Running, hiking, biking

Category: hike with kids

  • Tematín and Beckov castle with David

    Tematín and Beckov castle with David

    Inspired by the mini-book Považská castle road, which we managed to get last time at Uhrovec castle and which immediately kicked me off to new adventures, we went to Tematín castle. Tematín is located in the Považský Inovec mountains in the west of Slovakia. It was created around the year 1250 near the border of Hungary after the invasion of Tatar troops on other territory. In 1710, the castle was damaged and has been abandoned since then, fortunately volunteers took over and its reconstruction began.

    Entrance to Tamatín castle

    Tematín is not one of the castles you can drive to by car, you have to step on it, and you can choose from several routes. We chose the 5-kilometer route from the village of Lúka, which at the end overcomes quite a large elevation gain.

    Renovated buildings of Tematín Castle

    At the castle there is a symbolic entrance fee, a buffet, and one beautifully reconstructed residential part, the remaining ruins are either partly reconstructed, or their reconstruction is still waiting.

    Tematín

    There is a beautiful view from the castle and during our visit there were even workshops for children.

    Tematín

    There was also a map of the above-mentioned Považská castle road, and when I found out that the Beckov castle was only a short distance from us, there was no way back and it was the next (unplanned) stop on today’s trip.

    As for Beckov, you can get almost to the castle by car, the castle is really big and largely renovated. What is no longer symbolic is the entrance fee and parking fee:D

    Inside the castle, there are even exhibitions with original ceramics, games, period clothing, you can put together a wooden puzzle of the castle, watch videos about life in the castle, or write with a quill pen. The chapel has beautifully restored windows and some rooms have also been restored. However, we liked the castle well the most, which was guarded by a dragon, even though we had to climb a lot of stairs to get to it.

    The courtyard at the Beck castle

    For this castle, the hour we had left until the final session is definitely not enough, I recommend that you reserve at least two 🙂

    Period dining at the Beck castle

    Dávid was 7 years old at that time.

    11.91km, 3:20 active time, 4:24 total, 433 metre ascend
  • Castle Uhrovec with Dávid

    Castle Uhrovec with Dávid

    We’ve already visited all the castles in our immediate area, so now we have to travel quite a bit further for adventure. I’d had my eye on Uhrovec Castle for a while, and when the timing finally worked out, we set off one sunny Saturday to explore it.

    It was just Dávid and me, so I entered “Uhrovecké Podhradie” into the GPS. Don’t trust the car’s navigation system! It led us to the end of the road and then tried to send us another 7 kilometers through the forest. After a quick look at the map, I managed to correct the destination, though we had already made a good half-hour detour. We didn’t drive right up to the foot of the castle; I chose a slightly longer route—after all, the weather was beautiful—so we walked across the meadows to Uhrovec instead. And the meadows rewarded us with lovely crocuses.

    Crocuses

    A hiking sign by the parking lot below the castle indicated it was a 45-minute walk to the top; Dávid took this as a challenge and practically ran up the hill. We reached the castle in 25 minutes—and even that was only because I couldn’t keep up. 😀

    On our way to castle

    Uhrovec Castle is located in the Strážov Mountains; it features a well-preserved chapel and towers, as well as a large palace where one can still see a fireplace, latrines, and cisterns.

    Castle entrance gate

    The castle was very well situated; consequently, it did not become a center of combat, and it is said that for this reason, it was never conquered.

    However, the castle lost its original function during the 18th century and began to fall into ruin after a fire in 1848. Currently, there are efforts to save and restore it.

    partially renovated building

    There is even a snack bar at the castle, and if you’re lucky, very friendly ladies will be frying up fresh langoše and doughnuts (we were lucky enough to have one of those langoš as an afternoon snack).

    Cannon and embrasure
    Castel ruins

    Dávid was 7 years old at the time of the trip.

    7.88km, 2:22 active time, 3:00 total, 379 metre ascend
  • Bojnice, Remata with David

    Bojnice, Remata with David

    In an effort to minimize screen time and maximize quality time spent together (ideally outdoors), I look for all kind of possibilities for trips. This time, the main target was the Čajka observation tower overlooking Bojnice.

