New Year’s Day walking trip to Bradlo

Bradlo is an inconspicuous rock formation in the middle of the forest. Six hundred meters high, it is not just an incredible view, but also eventful history of Czech-German conflicts and passion. Today, Bradlo is our New Year’s Day hill-walking trip destination. It become tradition to make a short trip to the fields on the New Year’s Day, and above all, it is a great way to exercise, especially at the Christmas time.
Peak of Bradlo rock formation (600 metres) is an ideal destination for easy and undemanding walking trip in distance of 3 – 5 kilometres. We have started our walk from the village of Libina, just few kilometres away from Olomouc city. The walk starts at the bottom of a steep field, but soon enough the field changes to a nice forest path. After about 3 kilometres, first rocks can be seen. These are the Three Rocks and they are created from light and solid quartz rock, typical for this area. Initially the Three Rocks used to be single rock formation, but disintegration and erosion split the formation into three huge rocks.

Much bigger is the Bradlo rock formation approximately 1 kilometre away from the Three Rocks. The peak of Bradlo is easily accessible by the steps carved in the rock leading to the summit of Bradlo, offering an incredible view across the surroundings. On the North side you can see the Jesenik mountains with the peak of Kralicky Sneznik (1.424 metres).
Even though Bradlo is not the most popular walking destination, it still has a many years of tradition. By the end of 19th century, when the rock lookout platform has been made at the summit, annual number of people visiting Bradlo reached 20.000.