Stage 15 of the Cyril & Methodius trail: from Tišnov to Vranov – 25 km to 32 km

The Cyril & Methodius route is a series of interlinked hiking trails connected with the life and mission of the 9th century Byzantine missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius. The route was established by the Council of Europe in 2021 and now comprises over 5,000 km of trails, spanning 10 countries. The Saints – who were brothers – are most famous for helping bring Christianity to the Slavic lands. They are most closely associated with the Great Moravian Empire, where Methodius became the first Archbishop.
The Czech Republic has six different Cyril & Methodius trails, all of which end at the pilgrimage site of Velehrad, in the eastern Moravian Zlín region. Velehrad was (in folk tradition) the seat of Methodius after he became archbishop. It is also the site of Moravia’s first Cistercian monastery. The Bohemian-Moravian trail runs for approximately 420 km between the site of the first Bohemian church, at Levý Hradec and Velehrad.
Stage 15 of the Bohemian-Moravian trail is somewhat awkward, primarily because there is no ideal hiking route between the start and finish points, Tišnov and Vranov u Brna. The official 25 km trail zig-zags cross country, spending quite a lot of time in the forested hills to the north of Brno, resulting in substantial climbing (over 700m of height gain). There are more direct options, using cycle paths and public roads, which theoretically can reduce the trip to around 20 km, with less than 400m of height gain. However, these are not particularly attractive routes and so are not described below.
A further downside of the official path is that it passes close to some interesting sights and viewpoints, without actually visiting them. With these drawbacks in mind, the author has one of two suggestions for tackling Stage 15; either take the shortest route available and spend the time gained exploring Vranov at the end of the stage, or make this a ‘big day’ and divert to see a few of the interesting sights along the way. This latter option is described below and shown in the map.
The starting point -Tišnov- is of course the sight of the remarkable Porta Coeli Cistercian monastery. As this is passed at the end of Stage 14 and is in the opposite direction from the Stage 15 paths, it isnot further described here. Heading out of Tišnov, the first sight worth diverting to is the Klucanina tower. The original wooden tower, dating from 1934, was rebuilt in 2003 and it offers super views from the top. It is open year round.
The trail then heads into the hills, passing an interesting memorial to partisans who fell during World War II in these forests. Many seem to have been of Yugoslav origin. Close by are the romantic ruins of Turmačov castle (essentially the remains of one tower). Sometimes called ‘Moravia’s smallest castle’, Turmačov probably dates from the end of the 13th century and was abandoned sometime in the 15th century.
After passing through the old village of Skalička, the trail then heads more or less directly towards Vranov. However, it is worthwhile diverting to visit the unique rock ridge of Babí lom, made up of quartz rocks and pebbles deposited (and then cemented together) in a depression on the sea bed during the Devonian period, some 400 million years ago. The extremely tough quartz rock of Babí lom successfully resisted erosion during subsequent geological periods, while the surrounding softer rocks were washed away, leaving the exposed ridge. During the ice ages of the last 2 million years, the ridge was broken (through successive freeze/thaw cycles) into bizarrely shaped spiky rock towers.
The route shown in the map below simply visits the end of the ridge – and the Babí lom viewpoint. With extra time, walkers might consider exploring the full length of the ridge. The strenuous footpath dates back to the 1860’s. From the viewpoint, the trail heads toward the end point, the important pilgrimage site of Vranov.
Vranov is dominated by the majestic Pauline monastery and connected church which were constructed in the early 17th century by the noble Liechtenstein family, who acquired significant estates in Moravia as a consequence of their support for the Habsburg empire during the 30 Years War. The Paulán brothers returned to the monastery in 1992 and began to turn the estate into a Spiritual Center.
In 1633, a family tomb was founded in the grounds of the Vranov monastery by Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein. The tomb was reconstructed in the Classicist style in the early 19th century. Fourteen Liechtenstein Princes (and 48 immediate family members) were buried there, up until 1938. The family remains the ruler of the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Vranov tomb therefore appears to be the only known (European) case of rulers of one State being buried in another. The tomb (as well as other Liechtenstein Czechoslovak properties) were expropriated at the end of WWII under the Beneš Decrees.
With the diversions described above, the total route is around 30 km long (one unnecessary diversion into the hills on the ‘official’ path near Svinošice village – map point 7 – is skipped, saving 2 km). This is quite a strenuous day with 750 of height to ascend and nearly 600m to descend.
Fortunately, there are various good refreshment spots along the way. Around the halfway point there is the seasonally open Bufet U Janči in Skalička (map point 6). In Lipůvka (map point 7) try the award winning Tomivo ice cream and on the approach to Vranov there is a unique self service bar (map point 11). In Vranov itself, try the well known local pub, Hospůdka Bylo Nebylo, which includes its own bakery products on the menu.

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 Tišnov train station, join the YELLOW trail heading to the main square after 700m and there join the BLUE trail heading towards Klucanina
The Klucanina tower is reached after 2.1 km. From there join the YELLOW trail for 1.4 km to join the GREEN trail at Tišnov – hřbitov
Continue for 4 km on the GREEN trail as far as the Stanovisko junction. There, join the BLUE trail for 3.7 km heading towards the Partyzánský památník
At the partisan monument, there is the option of continuing on the BLUE trail for a further 1.7 km to see the ruins of Turmačov castle
From the ruins, join the cycle path heading downhill to join with the GREEN trail which leads into Skalička village
From Skalička, remain on the GREEN trail for 5 km to reach Lipůvka
In Lipůvka, take the side road leading past the Tomivo ice cream for 1.8 km to join up with the YELLOW trail at the Svinošice junction
At the Svinošice junction take the YELLOW trail for 3.6 km to reach the U studánky junction and there join the BLUE trail with leads up to the Babí lom ridge
Afzter a visit to the viewpoint, join the RED trail which leads directly to Vranov after 3.7 km