    Čajka in the clouds

    Its total height is 30 meters and a wooden footbridge leads to its top. it offers really beautiful views, but in my opinion, the entrance fee for this attraction is set relatively high (12 euros/person), considering that we went around it in about half an hour.

    But a big bonus for us was the adjacent children’s playground, which is really huge. And not far from Čajka there is also a dinopark, which of course we couldn’t just bypass (also 12 euros/person).

    The playground also included such a great castle with a sled, which even I couldn’t miss

    However, we really liked the Dinopark, it was vast, with more than 100 exhibits, some of which were really huge. We liked that the paths led through the forest, which enhanced the atmosphere. Dinosaurs moved and made sounds.

    Dinopark

    We walked here for more than an hour and if we had other plans, I believe we would have had something to fight for another hour. For us, better minute money compared to the lookout tower.

    On the way to Remata, where we had arranged accommodation, we had one more stop – Hájska skala above the village of Ráztočno. It’s about 2 kilometers to Hájska skala, but you have to climb quite a hill to get the great view.

    Under the Hájská rock is also the Hájska cave – the only freely accessible cave in the Žar Mountains, it is 25 meters long with a 6-meter-high dome.

    Entrance to the cave
    4km, 1h 53 min, 320 meter ascend

    We slept at the Poniklec cottage. It is tourist accommodation in a “retro” style – but fully sufficient for us, and I must say that we slept like babies, curled up in fragrant duvets and woke up an hour later than we usually wake up:)

    On the way to Bralova skala

    The next day we went to see the Bralová skala, whose rocky cliff offers a very good view of the Handlovská and Turčianska basins, the Kremnické vrchy, Vtáčnik, or even Malá and Veľká Fatra. The ascent was only less than 2 kilometers long, but at the end it was quite steep.

    Bralova skala

    We ended the weekend with a visit to Rematské ornamental ponds – it is an agro-tourism area, it offers fishing, a great children’s playground, a mini-farm and a zipline. David really liked it here. He was 6 years old at that time.

    3.38km, 1h 46min, 280 meter ascend
  • Chata pod Suchým with David

    Chata pod Suchým with David

    Our first sleepover together at a mountain hut, where we had to carry everything we needed on our own backs. Great adventure in Mala Fatra.

    An ordinary thing for someone, for us it was something really big, Dávid packed his own backpack for the first time (lego and sweets, he obviously knows what’s important:) ) and I packed two people in one backpack for the first time.

    Starhrad

    Several hiking trails lead to Chata pod Suchým, and I chose the one from Nezbudská Lúčka around the ruins of Starhrad. We came to Nezbudská Lúčka by train, and from there it is 8.6 km and a healthy 931 meters of altitude up to the cottage.

    Ruins of Starhrad

    Starhrad is located opposite of Strečno Castle, on the other bank of the Váh River above the Domašínsky meander. The castle has preserved the masonry and layout of a medieval castle. The tower is still preserved up to the height of the second floor. To the west of it, the remains of the palace are visible, and the other damaged walls trace the terrain of the rock cliff.The original windows and entrances have been preserved in some places. A part of the Gothic bay window can be seen on the palace. There is a beautiful view from the ruins. It is an ideal place to take a break and strengthen before the most demanding part of the ascent to the hut.

    This is followed by a really steep climb up to the Plešel hill, during which I heard “when will we be at the cottage?” about 47 times.

    steep climb begins

    The cottage itself is located at an altitude of 1075 m.a.s.l., under Suchý Hill. The original cottage was from 1938, the cottage was a two-story building with an attic, it was built in a very modern style and there were a total of 80 beds in the tastefully furnished rooms and the common dormitory. The generator-lit cottage also had a dining room and a kitchen where tourists could prepare their meals. There was also water supply. However, this cottage was set on fire by German soldiers in 1944, it burned for 25 hours and the cottagers were not allowed to put it out.

    View on Váh

    Only the foundations and the chimney remained from the original cottage, the construction of the new one began in 1947. First, the construction of the farm building began. The beginnings were very difficult, they lived in a tent, later in a lumberjack’s hut. The material was transported from Strečno on wagons under the Starhrad, there was a transshipment area covered with a tarpaulin, and from there it was carried up by people and mules along the sidewalks. The cottage was completed in the summer of 1949. It was almost identical to the first cottage, just without front windows in the attic part, as the gable roof was replaced with a symmetrical one.

