{"id":11645,"date":"2025-04-17T19:19:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T17:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potulnauniverzita.cz\/?post_type=aktivity&p=11645"},"modified":"2025-04-18T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T09:22:49","slug":"male-machovske-putovani-kokorinskemz-melnika-na-housku-borejov-a-bezdez","status":"publish","type":"aktivity","link":"https:\/\/potulnauniverzita.cz\/en\/aktivity\/male-machovske-putovani-kokorinskemz-melnika-na-housku-borejov-a-bezdez\/","title":{"rendered":"A small M\u00e1chov journey through Koko\u0159\u00edn from M\u011bln\u00edk to Houska, Bo\u0159ejov and Bezd\u011bz"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Spring wanderings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small M\u00e1chov journey through Koko\u0159\u00edn from M\u011bln\u00edk to Houska, Bo\u0159ejov and Bezd\u011bz<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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View of \u0158\u00edp from M\u011bln\u00edk from the castle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dedicated to the writer and wanderer The Wizard, SM Blumfeld <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We remember him in Bo\u0159ejov under the chestnut trees behind the church of St. James the Elder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u011bln\u00edk\u2013Lhotka\u2013Koko\u0159\u00edn\u2013Vojt\u011bchov\u2013R\u00e1j\u2013Houska\u2013Bo\u0159ejov\u2013\u017dd\u00edrec\u2013Luka\u2013Bezd\u011bz (approx. 47 km)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, May 3 \u2013 Sunday, May 4, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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"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."\u00a0<\/p>\nSM Blumfeld, WINDOW, No. 18<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After almost fifteen years, this year we are returning to the original route of the May M\u00e1cha pilgrimage from M\u011bln\u00edk to Bezd\u011bz (the so-called small m\u00e1chovka), which our journey through the Koko\u0159\u00edn region began with in 2003. Initially, we went with friends every year in May from M\u011bln\u00edk to Houska via Lhotka and Koko\u0159\u00edn, and then from Houska we continued through the village of Kruh to Bezd\u011bz. It was only at the insistence of our friend \u010carod\u011bj that in 2010, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Karel Hynek M\u00e1cha on Houska, we set out for the first time from Houska to Bezd\u011bz via Bo\u0159ejov and \u017dd\u00edrec. From that moment on, Bo\u0159ejov with the church of St. James the Elder, from where there is a unique view of Bezd\u011bz 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bo\u0159ejov acquired a strong pilgrimage aura thanks to \u010carod\u011bj and his wife Piga, who decorated the Bo\u0159ejov church and its surroundings with the works of their friends, painters Ale\u0161 Krej\u010da, Vendula C\u00edsa\u0159ovsk\u00e1 and sculptor Petr C\u00edsa\u0159ovsk\u00fd. During this year's May pilgrimage, we remember \u010carod\u011bj (1955-2024) in Bo\u0159ejov - since 1980 an "ecological exile" to Podb\u011bzd\u011bz\u00ed (where in the region of M\u00e1cha's "May" he found his home, his own country OZ), a great essayist, translator, editor-in-chief of the famous underground magazine WINDOW <\/em>and a unique animator of a "second and different culture" - who unexpectedly left for his last "far pilgrimage" last February.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday 3. 5.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Prague \u2013 M\u011bln\u00edk, Lhotka, Harasov, Koko\u0159\u00edn, Nedamy, Vojt\u011bchov, R\u00e1j, Houska \u2013 viewpoint (28 km)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the morning we will leave Prague hl. n\u00e1dra\u017e\u00ed at 6:43 by passenger train to M\u011bln\u00edk, 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 \u0158\u00edp. Here we will wait until 8:10 and then set off on a hike along the red trail: M\u00e1cha's Path. We will go to Chloumek and from there to Lhotka. We will cross the railway line and enter the Koko\u0159\u00ednsk\u00fd d\u016fl nature reserve and walk through it between the P\u0161ovka stream with ponds and walls and labyrinths of sandstone rocks. On the way we will go around \u0160tampach pond, reach Krou\u017eek and from there to Harasovsk\u00fd pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sandstone rock walls in the Ko\u0159\u00ednsk\u00fd d\u016fl behind Lhotka.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sandstone rock walls in the Ko\u0159\u00ednsk\u00fd d\u016fl behind Lhotka.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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"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."<\/p>\nKarel Hynek M\u00e1cha, Gypsies<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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 P\u0161ovka Valley to the rock formations P\u0161ovsk\u00e1 v\u011b\u017e and P\u0161ovsk\u00e1 br\u00e1na, until we reach the beautiful Lad\u010dina spring, where we refresh ourselves. Continuing the path through the valley will lead us to the settlement of Ml\u010den\u00ed and then to the pub at Grobi\u00e1n pod Hradskem, where we have a primeval lunch. From there, we will continue along the P\u0161ovka and the Ka\u010d\u00edrek pond through the \u201cKoko\u0159\u00edn wetland Amazon\u201d to under M\u00e1chov\u00e1 sk\u00e1la under Koko\u0159\u00edn Castle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Harasov Pond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Harasov Pond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of the surface of Harasovsk\u00fd pond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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"The clear lake slumbers<\/em>
