Hrabal's Kersko

A 24.2 km flat Polabí walk from Lysá nad Labem through Hrabal's Kersko — lunch at the Hájenka — and on via Poříčany to Český Brod.

From the station at Lysá nad Labem the red waymark does the navigating for the first half of the day, leading through Litol and Semice straight into Kersko, Bohumil Hrabal’s pine-forest colony. Plan your lunch for the Hájenka — the Snowdrop Festival restaurant, where the film plays on a loop on the TV in the corner — and give yourself time to find Hrabal’s cottage among the lanes and fill a bottle at the mineral spring.

South of Kersko the route crosses open farmland through Velenka to Poříčany. The village pub U Hroudů is the honest fourth-price-category counterpoint to the Hájenka — a proper dive in the best Czech sense, and the last stop before the final leg.

The last kilometres run through Chrást and Klučov along the Šembera stream into Český Brod, arriving under the renaissance bell tower; the station is on the main Prague–Kolín line, with trains every few minutes.