The Quiet Side of Kokořínsko

A 39.7 km solo traverse of the Kokořínsko's quiet eastern side, through timber-framed hamlets, past the Čap rock and the Ostré calvary to the finish in Úštěk.

Both ends are on railway lines, and that makes a solo day of nearly forty kilometres workable. You take the train in to Liběchov and the train home from Úštěk, with no car to come back for. The distance sounds worse than it is. The climbing comes in short valley steps, not real ascents.

From Liběchov the route follows the Liběchovka valley north through Želízy (the giant sculpted Devil’s Heads in the woods above are a short detour) and Tupadly. The hamlets after that are the heart of this route. Nové Osinalice and its neighbours are open-air museums of timber-framed and log houses, still lived in, with barely a tourist in sight. Past the Pustý zámek rock ruin and the villages of Zakšín and Pavličky the route reaches Čap. For my money it is the most interesting rock formation of the whole Kokořínsko, and its best view.

The final third leaves the plateau by Obrok and Skalka and crosses into the first hills of the Středohoří. It passes Ostré, the twin-peaked calvary hill I keep coming back to, and drops into Úštěk and its station.