An easy walk to the Nová Louka hunting lodge above Bedřichov in the Jizerské hory: 6 km

• Bedřichov is the classic entry point for visitors to the Jizerské hory, whether cross country skiing in winter or biking and hiking for the rest of the year. The village has good bus connections with Liberec and Jablonec, extensive (paid) parking areas and an increasing number of pensions and restaurants for those staying longer than a day.
• An excellent introduction to the lovely terrain around Bedřichov is the easy 3 km trail along the first section of the trail used for the famous Jizerská 50 cross country ski race. This leads to the scenic meadows of Nová Louka where the legendary Riedel glass making family constructed a forest factory in the 18th century, under the sponsorship of the local noble Clam-Gallas family. After the site was abandoned as a glass making center, the Clam-Gallas’ converted the Riedel residential house into a hunting lodge. Today, that lodge is a popular (and very attractive) pension and restaurant.
• On 29 July 1897, the local meteorological station at Nová Louka measured 345 mm of rainfall, which is possibly still a Central European daily rainfall record. The storms at the end of that July in northern Bohemia caused massive and widely publicized damage – reports even appeared in the 31 July 1897 edition of the New York Times.
• The hiking trail that leads directly to Nová Louka follows a good mountain road, without steep sections, and can be navigated with a stroller. There is just over 100m height to ascend/descend on the route. Make a point to stop for refreshments at the lodge, which has extensive indoor and outdoor seating areas.

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 the central parking area next to Bedřichov – stadium, take the YELLOW in the direction of Nová Louka, which is reached directly in 3 km
• Return back along the same trail, unless wanting to create a longer tour (for example taking the BLUE trail to Kristiánov and returning to Bedřichov along the RED trail – this is an 8 km return journey)