Bardo to Srebrna Góra: Day 158

Highlights today were two 18th century forts.

A leisurely breakfast listening to the breathy vocals of the soothing background music. I was annoyed the repetitious musical phrases stuck in my head as I walked along. Again it up and down over wooded hills with a couple of excessively steep sections I struggled up, gaining purchase on tree roots and exposed stone.

Helping me were the blue waymarks and I again saw a person painting them on trees. Although I have the route on my GPS, the waymarks stop me having to look at it too much, wasting battery life, and helps at forks where, due to the small angle between alternate tracks it can be difficult to tell from the gps which is correct.

I stopped for a snack on benches by a granite plaque. The plaque commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Polish Hunting Association, reminding me of a novel I had recently read. Written by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk it is set in this area, centering about a lady hostile to the local hunters with good reason. By coincidence I am staying tonight at Villa Hubertus. Saint Hubertus is patron saint of hunters, despite giving up hunting after his conversion.

There have not been a great number of flowers about on this trip, maybe it is too late in the year. In addition to yarrow there were harebells and toadflax today. Large, graceful grasses arched over the path, identified by Google as wood small-reed.

Part of my walk was on an abandoned railway with a lengthy cutting dug into solid rock. According to a collapsed sign, fragments of which could still be read, it was the Srebna Góra section of a cog railway known as the "Sowe", built between 1900 and 1902. The E3 turned off the line just before a bridge, maybe fortunately as the structure was crumbling.

My walk was not a long one today and before 2 pm I arrived at Fort Ostróg. Built in the 18th century on one side of a key pass through the mountains, with Fort Srebna Góra on the other, together they defended the boundary of the Prussian Empire. The displays at Fort Ostróg mainly related to the Second World War when the Nazis used the Fort as a prison for Polish Officers, Oflag VIIIB. At that time the area of Silesia (the region of Poland I am in) was part of Germany. 

After touring the Fort and its small museum of military artefacts, I walked down to the pass, stopping for a coffee and cheesecake until it was time to check in at my accommodation under Fort Srebna Góra. Proceeding to this Fort I was given an English language audio tour to listen to. It told me how the Prussian King Frederick II had the fortress built to defend against the Austrian Hapsburg Empire.

Lądek-Zdrój to Bardo: Day 157

A long day trekking over tree covered mountains with two chapels.

As I planned to walk 33 kilometres with over 1000 m total ascent I started early, stepping over the newly washed floor in the hotel reception to return my key while the cleaner watched. 7 am was announced by the church bells as I walked across the cobbled square of Lądek. Early morning mist softened the buildings as I left the town and wetted the roadside grass. In the coolness of the whiteness that surrounded me I made fast progress along the flat valley base.

That came to an abrupt end as I climbed the steep slope up the first forested mountain while the golden sun vaporised the fog. Soon I was sweating and shedding a layer. Stone steps appeared before me, aged and randomly tilted up or downhill. As I ascended a red roofed chapel grew before me, fortunately placed on the hill's highest point. I could see the white interior of the "Chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians" through the metal gate preventing my entry. In the wooden porch was a visitors book where I left a few words. There were other religious monuments scattered around the site which I glanced at, stations of the cross and statues in the traditional style, although one carving of raised hands made out of a branched piece of wood looked more contemporary. Later I passed an unusual shrine close the the only busy road I crossed. Unusual as the Madonna was in a modern style.

Then it was down the other side of the mountain before climbing up the next one. This repetition continued for most of the day as I hike through conifer forests and mixed woodland. There were points of interest such as what looked like a old mine adit, a stone lined tunnel driven into the mountainside although Mapy.com suggests it was the entrance to a show cave. The associated snack bar was firmly closed and there was a rock outcrop constructed of grey glass fibre. On the map some of the paths were marked "SingleTrack" which I thought odd. Looking more closely at the wooden archway at the start of one of these tracks I realised they was related to mountain bike tracks.

As I neared the end of my walk I spotted a man painting the blue and white waymarks on the trees that I was following. I thanked him for his work. He said he was paid to do it however I made sure he knew his work was appreciated. First he was painting a white rectangle, later, when it had dried he would add the blue stripes. This meant for a little while I was following white rectangles.

The final mountain was reached by a steep track. At the top stood another chapel, this one from the 17th century, built where the Virgin Mary was seem weeping due to an impending war and the suffering it would bring. In front sat a dozen or so Polish Soldiers, two of them female. They were equipped for camping, I assumed it was a fitness exercise. As their equipment was not perfectly matching I wondered if they were reservist. Poland is building up its reserve force to deter any attack from Russia. 

There was a steep slope down from the chapel, with numerous stations of the cross, and many steps. My feet, especially my toes were suffering and I was extremely glad to reach the river. Despite the steepness it seemed a popular walk for people. One of those walking down was a lady who had slipped, I tried to help however it was mainly her companion who lifted her up, I am not sure I assisted much but you can only try.

After crossing the river on the older stone bridge that spanned it I headed for the coffee shop straight after. There I enjoyed a latte and a slice of miodownik (honey cake), a traditional cake in these parts although a bit crumbly. The coffee shop was called "Cudna" which means gorgeous. It remined me of a lady who had "really lovely" printed on her tee shirt.

A sign claimed my hotel was 500 metres away but it was nearer a kilometre and up a hill. Nevertheless there were some attractive old buildings and on the hill (Rosary Hill) there several small chapels. The hotel is quite expensive but booking.com gave me a "deal". All rather white, it is lacking in character to my mind.

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! However I must admit a guilty pleasure in looking at my body in the mirror now. For many years I was verging on overweight with a good sized belly. Now, if you look closely there is a semblance of muscle, a result of all the walking and kayaking. Has to be good for maintaining an active old age. 

Next 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, the whole point of a hamburger. 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.