The Skanzen and the Kersko Pines

A 26.2 km flat spring walk through the Polabí, past the Přerov nad Labem skanzen, a burnt chapel on its hill, and Hrabal's Kersko pines.

The terrain here is as easy as it gets. You climb under 100 m all day, on field paths, forest lanes and levees. The only planning you need is a spring forecast and a train ticket. The sights come at regular intervals along the way.

From the Ostrá rail stop the route crosses the Labe flats to Přerov nad Labem. Plan the day around the skanzen there, the oldest open-air museum in the country. Give it an hour or two among the timbered cottages. After Starý Vestec the route crosses Břístevská hůra. The hill is low, but it is the only one, and from the chapel ruin on top you see the whole Labe plain.

Then the pines begin. Kersko fills the middle of the afternoon. You walk straight sandy lanes through Hrabal’s forest colony, past the mineral spring under its pavilion and cottages hidden in the trees. It is as quiet as his stories say. The last stretch leaves the woods through Velenka and Chrást to the Poříčany railway station. I ended the day at U Hroudů, the village pub by the station. It is a cheap old-style pub, and after 26 flat km I wanted nothing else.