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Czech routes

If there is anyone out there with experience traveling the Czech routes, I would appreciate hearing from you. I am interested in which guidebook you used and how you obtained information about the route. Any bibliography on the topic would be greatly appreciated. thanks, Rafael in Montana
 
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We travelled from Prague to Tilyschantz, Germany a few years ago. There was no official St James route but the Czechs have excellent marked hiking routes and we found a recommended sequence of hiking trails from a German website. I understand that they have now been made official and that there are a few guidebooks, also in German.

Check Peter Robbins excellent site for some info on them---I see he has two google earth files listed. PM me for details on our trip---it was very nice there.

http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk/routes/mapping.html
 
there are now 3 St James routes
http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk/routes ... ittau.html
http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk/routes ... pomuk.html
http://pilgrim.peterrobins.co.uk/routes ... eroun.html
which are all adapted from the existing trail network. There's detailed mapping for all three on my website. (You can get the Czech digital mapbase by changing e.g. "google" to "cz" in the url, e.g. http://maps.peterrobins.co.uk/cz/overview/beroun.html - I've not made this 'official' in my website yet, as I'm unclear on whether accessing their maps is chargeable or not, and public access may be turned off at any time!)

I walked Zittau-Prague-Passau quite a few years ago, long before there was any thought of creating Jacobean routes; but my route only partly corresponded with the Jacobean routes. As newfydog says, the trail network is excellent; maps are also good (as is the beer).
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
If there is anyone out there with experience traveling the Czech routes, I would appreciate hearing from you. I am interested in which guidebook you used and how you obtained information about the route. Any bibliography on the topic would be greatly appreciated. thanks, Rafael in Montana
 
I would like to someday walk from Prague, where I have never been, to Konstanz, where I have been only once as the starting point of a walk across Switzerland. I speak neither Czech nor German. Is this a crazy plan? Would it be doable? Did you make your trip in Czechoslovakia?
 
Hi, my husband and I walked the Czech Greenways, a collection of trails connecting Prague with Vienna, it was superb. We got maps from Kiwi Maps in Prague, we needed 4 or 5 trail maps to cover the area. They were fantastic. The signage in Czeski is brilliant, red, blue, yellow and green trails are in colours on the maps and there are red, blue, yellow and green markers with distances all over the country corresponding to the maps. No guidebooks as such. Our walk shows on my blog. www.gittiharre.blogspot.co.nz
We did not speak a word of Czech, but managed to get by nonetheless. People were really kind and went out of their way to help us.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
The Czech pilgrims association has a website here: http://www.ultreia.cz/ but you may need to use Google translate to read it. Here is a good overview about the routes in the CR http://www.ultreia.cz/svatojabuska_cesta/camino-santiago/trasy-v-cechach/ The bold ones are those that are way-marked and 'official' and the thin ones are those under construction. The ones I have seen (I live in Prague btw) are very well and thoroughly marked but pilgrim specific accommodation is rare, but pensions are cheap ...
There is, as far as I know only a couple of German guidebooks out about these routes, but nothing in English and also the German ones are pretty outdated.
If anybody needs some help, like with getting a Czech credencial, I will do my best - just shoot me a PM or reply here.

Buen Camino, SY

PS Czechoslovakia doesn't exist any more since 20 years, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_Czechoslovakia There are now two countries.
PPS I will walk next year from my home in Prague to Santiago - Wish me well ;-)
 
I walked from Prague to Nuremberg last year using the Tillyschantz route and from Nuremberg to Einsiedeln in Switzerland this year; both walks were about 4 weeks. The gps tracks from Peter Robbins, together with the published route description in German and the usually good waymarks, was adequate for wayfinding. I am somewhat conversational in German but not in Czech (a Slavic language with no resemblence to English whatsoever, very tough to learn, even the basic politeness phrases). Supplies are tough to come by outside the very big towns, so one needs to carry supplies for several days at a time. The further west you go, towards the German border, the rougher the country becomes. I started from Prague the middle of May; and found I was the only walker that week! Along the route, neither English nor German is reliably spoken; you are truly in for a pilgrim experience, relying on the kindness of strangers. The scenery and views are lovely. The evening meals are substantial, but breakfast is a hit-or-miss proposition. Very rare to find churches that are intact and open; many buildings were saved but converted to other uses.

The day after Zviekovec, I lost the track, took a couple of severe falls down a steep ravine, and needed assistance. (Details in the blog.) The Czech couple who rescued me and tended my injuries were jewels!

The section in Germany is much more benign, with more reliable availability of supplies, and also more expensive. So in summary, the route from Prague to Konstanz covers a wide variety of terrain; it is a very different experience from walking in France or Spain; the guidebooks available are in German, so speaking and reading basic German will be helpful; the waymarking is decent but gps tracks as a supplement are very helpful; May has good weather but very few walkers - the numbers increase a bit in June, with July and August being very popular for walking.
 
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Hi!

This winter I'm going to be walking to Finisterre from Prague and following the route: Prague - Železná - Nürnberg - Rottenburg ob der Tauber - Freiburg - Francie, etc.
My only concern is that because the days are shorter, it might be difficult to follow the route signs???
I'm currently preparing for my Camino and anyone interested is welcome to follow me on my adventure.
Thank you so much if you do!
Nev :)
 
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Hi!

This winter I'm going to be walking to Finisterre from Prague and following the route: Prague - Železná - Nürnberg - Rottenburg ob der Tauber - Freiburg - Francie, etc.
My only concern is that because the days are shorter, it might be difficult to follow the route signs???

I would be more concerned about the snow and ice on the trail; it was rough and slick and steep enough in May. Yes the darker hours will make finding the waymarks a challenge, especially as they only appear at the turn with no warning beforehand and no confirmation afterwards. If you can consult with your host each day on the local conditions, it might help. See if you can find a topo map, so that locals can recommend detours in event of poor conditions.

Frankly, unless you are quite experienced hiking in the Moravian trails in mid-winter, I'd advise waiting until spring. The second week out of Prague is a real challenge. The conditions are much more benign once you cross the German border; so you may want to consider skipping ahead if the weather turns against you.
 
I would be more concerned about the snow and ice on the trail; it was rough and slick and steep enough in May. Yes the darker hours will make finding the waymarks a challenge, especially as they only appear at the turn with no warning beforehand and no confirmation afterwards. If you can consult with your host each day on the local conditions, it might help. See if you can find a topo map, so that locals can recommend detours in event of poor conditions.

Frankly, unless you are quite experienced hiking in the Moravian trails in mid-winter, I'd advise waiting until spring. The second week out of Prague is a real challenge. The conditions are much more benign once you cross the German border; so you may want to consider skipping ahead if the weather turns against you.
Thanks Kitsambler. I need to walk in the winter because I have land here in the CZ and I will need to be back by Spring for planting. I'll be walking from Prague, so it will be the Bohemian trails. It will be tough, especially as I plan to sleep outside in a sleeping bag, but I need the challenge and adventure. I'll try and leave a bit earlier so I miss any of the heavier snow which usually falls in the 1st week of January.
 
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