in the middle of a blooming valley.<\/em>
The blue winds closest to the shore,<\/em>
further green blooms,<\/em>
always shines greener,<\/em>
until it finally merges into the pale light.<\/em><\/p>\nKarel Hynek M\u00e1cha, May<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

From the Koko\u0159\u00ednsk\u00e1 Valley we will head to the cave and rock castle of Nedamy and remember that not far from here in the former Nov\u00fd Dv\u016fr, the Czech romantic poet V\u00e1clav Bolem\u00edr Nebesk\u00fd (1818-1882), a follower of Karel Hynek M\u00e1cha, was born. From the Nedamy Cave we will return to M\u00e1cha's Path and continue along it to the remarkable rock formation of M\u0161ensk\u00e1 pokli\u010dky and further to R\u00e1j.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lad\u010dina spring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kokorin Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Mass covers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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"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."<\/p>\nKarel Hynek M\u00e1cha, Gypsies<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Nedamy rock castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

From R\u00e1j we will head along the M\u00e1cha path through Laka and then up through the forest between Uheln\u00fd vrch (451 m) and Drucl\u00edk (481 m) to the crossroads before Houska with the beautiful Baroque Lu\u0148\u00e1k Chapel of the Holy Trinity with paintings by Vendula C\u00edsa\u0159ovsk\u00e1; 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 \u0161ir\u00e1k or in the hall at the Municipal Office in Doln\u00ed Houska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lu\u0148\u00e1k's chapel in front of Houska<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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View of \u0158\u00edp in the beech forest behind Houska Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Statue of St. Ludmila at Houska Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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"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."<\/p>\nKarel Hynek M\u00e1cha, Travel Notes \/ Journey of the First Day of August<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sunday 4. 5.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Doln\u00ed Houska \u2013 Bo\u0159ejov \u2013 \u017dd\u00edrec \u2013 Okna \u2013 Bezd\u011bz \u2013 Bezd\u011bz castle \u2013 Bezd\u011bz railway station (19 km)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the morning we will set off from Doln\u00ed Houska to Bo\u0159ejov 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 M\u00e1cha and this beautiful place. Take with you the poems you like. Then we will continue our journey to \u017dd\u00edrec and from there through Okno to Bezd\u011bz \u2013 we will climb to the castle. Then we will go down to the railway station and return to Prague by train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the chestnuts in Bo\u0159ejov \u2013 May pilgrimage May 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Chestnuts behind the church of St. James the Elder in Bo\u0159ejov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Church of St. James the Elder in Bo\u0159ejov<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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"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;\u2026\u201d<\/p>\nWilliam Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey (translation: SM Blumfeld)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The house and garden of the Wizard and Pig in \u017dd\u00edrec.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Meeting with the Wizard (third from the left) in \u017dd\u00edrec on August 21, 2019 during the Krkono\u0161e Pilgrimage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u201c\u2026 it is not entirely important whether you catch up with everything that escapes you\u2026 Don\u2019t chase \u2013 you are not racehorses! Walk our dear Podbezd\u011b\u017e\u00ed at a walking pace and in a collected manner. Then you will best understand life in heaven. \u2026 The important thing is that your life can be looked at! Every day of your life, not just the holiday one\u2026\u201d<\/p>\nWizard<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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From the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of KHM 2. 5. 2010 \/ reading of M\u00e1ja on the way to Bezd\u011bz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Bezdez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You must register for the trip in person via email or phone.<\/strong> organizer \u2013 see contacts below.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connections<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prague \u2013 M\u011bln\u00edk (Saturday, May 3):<\/p>\n\n\n\n