Two Days to Trosky

A Český ráj weekend in two short legs: over Tábor hill and its lookout tower to a night under the stars at Železnice, then past the Brada ruin and a train hop to Ktová to catch Trosky before closing time.

Two trains bracket this weekend: one to Lomnice nad Popelkou to start it, and a deliberately short one in the middle — the walking comes in two relaxed legs with a night under the open sky between them, so there is never a reason to hurry. Except once, at the very end, and that story comes below.

Day 1 — over Tábor to Železnice

The climb starts straight from the Lomnice nad Popelkou platform and tops out on Tábor at the Tichánkova rozhledna — and there is no reason to hurry, because the kilometres are few and the hill is most of them. The Hornychova chata next to the tower handles the refreshment stop before the 145 steps up. The rest of the day is a gentle descent south through Chlum and Kyje to Železnice, a small town with a pleasingly sleepy square — we rolled out sleeping bags under the stars nearby, with the rest of the weekend still ahead.

Day 2 — Brada, and a train to beat the clock

The morning leg goes from Železnice up past the Brada castle ruin — little masonry left, but a fine perch over the Jičín basin, and a good pub sits near it — and on to Jinolice. From there a short train hop to Ktová replaces road-walking with a head start on the afternoon’s real target.

From the Ktová railway stop the path climbs straight to the Trosky castle saddle in under half an hour, and the descent on the far side ends at the Borek pod Troskami stop. We arrived on that afternoon train with the castle’s closing time breathing down our necks — it worked, but give yourself more slack than we did if you want both towers.