Zbiroh is a small town in the Plzen region about an hour from Prague. Even though Zbiroh castle is not on our Top 88 Castles in Czech Republic book it does stand out prominently on the hill above the town. The famous painter, Alfons Mucha, lived in the East Wing with his family from 1912-28. In WWII the castle was the seat of the SS Nazis and later the Czechoslovakian army. The castle’s well is 163 meter’s deep and is the deepest well in Europe. We did not visit it on this trip, but the castle’s history seems worth the visit.
We started this ride near the roundabout next to the church in Zbiroh, where there was plenty of parking. As you can see by the map below we were mostly in the forest. Riding in October has been spectacular in taking in the changing colors of the leaves. It was a weekend day after a rainy week and the mushroom hunters were still out with their baskets, some full some not.
Even though the ride starts on a very nice bike path, you should pay attention to points 3 to 4 where it gets quite narrow. At points 8 and 9, you should use the bridge, even though you may be tempted to cross the stream using the road – the water is murky and maybe deeper than you expect. However, at point 15 you have to decide whether you are ready for some adventure (following our footsteps), or whether you will ride back to Zbiroh comfortably on the road through Jablečno. Definitely do not try to follow yellow tourist mark from point 14 on the map since it is not mapped correctly. If you decide to follow the map, be ready to ride over lots of slippery roots (and hopefully don’t fall as Polly did, see picture below). The trick is to ride straight over them if possible. Then cross the little stream, and walk your bike through the forest over an area that was blocked due to logging around point 19. This is the part why we are very pleased with our purchase of the mountain bike.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/dumudulale 26 km 580 m elevation gain
For people using cykloserver.cz – http://www.cykloserver.cz/f/1e3b276423/
