A 10 km circuit in the Brdy hills starting at Zaječov, location of Bohemia’s first Augustinian monastery

• Zaječov is a village situated on the north-western edge of the Brdy upland hills area, close to the town of Hořovice. It is one of the more convenient access points for walks in the Brdy hills. For example, from Zaječov it is a 9 km hike to the summit of Tok (865m), the highest peak in Brdy. Various circular routes can be created into the hills, starting from the village center.
• The one shown below is one of easiest and shortest, but still gives a good taste of Brdy landscape: tranquil spruce forests covering rounded hills interspersed with occasional rocky outcrops and long stretches of formerly military roads that provide many options for walks of different lengths.
• The forests of Brdy are particularly scenic and tranquil in wintertime. On a weekday, it is possible to walk for hours without meeting a single soul. In the higher hills (above 600m or so) there is often snow cover for much of the winter. The paths can be icy at times, but none are particularly steep and when the snow is good there will be occasional cross county ski tracks.
• Zaječov is also interesting as the location of Bohemia’s first Augustinian monastery, founded in 1262 by the nobleman Oldřich Zajíc of Valdek. Valdek was a contemporary of (Saint) Agnes of Bohemia who founded the Franciscan order in Bohemia. The Zaječov monastery was an important pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages and suffered repeated devastation during the country’s religious wars, most notably during the 15th century Hussite conflict. It was rebuilt in a Baroque style during the 17th century and remains today an impressive (but usually inaccessible) monument.
• The suggested route is a 10 km circuit into the lower parts of the Brdy range, initially on farm tracks after passing the monastery, and then following one of the classic Brdy military roads. The slopes are all easy and there is 160m of height to ascend/descend on the route. There are no obvious refreshment spots on the route, apart from a grocery store close to the monastery.

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

• Start the walk in the center of Zaječov – there are bus connections from Hořovice. For drivers, there is a free parking area on the main street
• From the trail signpost the end of the village main street, take the YELLOW trail in the direction of Jalový potok
• After 200m pass the monastery on the left side and continue for 3.7 km on the YELLOW trail to reach the junction of Pod Růžkem
• At the junction, turn left onto the BLUE trail in the direction of Kvaň
• After 1 km the BLUE trail meets one of the former military roads
• Continue on the road, still following the BLUE trail for a further 900m until the BLUE trail turns sharply to the right, whereas the road continues straight on. Stay on the road – which is a marked cycle track
• Follow the road for a further 3 km until reaching the Dolní Kvaň junction
• At the junction, turn left onto the BLUE trail and follow this along the road for 1.2 km back to Zaječov center