A 3 km walk around the prehistoric fortifications above the Šembera river

• The Šembera is a small Central Bohemian river that flows for 28 km into the Labe (Elbe) close to Nymburk. Despite its small size, the river appears to have been an important territorial marker in prehistoric periods and there are several important ancient hillforts close to the river. Certainly, the first Slavic tribes, which arrived in Bohemia from the 6th century AD onwards, favored this part of the country. Some of the earliest Slavic sites in Bohemia are found in this area.
• One of these early Slavic sites was constructed on a rocky escarpment above the river, close to today’s village of Doubravčice. It is simply known as ‘Staré zámky’ (Old Castles). In fact the site had been fortified long before the Slavs arrived – potentially in both the late Bronze and early Iron Ages. The massive ramparts and ditch are obvious even in the dense forest. The site is surrounded by massive granite boulders that are characteristic of this part of central Bohemia. In the 14th century part of the site was refortified by the Cistercian order, but was destroyed during the Hussite wars of the following century.
• If touring by car in the area, then it is possible to park in a large marked forest parking area, and ascend the steep slopes of the fortress and then circle back to the parking, along the most scenic section of river Šembera, where the waters cascade over large granite rocks. This 3.1 km route has only 80m of ascent-descent, but the forest paths are quite narrow and steep in places.
• For a longer walk, which passes along the river below the hill fort, take a look at the one way 14 km walk down the first half of the historic Šembera valley towards Český Brod.

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 at the parking area located on a side road 2 km to the east of the village of Doubravčice
• Follow the YELLOW hiking trail on the direction of Šember
• Stay on the YELLOW trail at the junctions and climb up to reach the fortification area in 1.1 km
• Decend steeply for 400m from the fortress area to reach the junction with the RED trail near the river. Turn sharply right onto the RED trail
• Follow the RED trail for 1.6 km along the scenic river to return back to the car park