Evening all.
I woke up at 0400 for this section - the year is running out of days with sufficient light to walk quite rapidly. It's almost a three hour journey to the starting point at Žďár nad Sázavou, and the ending point at Bystřice nad Pernštejnem has a last train out at 1930. Such is the fun of branch lines.
I've updated the map I added after I published last time's blog. As I explained then, it gives some sort of idea as to where I have been going. I'll maintain the map as I go. It also gives me an idea of distance before I start.
You can click on the rectangle on the top right of the map to see the Google map in a separate window on your browser. If you add up all the individual weeks including this one, the distance is 257km, or about the distance from Doncaster to London.
Here's my road, very quiet at 0420.
Despite it being so early, there were quite a few people at Prague main station.
The first train was a fast train to Kolín - I then changed to this amazing all stops train to Žďár nad Sázavou along the main line. Well, if I had wanted to be awake it would have been wonderful, but you can't have everything.
Journey's start.
Here's the sign showing I've reached the point where I join Euro route 4 - note the mist in the background.
But there's an issue - the bridge has been demolished in the last two weeks. Fortunately, there's another bridge 50 metres away.
The sun made a welcome appearance through the mist.
I had wondered why the route didn't go through the centre of Žďár nad Sázavou. This is the reason - the Church of St. John of Nepomuck is a UNESCO site, and well worth seeing.
A sycamore with black spot. They always seem to come back healthy the next year.
The first village was Vysoké (High). I didn't need to be told.
The sun not quite being there adds to the atmosphere.
Pines, each competing to be straighter than the next.
The sort of countryside I love - a bend in the road, and just a few trees.
Parthenocissus climbing everywhere it can.
Sumach competing for autumn colour, but not quite beating the Parthenocissus.
I know it's going to get pretty, but harder on the feet...
See? I told you it would get pretty...
A single Linaria plant in the grass.
The lupins would have been pretty a few months ago.
Off the farm track, and a rocking horse which doesn't rock.
Another formal tree-lined avenue, in the middle of nowhere.
Sunlight on a silver birch.
Even ash trees can look pretty in autumn.
Fortunately, I didn't need to climb the mountain in the distance.
Cyclists approaching and passing me on a hill.
Nové Město na Moravě from said hill, through the mist.
The signs aren't telling me how far I have to go, but they say that I've walked 15km.
A sign in Nové Město na Moravě's Biathlon Stadium. You see the NMNM logo everywhere there - personally, it reminds me of this.
Not sure what to call this, but it's popular with the kids.
Skautská Chata Mercedes. A scout lodge nearby.
Good to see that the railway line which will be taking me home really does exist.
And it has trains, too! The 'crossing no-gates' thing does scare me, though.
Signs of civilisation - and chocolate and a bag of crisps time.
NMNM station.
The wonders of the Czech language! Exit and Entry differ by just one letter.
The journey out from NMNM started out along the railway line.
A peony still looks beautiful in Autumn.
A sycamore pretending that it's a maple (which of course, it is, but you know what I mean).
A blue cedar. Quite fitting, as the next day I went to a Lebanese restaurant with an old friend, the cedar being the national tree of Lebanon.
With being by the railway, I had started to think that this section might be flatter. That illusion was short lived.
Name mugs on a fence. Don't ask me.
This hotel is out of scale with its surroundings. The first picture is taken about a kilometre away. Close up it's no taller than the building I live in, but it shows the need for sensitive planning in the countryside.
Beautiful ferns.Only 9km to go.
A very straight road through the forest.
Only 62km to Brno! That is achievable in two days, but is there enough light left this autumn?
Someone knew that my feet would be tired, and built a tarmac path next to the farm track for me.
A pretty Campanula.
Two kilometres to go!
Destination ahead - Bystřice nad Pernštejnem. Bad news - I just missed the 1630 train so had to wait until 1830. Good news - I arrived at the station waiting room ten minutes before the rain. Back at Prague main station at 2155, by which time the rain had stopped here.
Good night all.
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