From Prague to Vienna - week 9, Žďár nad Sázavou to Bystřice nad Pernštejnem

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.

From Prague to Vienna - week 8, Hlinsko v Čechách to Žďár nad Sázavou

Evening all.

EDIT 8 Oct 2023: having spoken to a number of people in Prague, they only vaguely know the places between which I'm travelling, so people outside the Czech Republic must really struggle. I've therefore created a map in Google Maps showing where I've been. It's just weeks 7 and 8 for now (as it is quite a lot of work), but I'll add in the rest in time.

EDIT 16 Oct 2023: it's now the whole journey, and will update every time I walk.

A week off last week because of being with friends in the UK, but winter is fast approaching and I want to reach Brno, the Czech Republic's second city, by the end of the year. It was for that reason I arose on a Sunday at 0600 to catch the train to Hlinsko.

My road looks nice without traffic at sunrise.

The towers are the historic part of the main station. The newer consourse is practical, but of no architectural appeal - King's Cross it isn't.

That's the same thing from inside, if you have time to look up rather than rushing for the train.

x

I had a carriage practically to myself for the non-stop journey of an hoxur to Pardubice, 100km. A fuurther hour and a half mostly by single track railway and the last fifteen minutes by bus, I was back in Hlinsko where I finished last time.

Considering that it was the place I spent 50km reaching last time, it has little to recommend it, except the way out.

Here's the way out. Only 114km to Brno. I'll do that easily in four weeks. Oh, I'm not going that way. I'm following Euro Route 4, which, to be fair, follows the railway pretty well. However, I'm not going to Jihlava. But I am going to Vojnův Městec. 10km until food time.

Just as I was about to leave, one nice building in Hlinsko.

X 

Like the bridge for animals over the M25 at Epping Forest, but smaller.

The horse chestnuts have had enough of summer, with leaves ready to fall or fallen.

Not so the silver birches though. And accidental arty picture. Here's Corot emulating Sergeant.

The pines are trying oh so hard to grow vertically, but don't quite succeed.

And we even manage some ferns.

The ubiquitous Viatnamese Grocery ("Potraviny") was reached in Vojnův Městec. Next door is the Town Hall and Post Office.

I'm still not going to Jihlava, but I am going to Radostín. This helps me not a lot in determining how far I have to go.

Something I've seen a lot of in this area - a small church with a cemetery overlooking a town.

The sun through the leaves of an ash tree.

Different land owner, different trees for avenues. Now sycamores.

And for the first time today, we have water.

At last we see a sign to our destination. And it's only 12km away. (But come on sign writers - it shouldn't just be a case of sticking EU flags on existing routes. Tell us how far the large places are away.)

But there's a bench where I can rest by a lake, so I'll forgive them.

Back to birch-lined avenues, but note that the road surface is starting to detiorarate.

The lakes are stunning, though.

At this point, cyclists have to get off and walk.

Another arty avenue pic, this time with pines.

 

The lake (Velké Dářko, translated as 'big gift') has an area of 206 hectares.

A sign for a pub. "Inn on the Bastion. We invite you to sit in a pleasant and peaceful environment."

Having passed through an incredibly beautiful forest, albeit with a stone path, we have six kilometres to go.

It's all very planned - the cyclists and pedestrians have their own path separate from the main road. The way it should be all the time, frankly. 

And we are now at the border of Bohemia and Moravia. The stone in the middle says 'Bohemia' on the other side - why it's in English not Czech is beyond me. We have a Moravian eagle facing us and a Bohemian Lion from the other direction.

In Europe's most atheist country, we have commissioned atheism on a wall.

A church 3km north of Žďár.

Mushrooms on a dead tree.

A weir, as we finally run out of lakes.

 

Seats made from half tree trunks.

 

And finally, Žďár nad Sázavou. What was nice was that I was able to get a through train home. OK, it takes two and a half hours, but that's OK.

I came back through Kutna Hora, which I mention for two reasons. The first is to include a photograph I took there last month.

Kutna Hora is best known for the ossuary at Sedlec. Here's a picture, published under the Wikipedia creative commons licence.

It always makes me think of this, from Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. (EDIT 5 Oct 2023 - blocked in the UK. It works if you have a VPN, and set it to CZ. Apologies about that. And here's a link to an older version of the song for those of you who can't set the VPN (4) Dry Bones by The Delta Rhythm Boys 1945 - YouTube)

And with that, here's the topical reference of the week. RIP Michael Gambon.

I can't follow that. Good night all.