Prague to Vienna on Foot: Two Days of Trails

September 12, 2014 • Leave a Comment

A series of posts following David and Gail as they walk 480 kilometers from Prague to Vienna.

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Having discovered the Czech trail system yesterday and still wary of following the busy roads surrounding Prague, we elected to follow a series of red and blue trails on our third day. Of the 24.78 kilometres walked, most were through highly picturesque wilderness. It seemed that, as soon as you might think you had come across the most beautiful scene imaginable, another awe-inspiring scene would come into view around the corner. On occasion, the trail also became a challenging scramble over rock faces, reminding me, both in appearance and effort of Canadian Shield hikes in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park. While we managed to avoid busy roads entirely, the trails did take longer to traverse. We arrived in Benesov quite late in the afternoon and had neither the time or energy to explore the city much further than our hotel. Fortunately, the trail took us on a round-about entry into the city, trying to show us as many sites as possible en route. The trail climbed around Konopiste Castle, the last residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the formal gardens of the castle and then on through to the centre of the city.

Benesov is not quite in the Greenway zone. It was a necessary diversion dictated by the seeming lack of accommodations along this stretch of the Greenway. Or the few pensions and other places to stay were already fully booked.

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Our next day was also entirely on trails. It was certainly just as scenic. But it was a grueling day of walking to be sure. Along with at least four kilometres lost due to missed trail markers and an impassable section of the trail requiring a longer road detour, there were some serious climbs as the trail makers seemed determined to show us every conceivable vista along the way. 848 meters of climbing, to be exact. 38.39 kilometres later, we straggled into Sedlčany in the dark with headlamps leading our way, happy to sit down for a baked trout dinner.

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