Stávek [Hrubá Skála]

We woke early and after a hearty breakfast, we set off on our 18km Loop hike from Turnov on the Green track, then to Red and finally Blue track to Hubra Skala. Green and Red tracks aren't as challenging as the Blue ones.

The walk took us through Turnov town and some quaint houses with beautiful gardens and fruit trees. We also passed a big supermarket where we got water for the hike. There were also some apple tree branches hanging out of the fence which we decided should be public property and so we helped ourselves to 4 tiny but crisp and tasty apples, a good hiking snack. It seems that we were fuelling up on snacks and water as we went along. Did not pack lunch though because there were places kiosks at the castles for lunch.

Once we left the houses and the town, we entered beautifully cool and quiet pine forest, and some native mixed forests.

Got to Valdsteijn Castle where a sweet young 16 year old boy did a guided tour of the grounds in Czech. We had a folder in English to follow the tour. At the end of the tour, a couple that I asked about the rock formations told us that the tour guide was their son! Proud parents they be as he did really well. He even regularly asked us if we had any questions, and Ruby always found a question for him.

At lunch, we shared a table with a young Czech couple who camped overnight in the forest. They gave us suggestions of places to go in Prague when we are next there and where to find good food. Before they left, he even offered us a sip from his hip flask. He told us it was Czech traditional homemade palachek, sherry. Nothing like the sherry I know. Packed a much bigger punch, but was extremely yummy. Never expected friendly to that extent.

We then continued our hike to Hubra Skala. The sandstone rock formations were quite unusually scupltured by rain, wind and fires. We even came across rock climbers perched on top of these huge rocks, my guess is approximately 10 storey high.

Poor Ruby's knees were getting more and more unstable and uncomfortable
By the end of the hike we decided to stop at Hubra Skala and catch a taxi back to the accommodation.
Total of 18 km today.Read more