Žítková to Karolinka, 75 km
Not for the first - or last - time on my Circuit Ride, I’m confronted with a cycle trail that’s too rough to ride. A short while back I had to squelch through a waterlogged section where some huge forestry vehicle had gouged great muddy ruts out of the ground. And now I’m on a rocky, rooty chute that’s so stupidly steep I’ve had to dismount again and clamber down on foot. I’d be struggling on a full-suspension downhill bike, never mind on this touring machine of mine. I’m not too proud to get off and push uphill where necessary, but, dammit, I do resent having to walk downhill.
The “cycle trail” near the Pulčín Rocks
Sign outside an animal pen at Hotel Kopanice
The view from breakfast
Breakfast at Hotel Kopanice in Žítková came with a side order of a fine vista across the surrounding White Carpathian hills. I’d slept well and was feeling surprisingly good after the previous day’s extreme exertions. I cycled out of the village in the company of two squabbling goldfinches. The road was flat for a while, with lovely views down to the border road, but then lurched up and turned into a rough trail as the forest engulfed me. I went at least half an hour without seeing anyone except a pair of cyclists coming in the opposite direction. Eventually I bounced out onto a proper road leading down to the small town of Pitín.
View back down to Pitín
I struck east along the main highway, sharing the rolling road with lorries and other big vehicles for the first time on this stage of my trip. At one point I even outpaced a tractor up a hill. On the outskirts of Brumlov-Bylnice, I gratefully turned off the busy road onto a new cycle path running alongside the Brumovka stream. This brought me out below Brumov castle, which I reached at about midday. If you, however, were to arrive at midnight, you might see the long-dead lord of the castle riding around - as he is said to do - in a chariot drawn by fire-breathing horses.
Brumov castle, clearly
After a
lunch of pizza in Valašské Klobouky (which translates, amusingly, as “Wallachian
Hats”; you can buy one for yourself here if the fancy takes you). I continued along the main road and then turned right under a railway line to
start the long climb to Pulčín, the highest village in Valašsko (the Moravian
Wallachia region). On the way up I came across a rather odd roadside memorial
listing all the dead former residents of the village of Horní Lideč, which lies
in the valley below. Soon after, the tarmac ended and I was back on the
bumpy stuff.
On the climb to Pulčín
After a couple of miles of climbing I came out on the road that winds through Pulčín, best known for its romantic sandstone rock formations. There used to be a castle here, although all that is left of it today is stairways in the rocks. According to a local legend, a knight named Bočkaj hid his treasure there. On the feast of St John the Baptist, the sun shines directly on the spot leading underground. The rocks are only accessible by foot, but I caught a glimpse of them from the cycle trail above the village.
Pulčín rocks!
It was in the deep forest here that I hit the uncyclable track described in the preamble. It’s a quietly beautiful part of the world, this, but the cycling infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired - some of the roads and trails are in a very poor state. Just as I was beginning to despair, I came out on a lovely smooth road in the village of Zděchov. I stopped to knock the mud out of the soles of my boots then descended serenely to the River Bečva at Huslenky.
The Bečva valley
You see, they can do it round here when they want to! A fabulous dedicated cycleway winds up the picturesque Bečva valley between Vsetín and Velké Karlovice. Not surprisingly, I found it busy with folks of all ages out cycling in the afternoon sunshine. Within an hour I was entering the glass-making town of Karolinka, my destination for the day. Meanwhile, in Longwy, France, Slovak superstar Petr Sagan was winning the third stage of the 2017 Tour de France. It would be Slovakia for me tomorrow.
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