Behind the beauty of the Šumava plains
The Šumava plains form the center of the Šumava plains and offer a number of interesting tourist destinations. The nice thing about them is that you are in the mountains and you don't actually have to walk uphill anywhere :-) The plains are spread out on a plateau. Its area is 670 km² and the average altitude is around 1000 m above sea level
Ducal Plains
This is real the heart of the Šumava plains you can't miss it. Views of the peaceful landscape and fragments of history in defunct villages await you here. Knížecí Pláně, founded at the beginning of the 19th century, used to be a village with about 500 inhabitants. With the removal of the inhabitants of German nationality after the Second World War, they met the same fate as other villages in the borderland; the village was practically depopulated and then definitively disappeared with the creation of the border zone. Today we can find here a restored cemetery, a cross in the place where the church stood (it was also destroyed by the soldiers in the 2s) and somewhat surprisingly, accommodation in a boarding house The garden :-)
We can go on a nice trip towards Knížecí Plána following the yellow tourist sign from the village Borová Lada. Among other things, we will pass through the I. zone of the National Park in places where the tourist route crosses extensive peatlands Beech bog. We will then return to Borová Lady along cycle route No. 1040. The whole not very demanding trip with minimal elevation gain will take no more than 4 to 5 hours, we will cover 12 km.
To the source of the Vltava
It is best to go to the source (or sources) of the Vltava from the village Kvilda. From the signpost near the church, follow the blue tourist sign Kvilda meadows all the way to the forest, where most of our journey will lead against the current of Teplá Vltava. So we continue through the forest (on whose spruce monocultures the bark beetle has left its mark in places) further along the blue road until we reach the very springs of the Vltava.
And here we come to the contradictory source vs. springs. The Vltava actually rises in a bog, from where a lot of slush flows into larger trickles, but everything is so changeable and unstable that it is simply impossible to determine one real source. It was built artificially - here we will see a well guarded by a wooden statue holding a key - we can throw a coin into the well, take a photo with the statue and move on.
The circuit back to Kvilda will take us through the village Beech tree. There we will continue from the source of the Vltava to the red one, where we have to take into account the only major climb of our trip, the hike to the top of Stráž. But a reward awaits us in the village of Bučina - you can have refreshments here in the highest hotel in the Czech Republic – of the Alpine View Hotel. In front of the hotel, we can also enjoy the view of a replica of the Iron Curtain watchtower. Cycle route No. 331 will then take us back to Kvilda from Bučina.
The entire length of the route leads along paved and even asphalt paths. It is therefore also suitable for cyclists and we will not encounter a problem here even with a stroller. We will walk about 16 km in total.
Vchynicko-Tetovský canal and Trijezerní Slať
The Vchynicko-Tetovský canal, built at the very end of the 18th century on the Schwarzenberg estate, was used to float wood between rivers Otter a Diatomaceous earth. In this way, the unnavigable section of the Vydra was overcome and the wood could travel further inland from Šumava. The entire canal, with several water reservoirs and banks still connected by original stone bridges, is protected as technical monument.
We will set out along the Vchynicko-Tetovské canal from the parking lot near the replica of the historical one of the Rechle gate bridge near the village Modrava. This bridge, completely restored in 2000, currently "only" spans the river Otter. However, its original no less important task was also the removal of floating wood from the course of the unnavigable river into the Vchynicko-Tetovské canal. From the bridge, we continue along the canal along the nature trail to the Hakešická cesta signpost. On the way, we occasionally see the meanders of the Vydra River on the right side and pass the former royal court and settlement Antýgl, at one time a glass factory (today we mainly find accommodation facilities here). At the Hakešická cesta signpost, take the blue road to the left. Here we are faced with a fairly steep climb to the yellow tourist sign, which will lead us to Three-lake marshes – a mountain plateau with three lakes and heather. From Trijezerní sláta, we go down cycle route No. 2122 to the red tourist sign and through the valley Roklan stream we will reach Modrava. From Modrava, you can return to the parking lot by the Rechle bridge by road.
The entire route (including the return along the road from Modrava to the parking lot) measures less than 15 km and also follows cycle paths, so it can be completed by bicycle and again with a stroller.
From Horská Kvilda to Čeňková sawmill
Z Mountain Kvildy we set off following the blue tourist sign through the valley Hamerské brook up to Royal court Antýgl. The Hamerský stream used to be a gold-bearing stream, and its beauty is almost equal to that of its bigger sister, the Otter, which swallows it right below Antýgle. The blue marker will guide us through its more predatory part, because downstream from Horská Kvilda, the previously calm stream becomes wilder and makes its way through the valley.
From Antýgl we continue to NS Povydří up to Čeňk sawmill. River Otter it is called the most beautiful Czech river, and probably rightly so. The riverbed of the Vydra is full of large boulders smoothed by the power of the river current. Those in which the eddies of the river have carved larger or smaller depressions are called giant pots. Along the way through the river valley, we can also see other stone formations - wobbles (the ground only touches the surface by a small part, they seem to wobble) and also stone fields.
Our trip ends in a settlement Chenek's saw, where we can view right away two hydroelectric plants. The older one, from 1912, was rebuilt from the original sawmill built here at the end of the 19th century by businessman Čeňek Bubeníček. On the opposite bank of the river is the second hydroelectric power plant, Vydra. It is also part of the Vydra power plant Exposition of Šumava Energy, which gives us an insight into the history of hydropower in Šumava.
The entire route is a little over 10 km long and runs along paved roads. However, the Povydří educational trail is not accessible to cyclists. We can use bus transport from the village of Čeňkova Pila.
