New Year's Morning at Košťál

A short 11.6 km New Year's Eve walk from Lovosice over the Košťál ruin to Třebenice. A morning hike with an afternoon train home.

We walk a short hike like this every New Year’s Eve. We spend the morning in the hills and are back in Prague by late afternoon. This corner of the western Středohoří suits that plan. It has eleven kilometres, one proper climb and trains at both ends.

From Lovosice the route leaves town through Vchynice under the flank of Lovoš and follows the field paths through Radostice towards the ridge. The main stop of the day is Košťálov. The bare cone with its ruin is visible from half the lower Ohře. On the summit we keep our New Year’s tradition. We make a small fire, drink a few beers and take the year’s last view. In December the light is low and the basalt is cold, and I like it that way.

The descent drops to Kololeč on the edge of Třebenice, where the train home runs on the Lovosice–Most line. Třebívlice is one stop further if you want a pub before the mainline connection.