Winter in Czech Siberia

A 26.9 km winter crossing of Czech Siberia — the Miličín Kalvárie, the solitary Votický javor, and hamlets between Střezimíř and Heřmaničky.

Česká Sibiř — “Czech Siberia” — is what this stretch of uplands between Tábor and Votice has been called for a century, and a February walk here shows why the name stuck: open ridges around 600–700 m, wind with nothing to slow it, and villages built low against the weather. The route crosses the region’s heart from the Střezimíř rail stop to Heřmaničky, with the climbing spread evenly the whole way.

The first goal is Miličín on the old Prague–Tábor road, and above it the Kalvárie — the Way of the Cross climbing to the octagonal chapel at 698 m, the signature viewpoint of the whole region. From there the route rolls through Mysletice to the hamlet of Amerika, where a surprisingly good restaurant makes the natural lunch stop. A detour worth taking stands on the bare hill beyond: the Votický javor, a solitary sycamore on the old gallows hill with the region’s best legend and a wide view towards Brdy.

The way home passes the old tvrz at Kouty and the chateau village of Smilkov, then drops through Karasova Lhota to the rail stop at Heřmaničky — a walk of small, spaced rewards, at its best in exactly the bleak weather the region is named for.