*A walk in the meadows above the scenic villages of Blatiny and Krátká in the Žďárské vrchy: 7 km*

• This is a popular but highly recommended circuit in the central part of the highland area of Žďárské vrchy. It takes in two pretty villages, Blatiny and Krátká, and the meadows in between, which are dotted with classic 19th century farmsteads, like the one pictured above. Krátká is actually a village conservation area and has a small museum in one of the old farmsteads, the Dům přírody.
• The route passes one of the iconic gneiss rock formations – Dráteničky – with rock towers over 30 metres tall. These are popular with climbers and it was here that local native and top Czech mountaineer, Radek Jaroš, honed his skills. Jaroš was the first Czech to scale all of the world 8000m peaks without oxygen. There is a monument to this elite mountaineer on the slopes below the rocks – see the first picture below.
• The route can be started in Blatiny (where there is a small parking area) or Krátká (where there is limited parking, but it is on a bus route). The route is mostly on good farm tracks and has no steep sections. There is around 170m of height to ascend-descend on the route. For refreshments, try the very well-known Kavárna Hofr, located in an old house in Blatiny (the service can be a bit odd, but it remains a local legend!).

Note: click ‘Show on Mapy.com’  to go to a full screen version of the route directly on the mapy.com site. This can be used for on line navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file.

Directions

• From Blatiny village, take the RED hiking trail in the direction of Dráteničky. The rocks are reached after 1 km
• At the Dráteničky junction, join the GREEN trail heading in the direction of Nad Samotín
• After 400m pass the monument (standing stone) to Radek Jaroš and continue for 1.1 km to reach the Nad Samotín junction
• At Nad Samotín , switch to the YELLOW trail to reach Krátká in 1.5 km
• From Krátká, continue on the YELLOW trail for a further 2 km to return back to Blatiny