On the trail of trilobites: Skryje, Týřov and the Berounka river – a 6 km walk

• The small village of Skryje, located on the Berounka river, some 25km west of Beroun, is a world famous fossil location. Even today, walkers on the trails from the village down to the river can discover one of the 20,000 different species of trilobite, that lived in the warm Cambrian seas more than 500 million years ago.
• The site was discovered by the legendary 19th century French engineer and paleontologist, Joachim Barrande. Barrande was tutor to the French King Charles X’s grandson and accompanied the royal family to Prague when they were exiled from France in 1830. In the 1840’s, Barrande was commissioned to design a horse drawn railway along the Berounka river. The railway was never built, but during the research process Barrande identified various sites that revealed rich marine fossils from the earliest periods of complex marine life.
• Skryje now hosts a small museum dedicated to Barrande’s work, as well as a collection of marine fossils from the area, including many forms of trilobite. A 2km marked trail with information boards leads around many of the famous trilobite fossil sites – come equipped with a small hammer if wanting to try to discover a new species! The village is also a conservation zone with attractive examples of 18th and 19th century timbered folk architecture.
• Just 1.5 km along the river from Skryje bridge, on a rocky knoll, lie the ruins of the medieval castle of Týřov. Founded by the Přemyslid king Václav (Wenceslas) I in the first half of the 13th century, Týřov was one of the strongest and most important stone castles built during this period. It was briefly used to imprison Václav’s own son, the future king Ottakar II, who later became arguably the most powerful Bohemian king of all time. Týřov was considered impregnable in the High Middle Ages. Alone in this region, this royal castle remain unconquered during the 15th century Hussite Wars.
• The castle was left to decline from the end of the 16th century onwards, and today is little more than two ruined towers in an encroaching forest landscape. The steep ascent to the romantic and desolate ruins is definitely worthwhile. There is a fine view over the Berounka from the last tower. The museum in Skryje also has a section covering the castle’s history.
• The combined trilobite trail and walk to Týřov and back is just 5.5 km long, with 200m of height gained/lost. There are some relatively steep narrow sections on both paths, and the final section up to the castle ruin is a bit of a scramble (but worth it). For refreshments, there are a couple of restaurant/pubs in Skryje and just over the bridge below the the village, an occasional weekend pub opens in summer, close to the river (map point 8).

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 the trilobite trail at the Barrande museum in the center of Skryje village. There is a paid parking area 100m from the museum. Skryje is on bus routes from Beroun, Rakovník and Křivoklát
• From the museum, follow the RED hiking trail back through the village to the main road and at the trail junction, continue on the RED trail in the direction of Skryje most
• The trail crosses open meadows for 600m to reach a viewpoint and then descends quite steeply on the right side of the stream – there is a trilobite hunting site part way down the trail
• The trail reaches the river bank 500m after the viewpoint. Here (if continuing on to see the Týřov castle ruin) turn right onto the YELLOW trail
• The trail follows beside the Berounka, before turning away to follow a minor stream and then ascending steeply to the ruin, which is reached after 1.6 km
• Return back the same way and take a moment to enjoy the views up and downstream while standing on the Skryje bridge (note – the occasional meadow pub is on the far side to the left of the bridge)
• Return back to Skryje along the return leg of the trilobite trail, which follows the BLUE hiking trail
• Skryje village is reached in 1 km from the bridge – there are further trilobite fossil sites along this return route