A 70 km challenge: how many trips are needed to climb ALL TEN 800m peaks in the Brdy range?
- There are ten named peaks that exceed 800m in altitude in the wild Brdy highland area – the so called ‘brdské osmistovky‘. It has recently become quite a popular challenge to ‘capture’ (or ‘bag’) all of the peaks in a single walking season. A good question is: how many trips are actually needed to capture all ten peaks…? And then again perhaps someone might ask if all the summits could be claimed on a single hike…?
- Personally, if I wanted to capture all the peaks in the shortest possible time, but still have some pleasant and relaxed walking, I would probably tackle the challenge over three trips, each between 20 km and 25 km long.
- Six of the peaks are conveniently clustered together in the central section, near the second highest summit, Praha (862m) and can be captured on a single 25 km circular trip starting at Nepumuk.
- I would then combine a trip to the highest peak, Tok (865m), with the new nature trail circling the former military impact area below Jordán peak (826m). This 25 km route is a personal favorite Brdy hike.
- Finally, I would plan to capture the last two peaks, the rocky summits of Třemšín (827m) and Nad Maráskem (805m), on a 21 km route starting in Chynín. A slightly longer, but more varied route to these two summits starts in Míšov (the walk write up will follow soon!)
- For those tempted by the ‘ultimate Brdy challenge’ of claiming all ten peaks on a single hike, starting and finishing at the same (easily accessible) spot, a suggested route is shown in the map below. This route is around 70 km long, with close to 1600m of height to ascend/descend. In theory, super fit walkers might get it done in 14 to 15 hours.
- The suggested starting point is the village of Věšín, 3 km outside Rožmitál pod Třemšínem on the 19 main road that crosses the highland region. Věšín has good bus connections and a nice pension-restaurant, the Jaro, which is an excellent option for an overnight stay or celebratory post-hike meal.
- An alternative start point (directly on the proposed walking route) is the village of Míšov on the opposite side of the range. Míšov is also easily accessible on the 19 main road, with good bus connections. Míšov has accommodation options and a popular grill snack bar – which is worth noting if starting in Věšín as there are no restaurants or huts serving refreshments in the higher hills.
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 – not given in our usual format due to the complexity and length of the route!
- Note, most of the summits and viewpoints on this walk are short diversions from the main hiking trails on unmarked footpaths. It is therefore best to follow the route using a good map, or the mapy.cz phone application
