Saturday was the last day before the clocks went back, so it was a 'now or never' situation if I wanted to reach Brno this year, as it was a necessary 30km between railway stations. The good news was that I didn't have to catch the first train, or, more to the point, catching the first train would have been pointless as I would have reached the starting point at the same time. The bad news was that I still had to rise and shine at 0515.
The map has been edited to include Week 10.
For those of you who remember my Scunthorpe match reports, I always liked to start with some statistics (including balls out of the ground). I'll do something similar here.
Starting point: Bystřice nad Pernštejnem Time from home: 3h 40m Number of trains caught: 2 Distances from: Prague: 166km Brno: 50.4km Vienna: 172km Bratislava: 186km
Starting point: Nedvědice Time from home: 3h 40m Number of trains caught: 2 (and a rail replacement bus) Distances from: Prague: 176km Brno: 40.2km Vienna: 165km Bratislava: 176km
Distance for the day: 30km Total distance travelled: 287.9km
I've added Bratislava in as it is two days along the Danube from Vienna.
SPOILER: If you don't like views of mountain scenery with autumn colours, stop reading now.
The usual pictures of a quiet early morming in Prague.
The branch line train to Bystřice nad Pernštejnem.
Starting point reached, with a rail replacement bus outside the station due to repairs beyond Bystřice.
Fairy tale characters by the side of the path in Bystřice. They liven up an otherwise uninspiring town.
We join the route after about 2km, and say hello to route 1 again, which left us at Hlinsko. Hlinsko was two days past, and there are no railway stations in between - so the slightly longer diversion has been welcome. The destination of Nedvědice is signposted from the start, which is always good.
The sun threatened us with its presence.
Our dalliance with route 1 was brief. We continue straight on towards Vír. It's good to see a sign showing the distance to the destination so early in the day. And only 70km to Brno - except of course it isn't, as we're going the long way round. Again, but as you'll see, with reason.
The week's first tree. No autumn colours, so I thought it was a Holm Oak until I took the lower photo. Google tells me that it's a hazel, but I've never seen one that size before. I can see it from the leaves, though.
Something gnarled. I think that it's a willow. (EDIT 2 Nov 2023: It is actually a wych elm. I don't remember ever having seen a mature elm tree before.)
A village in the distance. But, much as I like going through the first village of the day, the road ahead is going in another direction.
Conifers are often more beautiful when dead.
Nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of the scenery beyond the turn of the road towards the village. We dropped with initially a valley being to our right...
...round a hairpin bend to a sheer rock face...
...and we start to see beech as the dominant mature species, as often happens in the mountains.
Eventually, we reach Vír, the first village - almost two hours after leaving Bystřice - ...
...with its cobbled street.
A village at the bottom of a mountain pass is not where I would have expected to find a Japanese Maple, but every day is a school day.
I'm here just early enough to see the Sumach before it loses its leaves.
Another hillside view with autumn colours.
Half way, crossing the Svratka river.
A pretty cottage.
A swan on the river.
An angler in the river.
The road, somehow, keeps going downhill...
...with yet more autumn colours.
Lower in the valley, we see an oak sapling.
Wood for the winter. The hills are alive with the sounds of chainsaws.
Japanese maples are often grown in sheltered conditions. Using conifers as shade and a windbreak is novel.
Mandatory picture of a fern.
A bellflower (campanula) is flowering late in the season.
A rose and a sweet pea. In late October.
Hilda Ogden style flying ducks for outside. Or not.
The rocks remain.
For the first time since Bystřice, we leave the road.
Another two examples of the visual impact of dead conifers.
Two kilometres to go.
We reach South Moravia (Jinomoravský Kraj). We are now in Brno Outer District.
The Virginia Creeper is pretty on the outside of the house.
We reach the station for the trip home, with an hour and a half to spare.
The contrast between the industrial and the beautiful.
