I slept poorly, and worried every time I moved for fear I would disturb the others. 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.
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 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. A shameful event in British history when 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. By 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.
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.
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