Discover the Devil`s Stones
Info: See numbered information boards along the route and yellow hiking signs
village Slatina (remains of Jewish ghetto, synagogue and Jewish cemetery, lord's court) > (13) The Devil`s Gate and the Big Devil`s Bracelet (protected natural shapes from big granite cobbles) > (12) Sacrificial stone (protected natural formation from big granite cobbles) > (11) Small Devil`s Bracelet > (10) Country view > (9, 8, 7) village Kadov (parish church of St. Wenceslas, baroque parsonage, Renaissance fortress, chapel with earl tomb, Kadov wobbeling rock and) >(6) Giant pots formed in granite stones > (5) Lakes and ponds > (4) village Vrbno > (3) Amphibians and water fowl >(2) Woods > (1) Hydrobiological station Velký Pálenec
Track lenght: 7,2 km (4,34 miles)
Degree of difficulty: easy/medium (bikers - trekking/MTB bikes)
Paths: paved and natural paths, forest and field paths
Accommodation: -
Boarding (refreshment): (Slatina, Kadov, Vrbno)
Download of GPS data: GPX / KML
There are a lot of attractive places suitable for walks in the Slatina surroundings. The most interesting however - is a c.. 7 km long tourist footpath called "Discover the Devils stones". This path is a connection of pleasant walks in graceful landscape and sight-seeing of protected natural formations. On the way you can find many places with a beautifull view of Sumava peaks and in the evening hours also a view of the sunset. In the winter it is possible to pass the whole footpath on cross-country skies. In the summer along the walk one can pick mushrooms.
A tourist footpath begins near Slatina village chapel. From here you take the rural road towards the village Kadov which is about 2,5km far. The footpath is marked with a yellow tourist sign. Natural shapes are indicated by signboards along the footpath.
Signboard #13 - Big Devil`s Bracelet and Devil`s Gate. The first natural formation which you notice is about a half kilometre from the village. The greatest of the formations called devils stones, is the Devils bracelet. Formed from granite blocks that acquired their shapes from constant weathering. With increased caution it is possible to crawl to the top and enjoy a pleasant scene. There are a few myths related to the Devils stones:
"There once lived a wealthy farmer in the village Slatina. He had a beatiful daughter. A poor boy fell in love with her. The farmer was against their wedding and declared, he would agree that they marry only if the young man could remove from the farmers field all the stones before the cock crowed the next morning. As he really liked the girl, he was willing to join the devil, to fulfill his objective. Therefore he underwrote his soul to the devil. When the girl learned about it, she woke the cock earlier so that the cock crowed too early when the devil tried to carry out the removal of the cobbles. Therefore the devil had to leave the stones in the ground, where the cocks crowning voice cought him. Again the devil lost and youths soul was saved".
"A long time ago, there lived two rich, but very miserly farmers. Their fields abutted on one piece of land. One decided to dig up the boundary stone late one night and move it several steps to increase the size of his field. The next morning the second farmer discovered what the other farmer had done and that he had been robbed of his land. Losing no time, he took his hoe and moved the boundary stone several steps to the neighbours field. That was repeated several times, and both farmers finally met at the boundary stone. A fight started immediately. One farmer summoned the help of the devil, promising to gave him his soul, if the devil set the boundery stone so that his neighbour would be unable to move it and the stones would clutter the neighbours field. The devil rejoiced at how cheap he had gotten another human soul, and fulfilled the wish. Quickly he flew aloft to the Brdy. There he broke out a very large piece of the rock and returned to the Slatina. On the way the rock broke apart and one piece fell off near the village of Kadov. Today the stone is called the wobbeling rock (logan - original english). The other pieces of rock then fell on the field of the farmer. The next morning the villagers found the miserly farmer, with his arms around the boundary stone, for which he had given his soul to the devil".
(from the book Devils stones by Jiri Sekera)
Before you get to Devils bracelet, you must pass trough so called Devils gate which is something like a entrance gateway to the Devils bracelet.
Signboard #12 - Sacrificial stone. The stone on the adjacent picture unfortunately isn`t marked on the footpath. It is the least known of the Devil`s stones. You can find it about a half kilometre from the Devils bracelet towards Kadov, 100metres from the road, in the woods on the left side. On the surface of stone there are dish shaped openings. Diverse archaeologists assume that the stone was used by pagans as a sacrificial stone. Others are convinced that the sockets arose by gradual weathering of the softer rock. The stone is approximately 2m high.
