Thursday, June 27th, 2024

Distance ridden 31 kilometres

Distance walked 19.6 kilometres

We had not come on holiday to ride around, we wanted to do some hiking. The area of Jeseníky is, admittedly, very scenic but, most of the time, the roads run between trees and you cannot really see very much, particularly if you are the rider.

After our filling breakfast, we got on the Softail and set off for the nearby town of  Karlova Studánka, to do our first walk. The previous evening, we had seen it signposted whilst we were in the town, so we just set off to drive there …..

That was my first blunder of the day ! Without really thinking, I made a right off of the main road (as indicated on the sign) and we headed off into the countryside. There were a couple of un-gated railway crossings where we had to stop and peer anxiously left and right – and some quite extensive (and totally unmarked) areas where there were deep trenches in the road surface, where repairs awaited filling. After a while, Lucie indicated, by patting my shoulder, that I should stop. Her ‘phone indicated (sadly, correctly) that we were heading away from our destination, not towards it …. The SatNav was back in our room, so she navigated from her map program. To correct ourselves, we rode through a series of badly surfaced and twisting roads of such a “minor” classification that, to call them lanes or even cart tracks, would be a considerable aggrandisement !

Finally, we came to a more major road which, of course, turned out to be Route 445, which we had erroneously turned off of only a few kilometres back in the direction of Mála Morávka …..

Karlova Studánka was only a few kilometres farther on and we turned into it. It is a spa town, as implied in Czech by the “Studánka” part of its name and is exceedingly cute to the point of being twee ! The roads are all block-paved, as opposed to being tarmac and all the buildings, principally in the somewhat grand, “First Republic” style, are very well preserved.

There were quite a number of people, no doubt resident there for spa treatments, walking the paths or relaxing on the numerous benches amongst the greenery. The whole place had a serene and tranquil air, so I was careful not to rev the Harley’s motor excessively.

We found a car park (there appeared to be no, unsightly, street-parking allowed anywhere), paid our 130 Crowns (!) and set off on our walk.

We started, as is usual, uphill (so the last part is always downhill).

We passed by an extremely grand spa-hotel indeed. On its extensive lawns, a small fleet of robot lawnmowers were busily trimming the grass. There was something a little bit chilling about their relentless, purposeful and very precise movements. SkyNet anyone ?

We tramped ever upwards and eventually came to what is described as the town’s “waterfall“. Despite the fact that it is fed by a specially dug canal, I have to say that it not a Niagara, by any stretch of the imagination – and it did not impress me. But, people do come to see it …..

We encountered a largish group of tourists on the narrow path, completely blocking it as they posed for a group photo. Images of our recent trip to the Plitvička Lakes went through our minds but, in a forest, as opposed to a narrow boardwalk, we were able to wriggle by. We were them passing at the exact second the photo was taken. We can easily imagine members of the group (which seemed to be a church thing and a mixture of Germans and Italians) looking at the pictures when they got home and wondering who the two people in Harley-Davidson shirts were ….

We do not like walking with crowds, so we strode briskly on.

We crossed a road and followed the steep hiking track up into the forest. Far below us, on the easier walking of the road, we could see our erstwhile companions, strung out in a long line along the roadside. In time, we came out of the trees, to re-cross the road and, surprise, surprise, the vanguard of the church group was already at the edge of the next part of OUR route, chatting and waiting for the rest to catch up. We quickly started down the forestry road, but soon branched off in order to take the hiking path to a lookout point called Rolandův kámen. This was a high outcrop of rocks where it was only possible to start the ascent with the aid of a wooden stairway.

The path up the rock was quite a stiff climb, very steep and narrow with a few awkwardly placed footholds, but we made it easily enough. At the top was a large wooden cross.

Although the sun was shining, it was quite hazy so the views were a bit disappointing. Only the nearby trees were visible with any clarity.

There was a noisy commotion far below us, the church group had arrived. Given the presence of the cross, I suppose we should really have guessed their destination ! It was clear that they were already on their way up, which, given the narrowness of the path, was going to make going down difficult – and the top was far too cramped to hold us all … Luckily, they were not youngsters either and were quickly strung out, so we seized our chance and descended through the spaces in their line, uttering either “Danke” or “Grazie”, depending upon the flag shown on their name badges.

At the bottom, as we prepared to go upon our way, we heard, from high above, the sound of hymns being sung. Perhaps it was the German or Italian version of “Nearer, my God, to thee !”. Up there, they certainly were !

Lucie was brought up to be always as quiet as possible whilst in the forest, so she did not really approve of the noise.

 

It was, however, sometime before we could no longer hear them and the peace of the forest returned.

A forest hike is a forest hike and there is little real difference what forest you are actually in. This forest did appear a little more open and there seemed to be a greater variety of small birds as a consequence, but that was about it. Luckily, there also seemed to be no evidence that the plague of beetles, that has wreaked so much havoc upon the Spruce populations further south, had yet arrived in those woods.

Suffice it to say that we toiled our way all around Lucie’s selected route. We climbed again, especially, to a really high lookout point.

At the summit, the view was well worth it ! What can beat that ?

As the sun climbed and it became hot, it also became terribly humid because of the rains of the previous evening. This made some of the long uphill ascents a bit sweaty, but not really too unpleasant.

Finally, as circular hikes do, our walking took us down the hill and back into Karlova Studánka. There were still lots of people around and most of them looked considerably cooler than we were. We located a restaurant that proudly proclaimed its Silesian heritage and, as we were both seriously hungry from our efforts, ordered from the “Daily Menu”. Beef and pasta for me and Goulash for Lucie. It was not exceptional, but it hit our respective “spots”. This was followed by some terribly delicious blueberry dumplings which we did not need, but could not resist. Ah ! The “First” World ! We also drank an unusual amount of alcohol free beer, we were VERY thirsty !

Then it was a short walk back to the Harley and a far shorter ride, than on the outward journey, back to our pension. I have to admit to a slight slide at the top of the pension’s sloping, gravelly drive, but it was controllable and not too dramatic. It just reminded me that, when riding a motorcycle, you can never stop concentrating for even one second !

In the evening, we walked out to Na Rychtě again, but the kitchen was closed, so, perhaps luckily, we were unable to have more blueberry livance.

After so much exercise, I was always going to sleep well – and, believe me, I did.