    We made it

    The current cottage offers a year-round kitchen and tourist rooms with shared bathroom facilities. Since the electricity is supplied by a generator, everything goes out at 10 and even hot water is only available in a limited amount 🙂

    But it was a wonderful experience for us that we managed the ascent together and enjoyed our stay even with such “uncomfortable” conditions for the modern world.

    The next day we literally ran down and therefore we had some time to see the Nezbud quarry before the train – it is a flooded quarry where asphalt crumb was once mined, it has a nice green-blue color and you can walk around it.

    Quarry Nezbud

    Dávid was 6 years old at that time.

    to the cottage: 8.6km, 3:39 active time, 5:13 total, 931 m ascend
  • Stone sea in Vyhne

    Stone sea in Vyhne

    Spring and sun are finally here. Although nothing is green yet, you can already see the first flowers, even butterflies. And with that, more opportunities to rummage around outside. This time we went around Vyhne, to see Hájska skala and stone sea.

    On the way to Hájska skala

    Hájska skala is a view point in the village of Vyhne, only 1.3 km away from the parking lot, along a nice narrow path between the trees. And it offers great views.

    Hájska skala

    Stone sea is located on the opposite hill, so we have to go down from Hájská skala again to Vyhne and climb another hill. The stone sea in Vyhne is the largest rhyolite stone sea in the volcanic part of the Carpathians.

    Local meadows

    In the past, rhyolite was mined in these places, which was also used for the production of millstones for several decades. This activity severely damaged the steep slope, and the higher debris therefore collapsed a significant part of the slope. Stone mining was stopped here in 1936, thanks to the declaration of the Stone Sea as a nature reserve.

    Viewpoint on the top of stone sea

    For Dávid, it was the best part of the trip, because he could jump and climb on rocks, and he loves it. The footpath was barely visible, so it was necessary to actively search for the path and markings.

    The tourist sign leads directly through the stone sea
    6.5km, 2h 26min, 388 m ascend
  • Kremnica castle

    Kremnica castle

    It’s the end of January and it’s still cold, so I decided to brighten up this cloudy and cold day with a trip to Kremnica. We’ve passed through it many times, but we’ve never been here before. We came mainly to see the Kremnica Castle, but as a bonus, we got entry to the Museum of Coins and Medals with our ticket.

    Kremnica has beautiful historical centre

    The Kremnica Castle is a complex of buildings from the 14th-15th centuries, protected by a double fortification, which is joined by some of the best-preserved city walls in Slovakia. In the center of the complex stands the dominant Gothic Church of St. Catherine.

    The castle also includes other buildings such as a rectory, an entrance gate with a barbican, and defensive bastions. The construction was undertaken by the townspeople exclusively for the needs of the administration and defense of their town, and they were its sole owners.

    We enter through the fortifications

    A tower was loosely attached to the church in the 15th century. For centuries, it housed guards and announced danger.

    In the church of ST. Catherine

    The guards’ room currently functions as an exhibition and offers the most beautiful view of the city skyline and surrounding hills. Visitors can reach it by climbing 127 winding stone steps.

    From the castle we went to the Museum of Coins and Medals, which has 4 floors. Each floor has a different exhibition: the history of money in Slovakia, the history of the city of Kremnica, Kremnica mining and metallurgy, and a section dedicated to medals.

    We liked the lowest floor about mining the most, there were various minerals, gold and machines used to mine and process ores on display. There is also a small gallery.

    Collection of minerals
    1.7km, 1h 10min
  • Paradajs, Tanád

    Paradajs, Tanád

    A few days before Christmas, it was a foggy days, so we looked for the sun. This time above Banská Štiavnica, I parked my car in the parking lot near Hájovna in the Červená Studňa saddle.

    There is also a pond of the same name (at an altitude of 787 m above sea level). It was built as a taich in 1759 according to the design of the inventor Jozef Karol Hell, so that the drive ditch from it brought water to the Amália shaft to drive the water column pumping machine as well as to other mining works. The length of its dam is 117 m. It is the last built and still preserved Stiavnica tajch – six years after its construction, James Watt invented the steam engine.

