This ride starts from the parking lot in front of Mníšek castle. Occasionally medieval battle reenactments are played here… Mníšek is a great starting point to go into the Brdy mountain range for hiking or biking. However, we started in the opposite direction to visit the crossing at St. Venceslas under Pleš mountain where we have overlapped in a previous ride. It’s not necessary to visit the top of Pleš, although it is easily achievable by bike, but there is no view to be seen. Besides, is kind of hard to say that it is the top as it is so flat up there. Riding down from Pleš you should be a little careful from 3 to 4, especially after the rain. At point 5 you will see the first of the wooden statues in the middle of the pond. Then you continue across (actually under) the highway to Kytín at the foot of the Brdy mountain range.
Kytín is a village in which a lot of the adventures of Kája Mařík, the fictional character of a children’s book, actually happened. At point 6 you will see the wooden sculpture of the book protagonist. The book was quite popular in the years before World War II and later gained even more popularity when it was forbidden during the communist rule of Czechoslovakia. Therefore the new edition after the “velvet revolution” in 1989 was quickly sold out. However, it was found out that there was nothing really earth-shattering in this book, just a gentle promotion of religiosity which irritated the communist regime, and the book never gained the pre-war popularity.
In this area you will see a lot of wooden carvings of various fictional characters – one of the authors has an obvious inclination to depict water fairies. Kytín is a center that organizes the woodcarving symposia every year and statues created during these symposia since 2014 can be seen on display here. In the middle of Kytín, you should stop and walk around the pond to test the sitting in a huge concrete armchair. After a climb to join the Brdy red tourist mark at point 8, you will glide down back to Mníšek in no time. In the summer you should stop for a refreshment at point 9 called “Na Čunčí”, kind of funny name for Czechs.
When you come back you may visit the castle if it is open, or check the bakery and sweet shop in front of the castle.
https://en.mapy.cz/s/dulefehoma 18 km, 340 m elevation gain
