"For people's attitudes to change, so that they are able to "fall in love ecologically", it would de facto mean turning consumer egocentrics, fortified behind the walls of big cities, and sometimes even more consumerist farmers, walled up in their birch-stone fortresses, into poets - people of feeling and compassion, artists of life capable of seeing deeply, perceiving associations and relationships." 

SM Blumfeld, WINDOW, No. 18

After almost fifteen years, this year we are returning to the original route of the May Mácha pilgrimage from Mělník to Bezděz (the so-called small máchovka), which our journey through the Kokořín region began with in 2003. Initially, we went with friends every year in May from Mělník to Houska via Lhotka and Kokořín, and then from Houska we continued through the village of Kruh to Bezděz. It was only at the insistence of our friend Čaroděj that in 2010, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Karel Hynek Mácha on Houska, we set out for the first time from Houska to Bezděz via Bořejov and Ždírec. From that moment on, Bořejov with the church of St. James the Elder, from where there is a unique view of Bezděz and Houska, became a truly sacred place for us pilgrims. We rested here several times in May in the grass under the huge flowering chestnut trees and celebrated life and beauty with poetry and singing.

Bořejov acquired a strong pilgrimage aura thanks to Čaroděj and his wife Piga, who decorated the Bořejov church and its surroundings with the works of their friends, painters Aleš Krejča, Vendula Císařovská and sculptor Petr Císařovský. During this year's May pilgrimage, we remember Čaroděj (1955-2024) in Bořejov - since 1980 an "ecological exile" to Podbězdězí (where in the region of Mácha's "May" he found his home, his own country OZ), a great essayist, translator, editor-in-chief of the famous underground magazine WINDOW and a unique animator of a "second and different culture" - who unexpectedly left for his last "far pilgrimage" last February.

Saturday 3. 5.

Prague – Mělník, Lhotka, Harasov, Kokořín, Nedamy, Vojtěchov, Ráj, Houska – viewpoint (28 km)

In the morning we will leave Prague hl. nádraží at 6:43 by passenger train to Mělník, where we will arrive at 7:50. From the station we will first go to the meeting point at the castle above the confluence of the Elbe and Vltava rivers with a view of Říp. Here we will wait until 8:10 and then set off on a hike along the red trail: Mácha's Path. We will go to Chloumek and from there to Lhotka. We will cross the railway line and enter the Kokořínský důl nature reserve and walk through it between the Pšovka stream with ponds and walls and labyrinths of sandstone rocks. On the way we will go around Štampach pond, reach Kroužek and from there to Harasovský pond.

"On the left side, from the entrance, stands a high and steep sandy cliff. Much rain has ground it into various forms of strange animals and distorted human figures, which densely and in countless numbers seem to either climb the rocky wall or look out from it, looking at the traveler with their hollow eyes."

Karel Hynek Mácha, Gypsies

In Harasov, from the ruins of the Harasov Hotel, we turn left to the former rock castle and along the pond dam to its other elevated rocky side. Here we descend to the beach under the trees and then continue through the Pšovka Valley to the rock formations Pšovská věž and Pšovská brána, until we reach the beautiful Ladčina spring, where we refresh ourselves. Continuing the path through the valley will lead us to the settlement of Mlčení and then to the pub at Grobián pod Hradskem, where we have a primeval lunch. From there, we will continue along the Pšovka and the Kačírek pond through the “Kokořín wetland Amazon” to under Máchová skála under Kokořín Castle. 

"The clear lake slumbers
in the middle of a blooming valley.
The blue winds closest to the shore,
further green blooms,
always shines greener,
until it finally merges into the pale light.

Karel Hynek Mácha, May

From the Kokořínská Valley we will head to the cave and rock castle of Nedamy and remember that not far from here in the former Nový Dvůr, the Czech romantic poet Václav Bolemír Nebeský (1818-1882), a follower of Karel Hynek Mácha, was born. From the Nedamy Cave we will return to Mácha's Path and continue along it to the remarkable rock formation of Mšenská pokličky and further to Ráj. 

