In the footsteps of Karolina Světlá – an 8 km educational trail in the hills south of Ještěd

• Karolina Světlá is the pen name of a well known 19th century Czech author (whose real name was Johanna Rottová) who is considered the founder of the Czech village novel. Her most famous works are set in the Podještědí hills, near to Liberec, which she visited every summer for over 30 years.
• An interesting educational trail celebrating the author’s life and works starts and finishes in the village of Světlá pod Ještědem (where the author stayed each summer, and from which she took her pen name) . The trail circles around the attractive surrounding countryside on quiet country roads and easy footpaths, passing many of the 19th century timbered houses and landmarks that featured in her novels. There are a number of multilingual information boards on the route.
• One highlight of the walk is the remarkable rock dwelling carved out of sandstone rock, below the summit of the pyramid-shaped Mazova horka hill. The dwelling was still being lived in during the 19th century and features in one of Světlá’s short stories. A more modern monument is the huge buried figure of a giant in the Lesopark, next to the Golf club (the park itself was a bit run down, when last visited in August 2022, but the giant is fun!)
• Apart from the short (400m) climb up to rock dwelling the route is entirely on quiet country roads, which are manageable with a stroller – but the paths to/from the rock dwelling would need to be skipped in this case. The 7.8 km route has 200m of height different to ascend/descend. Refreshments may be available at the golf club which is directly on the route. Alternatively, try the Restaurace a penzion Svět pod Ještědem, which is a 300m detour off the educational trail.

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

• The trail starts in the village of Světlá pod Ještědem, which is connected by bus with Liberec. There is a small parking area in the center of the village, with only space for a few cars
• In the village center, join the GREEN hiking trail in the direction of Skalákovna. Follow this trail (which mirrors the route of the educational trail) for 5.7 km until reaching the junction of Skalákovna (note the buried giant is in the forest on the left side, opposite the golf course, 5 km after leaving Světlá pod Ještědem)
• At the Skalákovna junction (unless walking with a stroller, in which case carry on along the road) turn right uphill onto the green marked diversion path which leads after 450 m to the rock shelter
• Leaving the rock shelter, retrace the steps along the GREEN trail for 20m and then take the unmarked footpath to the right, which is a short cut leading to the Jiříčkov trail junction in 400m
• At the Jiříčkov junction take the YELLOW trail which leads back to Světlá pod Ještědem in 1.2 km