A circular route following the Radotínský potok mill trail, starting in Chýnice: 10 km

• This is a circular version of a one way route along the Radotínský stream which was written up a couple of years ago. The most significant change since the earlier route was described is that the pub in the starting village, Chýnice, has been renovated and as of 2025 has new management. The pub serves good food and so it is now worth considering making the circular trip and returning for refreshments in Chýnice at the end of walk!
• The Radotínský potok is an apparently minor stream located to the south west of Prague. At its widest, the stream is little more than a couple of meters across, but in earlier ages it managed to power more than twenty ancient water mills on its short journey to meet the Berounka river. Several of these old mills have recorded histories back to the 17th century, but some are likely to have a considerably older origin, with interior Gothic features still visible. There is a marked trail (with information boards outside each of the mills) along the whole 22 km route from Úhonice to Radotín, but the most scenic part of the route is the path between the village of Chýnice and Maškův mlýn.
• Between Chýnice and Choteč villages, on a promontory above the stream, there is a mysterious hillfort, the Hradiště Choteč, whose ramparts are still visible, but have not yet been reliably dated to a specific period. It is considered most likely a Slavic construction, but it is also possible the fortification was created in the Bronze or Iron Age as a refuge for villagers farming the fertile valley. It has yet to be fully excavated.
• The route passes through the village of Choteč, which dates from the medieval period, and is overlooked by its striking 17th century Baroque church. Just outside Choteč, the route passes the Mlýn U Veselých, which still has functioning early 20th century mill equipment, and sells its freshly ground flour, usually on Thursday and Saturday afternoons.
• The total length of the route is just over 10 km (including an optional short diversion to the Hradiště) and involves 120m of ascent/descent. Some of the footpaths are quite narrow and can get very muddy after wet weather.

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

• Note: half of this walk is on unmarked footpaths and is best followed using the mapy.com phone application or a good paper map
• Start the walk at the Chýnice war memorial (buses to Chýnice can be caught from Luka metro or Zlíčín). There is no car park in Chýnice, but there are occasional spaces along the main street leading up from the pub. The pub is 150m down the road from the bus stop
• At the war memorial, join the RED trail for 400m towards the forest along farm track
• Just as the path starts to descend, the RED trail branches to the right (this branch is not easily spotted). At this point leave the RED trail and continue on the farm track gently downhill past Dubečský mlýn (which has an information board on the left side just after passing the stable building) and then curve up the hill on a narrow, often muddy, footpath
• After 1.2 km the path emerges from the forest area and levels out. At the junction, turn right onto the farm track, which leads anticlockwise around the large rectangular field
• Follow this path for 500m until there is a wide turn to the right. This path – which is very straight – leads directly after 400m to the entrance of the hillfort, at the edge of the ridge above the stream. This is an optional ‘there and back’ diversion. If skipping this, stay on the farm track
• Continue of the track util it reaches the public road. Turn right onto the road. After 100m the farm track continues across the fields. Take the track and stay on it for 1.4 km until joining with the BLUE hiking trail at map point 7
• Turn right on to the BLUE trail, which leads downhill to reach the Kalinův Mlýn junction after 900m
• At Kalinův Mlýn turn right onto the RED trail, which leads to Mlýn U Veselýchafter 1.1 km
• Continue on the RED trail directly back to Chýnice, reached after 2.5 km