    Ont he way to Paradajs

    We continue along the nature trail to Mount Paradajs (939 m.a.s.l.). It is the second highest peak of Štiavnické vrchy, it is interesting that further south along the ridge is the high Tanád hill. Paradajs has a flat unforested peak that provides wonderful views of Štiavnica (today it only provided us with menhirs emerging from the fog:) On its top there is also a newly built semi-circular shelter where you can have a great picnic.

    Dávid on one of the menhirs

    We continued through the foggy forest to Tanád, where we finally managed to climb out of the fog into the sun for a while.

    Finally above the fog
    Sun on Tanád

    From Tanád, we turn onto the yellow road and descend steeply, then we turn onto the green educational path of Milan Kapusta, past the old tunnels and the Ottergrund tajch.

    We always found something, that makes it worth it

    Tajch Ottergrund is the highest artificial reservoir in Štiavnické vrchy. It is small, but it has one big advantage.Banská Štiavnica is right in the palm of your hand from here, including the iconic calvary (but of course it couldn’t be fog:D). The Tajch began to be built in 1751 and served as an energy source for the nearby mine shafts, as well as a source of drinking water for the city and a fire tank. Fortunately, it has been preserved to this day, it was recently renovated and a safety spillway was built here. The current depth is 6.6 meters.

    Today we finish in Hájovňa in the saddle of Červená Studňa, where we warm up nicely after a foggy and wet day. As a reward, we treated ourselves to cappuccino and Dávid to sausages and juice.

    7.78km, 3h, 321 m ascend

  • Caste Šomoška

    Caste Šomoška

    I have wanted to visit this castle for a long time, but the distance from Banská Bystrica discouraged me. Now, however, a new section of the highway has finally opened and it shortened the journey to an acceptable hour and a half, so on Saturday, December 5th, we set out to explore the border castle and its surrounding area. And there is so much to see!

    You cannot miss the parking lot under the castle, the road to it is perfectly marked, and to my surprise, right next to the parking lot is a new and large playground and a buffet (which, however, is only open in season).

    There is also a map of the nature trail by the parking lot, or just a shortened version to the castle and back.

    nature trail map šomoška

    We decided to walk the entire nature trail in the direction of the quarry first, then the castle 🙂 The path to the quarry was made special by the forest stairs and the former school building. It is a ruin of a medium-sized building from which the walls, a few old doors and fallen windows have been preserved. The rest is slowly but surely being reclaimed by the forest.

    The quarry is called Mačacia and was founded in 1880. At its peak, up to 1,500 people worked there. A mining settlement with a school, dormitories, a shop and two financial guard buildings gradually grew up around it. Basalt was mined here and cat’s heads were made from it, and the raw material was exported to many European countries.

    Former shop building

    Above the quarry there is a lookout tower with a beautiful view of Šomoška Castle and Šalgó Castle behind it (which is now in Hungary).

    From the lookout tower

    From the lookout we return along the nature trail past the shop building and then past the financial guard building. We descend into the valley, cross the bridge and then the climb to the castle awaits us.

    Before we climb to the castle, we still have to see a sea of ​​stones and a basalt stone waterfall. David likes it very much, he would love to climb it all day long 🙂

    Stone waterfall

    The castle itself was founded in the late 13th or early 14th century by the Kačič family. It was built from basalt blocks, which were quarried directly from the castle hill. During the construction, a famous stone waterfall was also discovered. In 1310, it became the property of Matúš Čák.

    The original appearance of the castle is not clear. It is assumed that it originally consisted of a small towerless layout, approximately triangular in plan. Later in the Middle Ages it was expanded with a Gothic palace in the east and also with an entrance tower. A major reconstruction took place in the 16th century, when it was expanded with two cannon bastions, a barbican and two buildings on the north and south sides. The interiors were equipped with carved shaped elements.

    On the way back to the parking lot, we were also impressed by the beautifully renovated ponds, which are supplied with water from a nearby spring. They are interconnected to allow for the migration of aquatic animals. David was 6 at that time.

    9.41km, 2:37 active, 3:17 total, 315 metre ascent

  • Považský and Lietava castle

    Považský and Lietava castle

    We love castles, and we especially like ruins that we can explore on our own, without a guide. And during our weekend in the Súľovské vrchy, we managed to see two such castles.

