CZ: An Autumn Trip to Boulders Near Zihle – Viklany Rocky Town

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The place which is the final destination of our today's trip is about 1,5 kilometers from Baba boulder. It is easy to find. Just follow the yellow tourist trail. It is a formation of different size boulders. By using your imagination a bit you may see how they emerged – magical force spilled them out from one large bag. A huge rocking stone dominates the area and it also gave the name to this place. Unfortunately, the true origin of the boulders is much more simpler.

Local rocking stone is a huge boulder. Only a slight bit of the rock touches the rocky bedrock. Such formations mostly come as result of erosion. Alternatively, they were brought here by iceberg as in case of the rocking stone. It is a marvelous thing as the pictures inside this article suggest. By walking around you may spot many interesting things. Your imagination will do the rest. Here families with children frequently stop to let the kids have fun.

Es I mention above, we choose our "trails". People who don't have time for that can use their car to travel to the destination of their choice. For the reason to get better around, we begin our trip at Zihle train station.

Then we drive down the road No 2016 to Rabstejn nad Strelou. In 2,6 kilometers we make a right turn. There is no plate suggesting the number of the road. However, for us it is sufficient to know that the road goes to Sklarna open air school which houses a great rope center. A tourist sign on the left side of the road is situated another 1 kilometer further and there is a hastily made parking lot. From here on you need to walk on your own.

Possibly, you will meet people who have walked here all the way from the start along the yellow tourist trail. The trail is laos the one which gets us to the main destination of the trek. We need to walk another 300 meters through forest. The terrain is covered with boulders and tree roots., mostly pines. Their shapes suggest how difficult it must be for these trees to grow here for the soil is rocky and sandy, the result of erosion of local boulders.

    These boulders are of Tis granite famous for its high quality at home and abroad.  The quarry is situated in Tis village near Blatno. Granite is nature resource which has been traditionally used and in Czech is commonly referred to as "Czech labradorit". Many important structures were built of this granite. To name some of these: the dark  cobblestone stripes on the third courtyard at Prague Castle, and two polished columns in ceremonial interiors clsoe to Bila Tower; inside the Faculty of Law, Charles University in Prague and many other places Who doesn't know the Czech capital? But who does know places where the beauty and splendor of the capital orginates from? It would be a wonderful trip to go to such places.

GPS: 50°02'48.7"N 13°21'47.1"E (Žihle)

Text and photos: Kateřina Fúdorová