Raná

A bare three-topped steppe ridge of 457 m — a national nature reserve with a ground-squirrel colony, and the historic cradle of Czech gliding, its slopes still full of paragliders.

Raná is the bare, triple-topped hill that rises straight from the Louny plain, and it lives two lives at once. As a national nature reserve it protects true steppe — feather grass, spring adonis and one of the country’s strongest colonies of the European ground squirrel, which whistles at walkers from the short turf. As a flying hill it has few equals: gliding schools trained here from the 1930s, and on any workable day the slopes launch a carousel of paragliders you can watch from arm’s length on the summit path.

The open ridge walk over the three tops is short, steep and all view — Oblík and its companions east, the Krušné hory wall north. Stay on the paths; the steppe and the squirrels are the point of the protection.