    Považský hrad is the ruin of a castle on a steep hill on the right bank of the Váh River. According to unverified reports, the castle was built in 1128 to protect the important Považský road. However, the first mention of it dates back to 1316, where it is mentioned as Bystrický hrad.

    Entrance to Považskéhý castle

    The oldest part of the castle was the tower, standing on the highest point of the rampart, and the Gothic palace. The large oval-shaped forecourt was surrounded by a castle wall, which was protected from the NE by two prismatic towers. The access road, leading to the castle from the NE, is still visible in the terrain today. The entrance gate was protected by a prismatic tower with a barbican.

    Preserved walls of the castle

    The walls of the palace, towers and fortifications have been partially preserved. Window openings are visible on the palace, in places with preserved Renaissance cornices. Of the former farm buildings built in the courtyard, only parts of the walls, or their foundations, are visible. In some rooms there are remains of Renaissance vaults.

    2.5km, 1h

    Lietava Castle is located 10 km from the regional capital Žilina near the Cibuľník hill on the eastern edge of the Súľovské vrchy mountains.

    Walls of Lietava

    In terms of its level of preservation, it is among the largest (1 hectare of built-up area) and most beautifully preserved ruins not only in Slovakia, but also in Central Europe.

    Lietava is pretty big

    The demise of the Gothic-Renaissance castle dates back to 1753 and the ruins were abandoned in the forest until 1999. That is when the Lietava Castle Preservation Association was established, which has been saving the buildings since 2003, through sensitive stabilization, conservation and partial restoration. The castle is still a freely accessible ruin.

    The castle proudly towers over the landscape and offers a wonderful view of the surroundings. The castle walls of the individual buildings still stand to a considerable height. They have preserved window openings, possibly entrances and architectural details, stone profiled consoles of the former bay window, arched attics, cannon and key loopholes, and in places parts of profiled linings. In the premises of the former chapel, the ramparts of stone Gothic ribs and the remains of plaster on some walls have been preserved.

    Entrance gate

    However, we couldn’t enjoy the views because it rained the whole way up and the castle was surrounded by thick fog.

    Lietava in its most famous times
    5.16km, 1h 30 min active time, 2h total
  • Manínska Tiesňava

    Manínska Tiesňava

    Since the Manínska tiesňava itself is very short and I didn’t feel like traveling from such a distance just for about 200 meters, we decided to take a circuit through the Partizánska cave and end at the Manínska tiesňava.

    We parked at the campsite below the Manínskov tiesňava, where the yellow tourist sign also starts. The campsite is great with a swimming pool, new kitchen and sanitary facilities, we plan to come back here next year and spend a few nights here:)

    View from switchbacks

    The sign after about a kilometer starts to climb quite steeply until it turns into switchbacks. Some of them offer a beautiful view of the Považský Castle and the valley in front of it. After climbing the switchbacks, we come to a resting place with a fireplace and prepared wood. However, we have nothing to grill, so we just quickly refresh ourselves and continue to the cave.

    Partizánska cave, at the end there is almost complete darkness

    Partizánska Cave is a freely accessible cave. It consists of a single passage, approximately 20 meters long. The cave itself is located on the rocky cliff of Veľký Manín and, despite the fact that it does not contain any karst decoration, it was very interesting for us. The last few meters to the cave lead along a rock with safety features. And Dávid loves that.

    View from the cave

    Apparently, just by the name, it will be clear to everyone what this cave was used for. It is a place where partisans hid during the SNP.

    From the cave we descend almost the whole time to the mouth of the Manínska tiesňava.

    Manínska tiesňava

    Just 100 years ago, the gorge had a completely different shape. Its rocks were not covered with vegetation, as they are today.

    The narrowest part was impassable for wagons, and the carters had to unload the load, disassemble the wagons and reassemble them after. This was the case until 1933, when part of the cliff was blasted away. At that time, a paved road was built across the gorge.

    One more cave

    After passing through the gorge, we turned to the cave under Černokňažník, which was smaller than the Partizánska cave, but we discovered a bat in it and the view was worth it.

    At the time of the hike, Dávid was just 6 years old.

    10.58km, 3h52min active time, 4h 25min total