"The construction of this castle, and especially the round tower, is entirely adequate to multiply the silent horror of the landscape. Pale yellow, like a rock, its foundation seems to remain in one piece. Its wall is of enormous thickness and, up to the pointed, also yellowed stone roof, it does not have a single window."

Karel Hynek Mácha, Gypsies

From Ráj we will head along the Mácha path through Laka and then up through the forest between Uhelný vrch (451 m) and Druclík (481 m) to the crossroads before Houska with the beautiful Baroque Luňák Chapel of the Holy Trinity with paintings by Vendula Císařovská; from there we will continue to Houska Castle and the viewpoint in the beech forest. We will spend the night either at the Inn at the end of the silos in the meadow under the širák or in the hall at the Municipal Office in Dolní Houska.

"Lack of sleep, we walked through the incredibly beautiful valley to Houska. Sandstone cliffs, here and there covered with firs, spruces and other needles, stood on our right, on the left, black forests uphill, a spring stream roared in the middle, here and there a village. ... But soon, a steep path led us to Houska on the left, up through the village."

Karel Hynek Mácha, Travel Notes / Journey of the First Day of August

Sunday 4. 5.

Dolní Houska – Bořejov – Ždírec – Okna – Bezděz – Bezděz castle – Bezděz railway station (19 km)

In the morning we will set off from Dolní Houska to Bořejov to the church of St. James the Elder; I will try to arrange a tour of it. Behind the church under the chestnut trees we will remember The Wizard and read some of his texts. We will also see this meeting as a celebration of poetry and Karel Hynek Mácha and this beautiful place. Take with you the poems you like. Then we will continue our journey to Ždírec and from there through Okno to Bezděz – we will climb to the castle. Then we will go down to the railway station and return to Prague by train.

"And I felt a presence,
filling me with great joy
elevated thoughts; a feeling of something grand,
which penetrates much, much deeper,
that resides in the light of setting suns
and in the wide ocean and the wild air
and in the blue sky and also in the mind of man:
A kind of movement, a spirit that incites
all thinking, all objects of thinking,
and it permeates everything. That is why I am silent
a lover of meadows and forests and mountains;
and everything that can be seen
on this green earth;…”

William Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey (translation: SM Blumfeld)

  “… it is not entirely important whether you catch up with everything that escapes you… Don’t chase – you are not racehorses! Walk our dear Podbezděží at a walking pace and in a collected manner. Then you will best understand life in heaven. … The important thing is that your life can be looked at! Every day of your life, not just the holiday one…”

Wizard

You must register for the trip in person via email or phone. organizer – see contacts below.

Everyone is free to wander and is responsible for themselves. We only ask for tolerance and sensitivity towards other wanderers and nature. We recommend that you bring plasters for blisters; a good brand is COSMOS.

Connections

Prague – Mělník (Saturday, May 3):

• TRAIN: Prague: main station, passenger train: departure 6:43 – Mělník: arrival 7:50
• BUS: Prague, Ládví., bus: departs 7:00 – Mělník, bus station: arrives 7:40

Bezděz – Prague (Sunday, May 4):

• TRAIN: Bezděz, express: departs 12:48 – Mladá Boleslav main station: arrives 13:16
• TRAIN: Mladá Boleslav, main station, express train: departs 13:23 – Prague main station: arrives 14:31
• TRAIN: Bezděz: departure 13:51 – Česká Lípa, main station: arrival 14:20
• BUS: Česká Lípa, Main Station: departure: 14:25 – Prague, Holešovice Station, arrival 16:00

Contacts

• Jiří Zemanek, email: sarvanga1@seznam.cz, mobile: 777 117 466
• Tomas Hruza, email: tomashruza@gmail.com, mobile: 775 052 607
• Barbora Kinkalova, email: b.kinkalova@seznam.cz, 776 123 969

"I believe that a lot of good would come from a change of attitude, "If only tourists became pilgrims again."

Rupert Sheldrake