Sixty Kilometres to Roztoky

A 59.8 km single-day endurance walk from Mělník to Roztoky, down the Vltava plain, with a café stop in Velvary and Okoř castle late in the day.

Sixty kilometres in one day is my longest walk so far, and a different sport from ordinary hiking. The route is deliberately flat. You get less scenery per kilometre, but you can actually cover the distance. It follows the Vltava plain south from Mělník, and the landmarks mark your progress. If you attempt it, treat it like the endurance event it is. Start early, plan your food stops and wear shoes you trust.

The first leg crosses the river at Brozánky and runs across the flat farm plain through Lužec nad Vltavou and Nová Ves to Velvary at kilometre 25. Café Záložna, in the renovated old bank on the square, was the stop I had planned for, and I was glad of it. The middle leg continues through Kralupy nad Vltavou, the industrial low point of the route. Get through it. Then the route climbs gently away from the river into the Zákolanský brook valley.

Okoř comes around kilometre 45. The ruin is famous from the campfire song, and it gave me a reason to keep going. From there the final stretch goes through Velké Přílepy and drops off the plateau to Roztoky u Prahy, where trains run often.