A Petrol-Station New Year
Máchův kraj · CHKO Kokořínsko – Máchův kraj · Point to point · hiked 31 December 2023
A 23.3 km New Year's Eve walk through the Máchův kraj — the rock castle of Jestřebí, a petrol-station lunch, and Starý Berštejn's basalt cone before the finish in Dubá.
A New Year’s Eve tradition entry: two castle ruins, empty winter country, and lunch wherever lunch can be found. The logistics hold even on December 31st — a train to the Zahrádky stop on the way out, a direct Prague bus home at the end.
From the Zahrádky stop the way passes through Zahrádky and climbs to the Pruský kámen, a small rock top above the valley, before dropping to Jestřebí — the castle carved into its sandstone block is the sight of the day, and the top earns you the view over the pond country. Plan food realistically here: on December 31st nothing in the village was open, and our festive lunch was a beer and a hot dog at the petrol station. It has become part of the route’s folklore.
The second half climbs steadily through Vrchovany onto the basalt cone of Starý Berštejn — the one real ascent, with walls and winter views over the whole rolling country — then drops into Dubá, where the bus back to Prague leaves from Nový Berštejn on the town’s edge.
Practical info
| Start | Zahrádky u České Lípy railway stop — by train |
|---|---|
| End | Nový Berštejn — by bus |
| Terrain | forest path |
| Food & water | petrol station in Jestřebí (shop , km 8 )
— beer and a hot dog when nothing else is open — New Year's Eve gastronomy |
| Links | Open route on Mapy.com |
| GPX | Download track |
On the way
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Zahrádky
A village south of Česká Lípa between the fire-gutted Renaissance chateau, the Peklo gorge of the Robečský potok and the Novozámecký pond bird reserve.
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Jestřebí
The ruin of a rock castle carved into a sandstone block above the village — founded by the Berkas of Dubá in the late 14th century, taken by the Hussites in 1426, freely accessible.
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Starý Berštejn
A 15th-century castle ruin of the lords of Dubá on the basalt cone of Berkovský vrch (481 m) — a landmark visible across the Dubá country.
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Dubá
A little town on the eastern edge of the Kokořínsko sandstone country that was once a leading hop region — its twin-towered hop kiln is the only one of its kind left in Bohemia.
