Trails around Velký Roudný (780m), the tallest volcano in Nízký Jeseník: 3 km
- The Nízký Jeseník (Lower Jeseník) region is not just a borderland to be transited on the way to the tallest mountain range in Moravia. It has its own attractions for visitors, not least the sites evidencing the country’s relatively recent volcanic past. Less than 2 million years ago, the region hosted a number of very active volcanoes. The old craters, lava flows and ejected magma are still visible in the landscape close to Bruntál town.
- A marked educational trail, called Po vulkanitech (‘Around the volcanoes’) has been created to highlight the different sites, with detailed (Czech language) information boards. The trail is actually split into four separate and unconnected sections. To visit all the sites in one day, it is probably easiest to take a car and visit each site separately. A walk to the sites closest to Bruntál town (and the town itself) is described here.
- Some 15 km southeast of Bruntál town, lies the most prominent of the volcanic peaks in the area: Velký Roudný (780m). The longest section of the Po vulkanitech trail traverses the peak. Very keen volcanologists might be tempted to follow the whole trail (which has various side branches) but for those happy to to have a short walk to the top of this hill, the route shown below should suffice.
- On top of the hill there is a pilgrimage chapel built in 1933 and a wooden lookout tower, constructed in 2007. There is a fine view from the tower, looking towards the higher Jeseníky mountains and the Slezská Harta reservoir.
- Velký Roudný is actually quite steep on most of its flanks and the paths can be quite slippery after wet weather, so this is a walk best done in dry conditions. The circular route of 3.4 km shown below has exactly 200m of height to ascend/descend. For refreshments after the walk, there is a village pub 100m down the road from the parking area (map point 5).
Note: click ‘Show on map’ above to go to a full screen version directly on the mapy.cz site. This can be used for online navigation, saved or exported as a GPX file
Directions
- Start the walk in the village of Roudno (there are bus connections with Bruntál town and for drivers, here is a parking area next to the church)
- The nature trail (marked with green-white diagonal stripes) begins just 50 m along the road from the parking area
- The trail leads to the top of the hill in 1.3 km
- From the hill top, follow the trail down the opposite side of the hill to reach the public road after a further 1.3 km
- Turn right along the road to reach the church and parking area after 700m
