressed gratitude to the 2,500 Czechoslovak airmen who served in the RAF in World War 2. Google Translate struggled with the last sentence, it probably refered to how they subsequently suffered at the hands of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, who viewed them with suspicion. Periodically there was a view of trees spilling down the sides of valleys and in the hazy distance, fields and towns.

I am now at the Hotel Paprsek. Yesterday I gave much thought as to where I should stay. This hotel was a bit far to walk at 32 kilometres with a thousand metre total ascent (i.e. a lot of hills to climb), but the nearer alternatives were booked, or in one case required me to walk an extra 2.5 kilometres for the key. Wild camping was an option but the various signs telling people not to leave the trail would by implication discourage camping. Despite this I passed a number of people with camping gear. I rationalised that staying in a hotel helped the local economy, and anyway, rain was forecast for this evening, rain which is now falling fast outside my bedroom window. I managed the 32 kilometres pretty well, having left before breakfast. The breakfast box the hotel gave me had plenty for both breakfast and lunch. I walked about 10 kilometres before I ate my breakfast so as to break up the length of the day. The final climb, a kilometre or so before the hotel, was the most difficult, it was steep, then became steeper and I was tired, however I was pleased I managed it.

I am now feeling rather full. For dessert this evening I had Blueberry Dumplings. The menu offered options of one, two or three dumplings. Thinking this must mean they were quite small, I ordered two. A mistake, they were huge. I did eat them but it was really too much of a good thing.