The circular track of T.G.Masaryk

The original idea to run the cyclist track through the places where T.G.Masaryk spent his holiday in 1903 came up from the Polish initiative which is quite paradoxical. Thanks to the common effort of two nations we can ride through the picturesque villages in the hills of the majestic Bor and visit the towns of Náchod, Kudowa Zdrój and Hronov.

The starting point of this track is the historic town of Náchod. It was founded together with a knight´s castle by the knight Hron in the picturesque valley of the river Metuje which is surrounded by a beautiful region of Náchodské higlands. The Renaissance chateau formed from the original castle is definitely worth seeing; there are valuable collections in its accessible interiors and a separately accessible gallery. The chateau is connected with a French garden, English park, military cemetery, and there are also two bears called Ludvík and Dáša walking in the castle foss. We can admire a gothic church of St. Lawrence, Marian column, Trinity sculpture, baroque deanery, the former and present Town hall (1904) on the well preserved square protected by town conservation area.

We set out on our trip from Náchod on the route number 22 which leads us along the river Metuje off the busy centre and we ride against the flow of the river in direction Běloves spa. We go through Běloves to the border crossing where our track continues behind a busy road further into the valley of the Metuje to Malé and Velké Poříčí. In Velké Poříčí we can find some log-made houses of the folk architecture in the suburban built-up area.

Velké Poříčí slowly changes into the town of Hronov, the birthplace of Alois Jirásek. In the middle of the square with Jirásek theatre there is the Marian column and in a small hill over the square there is the All Saints church with the connected Renaissance prismatic bell tower, so typical for the region. We can find also the house where Alois Jirásek was born (visit possible) under the bell tower by the main road.

    We will follow the track number 4281 from the square climbing steeply over the town /2-3/. We will come to the border village Žďárky in a hilly region and also there we follow the track number 4281 in direction Pstrążna (Stroužné) – the open-air folk museum. After passing two memorials the track at the end of the village guides us to a stony path in the wood. We climb up steeply in some places /3/ in the wood through the border around the seasonal pub Doly to the Polish village Pstrążna.

There we pass the signpost which shows us the green marked trail to Kudowa Park 11 km. In Pstrążne there are preserved houses from the 18th century made of wood or bricks, the museum of ethnography and an open-air museum of folk architecture. We still go steeply up /3/ around a stone Trinity church on an asphalt road and before we enter the wood there is a beautiful view of the area around the village behind us. The climbing does not stop even in the wood where the winding  road takes us to the crossroad under Bukowina Wlk. Our track there turns right on a stone path in the wood. Who feels strong enough can make a short trip of about 1 km on a small road up the hill to a view point (730 m) near the children sanatorium in Bukowina Klodzka.

We continue in a traverse following the contour line through the National Park Góry Stolowe to the crossroad Pod Lelkową Górą (final short climbing /2/). Even if we move in a protected area of the National Park we leave the main attraction such as sandstone towers, rocky formation, pseudo-karst caves, ravines, gorges and numerous views to the walking tourists this time.

At the crossroad Pod Lelkową Górą there is a road to the top of Bor but we stay on a path in the wood and follow the signpost to Jakubowice. Finally we deservedly descent /2-3/ through a dense forest passing two resting places while still paying good attention to signpost marking in the maze of the paths. At the end the descent is intercut by short climbs and when we leave the wood we cannot miss the signpost for  Kudowa Park near the calvary. After a short climbing /3/ again we go down /2-3/ to Jakubowice and then on an asphalt road through a nice valley to the crossroad of the road from Karlów.

There is a free and easy downhill past the picturesque recreational cabins to the beginning of Kudowa Zdrój spa centre. There our green track turns to the Aquapark and on the hillside of Góra Parkowa we go up /2/ to Czermna to the St. Bartholomew church with a famous charnel-house. Behind the church we turn left on a road which leads us back to Kudowa Zdroj where we visit the beautiful spa centre. After the visit we return to the green marked track and go slightly down through the village of Slone along the little river Bystrá. Behind the border crossing the track number 4095 guides us on the street Kladská back to the point from where we started.

Total 50 km.

Difficulty 3.