Signboard #11 - Small Devil`s Bracelet. The smaller of the Devils stones situated in small wood perhaps 50m on the right from road to village Kadov. This formation have 16 metres in perimeter and markedly remind of the big Devils bracelet. This stone arose by gradual weathering of granite rock and it is related to one of the myths.
"Many, many years ago there was a young cantor working in the Kadov school. Once he told the pupils something exciting and a boy in last bench suddenly exclaimed: "Devil!". All of a sudden, outside the window there was a devil figure pointing to the teacher and requesting him to come out. Then they disputed something for a long time. The next day the people - knew that the devil concluded a bet with teacher, to decide who will be quicker. The devil claimed, that he will bring from Brdy mountain range an armful of stones before the teacher and the pupils could say a Lord's prayer. The devil saw himself as the winner and a master of the teachers soul. The devil then flew away to the hills with a gigantic sack to gather stones. When he came back, he heared that the prayer was ending and so he started to hurry. In his haste and hurry he lost one of the cobbles from his bag and that rock sunk into the soil near the village Pole so deep that he was unable to get the cobble out of the ground. He imprinted his hoof into the stone, but the stone stayed put. He was held back by that and was unable to bring the rest of the stones to the Kadov. He heared the children say: "Amen". It made him so angry that he threw the stones to the ground and than threw his bag away realizing he had lost the bet and than he disapeared".
(from the book Devils stones by Jiri Sekera)
Signboard #10 - Country view. This place is situated about 50m from the Small devils stone and offers beautiful view of surroundings. Under ideal conditions there are visible the peaks of Šumava mountains and Brdy highlands.
Signboard #9, 8 and 7 - village Kadov. After the next 50m you will get to the village Kadov, where you will find many interesting places. There are located three signboards with information about the main sights and village history.
The best known of the Devils stones is without question the wobbeling stone in Kadov and it is also the biggest and the best preserved wobbeling stone in Bohemia. It is situated at the end of the village Kadov perhaps 20 metres from the road heading to the village Vrbno. It is a big granite cobble with a perimeter of 11m, height 1,5m and weighing about 30tuns which leans on with a small flat surface on another cobble. The formation arose like other stones by the quicker weathering of less sturdy parts of the rock. Earlier it was possible for one person to gently swing the upper cobble, without causing it to fall. Unfortunately a group of vandals at the end of 19.century succeeded in swinging the cobble in such a degree that it fell. The cobble was put back on original place by Mr. Pavel Pavel in 1983. After a second dismount, the wobbeling rock (logan) was secured by wooden wedges in 1987.
Signboard #6 - Giant pots formed in granite stones. From the loggan (wobbeling stone) in Kadov go in the direction to the village Vrbno. After few meters you will come upon the signboard #6. The Giant pots are oval caverns on horizontal or moderately pitched rock surfaces. These shapes were earlier considered to be artificially created, however they arose by gradual rock weathering.
Signboard #5 - Lakes and ponds. After about 200 meters you will get to the other information box. From here you will have a nice view of the nearby pond Velká Kuš, which is the largest lake of local ponds system. Information about the history of ponds system is on the information boards.
Signoard #4 - village Vrbno and Mráčov. Charming south-bohemian village surrounded by many beautiful lakes with interesting names, including for example: Velká and Malá Kuš, Velký Pálenec, Malý Pálenec, Hadí, Žabinec, Nadýmač and more. A remarkable sight is the dual-stone building, most probably the kiln for fruits, grain or other products, which is located about half a mile from Vrbno (on the way from Vrbno to Blatná turn right to the pond Žabinec). If you want to continue on the educational track, you have to go back to Vrbno and then go to the pond Velký Pálenec.
Signboad #3 - Amphibians and water fowl. Many water areas and wetlands is an ideal environment for the development of different species of amphibians. Here is where you can learn more about them.
Signboard #2 - Woods. Do not stand on the road and come into the forest. Enjoy a soothing silence. Smell the bark of trees and draw from them some energy. Do you hear a pleasant murmur of the trees and calling Buzzard in the distance . Stay a little while.
Signboard #1 - Hydrobiological station Velký Pálenec. So, you're at the end of the track. You are at the Velký Pálenec Hydrobiological station founded in 1925 in a former lodge, by prof. Charles Schäfferna. The station is a detached unit of the Nature-Science Faculty of Charles University in Prague.
