The Kozí hory and Libčice mining trail (with option to visit the Karel Čapek memorial) – 18 km to 26 km

• The small town Nový Knín, situated between Dobříš and the Slapy reservoir, is one of only four royal gold mining towns established in the Middle Ages. It is an ancient town, first known in history as the location where the Knínský Peace Treaty was signed in 1186, which bound the territory of Moravia to the Bohemian crown lands. In the town square, in one of the splendid Baroque houses, the town museum has an exhibition covering the gold mining activities in the area.
• The river Kocába runs through the town the town and it was presumably through panning for precious stones in the river that the presence of gold in the low hills around the river was discovered – possibly by the Celts towards the end of the first millennium BC.
• Two nature trails explore the gold mining areas around Nový Knín. The shorter (10 km) trail explores the hills northeast of the town, while a longer trail heads to the southwest to explore the area around the villages of Kozí hory and Libčice. These hills are known for their complex geological history, created by volcanic intrusions more than 500 million years ago. The rocks are lined with veins of quartz, occasionally bearing seams of gold. Gold mining – often in very deep mines – occurred in the area from the Middle Ages through to the 20th century.
• The Kozí hory and Libčice mining trail is 18 km long, assuming a start in the center of Nový Knín. There is a small parking area in the main square or if taking public transport, there are regular buses from Smíchov train station in Prague. The trail has a number of information boards in Czech and English discussing the geology of different mining sites. The trail is in very pleasant open countryside and attractive forests and is recommended even for non-mining enthusiasts!
• There is an option to extend the trip with a visit to see the Karel Čapek memorial (for the standalone visit to this site, see the following page). There is a separate nature-educational trail associated with the life of this famous Czech author, which can be combined with the mining trail to create a long walk of over 26 km. This is the route shown below. Note that there is a large parking area next to the Čapek memorial and this can be used to reduce the full circuit to around 22km.
• On the full 26 km walk, there is just over 500m of height to ascend-descend, none of which is on steep trails. The paths are a mix of forest and meadow footpaths with some sections of asphalt on quiet roads. The route does not have any refreshment options, other than a (pleasant) kiosk bistro in the Karel Čapek memorial. There are also a couple of restaurants in Nový Knín.

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

• Starting in Nový Knín main square, join the YELLOW hiking trail heading in the direction of Kozý hory, which is reached after 2.4 km
• At the Kozý hory junction leave the YELLOW trail to continue on the nature trail (marked with blue-white triangle markers), heading uphill to reach the public road after 1.5 km near the village of Chramiště
• On reaching the public road, turn left to continue on the nature trail through Chramiště and on to reach the Na Zlatnici junction just outside the village of Libčice
• At the junction turn right continuing to follow the nature trail markings – do NOT continue into the village along the BLUE hiking trail
• Continue on the nature trail following the blue-white diagonal markers for 6.4 km until rejoining the BLUE hiking trail 1 km southwest of Chramiště. Here, if wanting to extend the trip with the Karel Čapek trail, turn left onto the BLUE hiking trail (leaving the Kozí hory and Libčice mining trail at this point). If wanting only to do the mining trail, continue to follow the nature trail nearly back to Chramiště and then turn left to follow the outbound trail back to Nový Knín
• For the full route, after turning left onto the BLUE hiking trail (heading away from Chramiště village), continue for 2.2 km to reach the U Čtvrtého hamru junction
• At the U Čtvrtého hamru junction join the Karel Čapek nature trail – this is best followed with a map (preferably on the mapy.cy application) as the route can be confusing at times
• Follow the nature trail anticlockwise by remaining on the BLUE hiking trail for 2.6 km to reach the Strž u Staré Huti junction (where the parking for the Čapek memorial is located)
• At the Strž u Staré Huti, turn left to reach the Čapek house and muesum after 500m
• From the museum continue on the nature trail anticlockwise (best followed with a map) to return back to the U Čtvrtého hamru junction after 3 km
• At the junction join the YELLOW trail which leads directly back to Nový Knín after 5.5 km