United3dArtists Archive

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 06 May 2021, 20:57

Soooo, i will have my photo (sometimes video) blog too :)
Its a good way to motivate myself for using my DSLR and make some nice pics again (usually i dont really take pictures too much anymore). I will post mainly for those who dont know anything about the Belly of the world aka hearth of the Europe aka Czechia. I will show you mainly some nature as i dont visit cities too much. Usually i like to hike somewhere in forrests or i like to explore some remainings of civilization - urbex.

I will kick it out with some past videos and photos. Overall I had two big roadtrips - one around the Bohemia region and second around Moravia and Silesia (east and north-east part of CZ).

In 2017 i had nothing to do for my vacation, so i took my car and found some urbex spots and also tried to follow CZ border (ex iron curtain for some parts). I made a video about it:

https://youtu.be/MSpTMLImBb4
and some photos too:
https://goo.gl/photos/cD4QRmwTBvZRm1UGA

This was a major project/vacation so the video is more like long travel documentary than just a short vid.

next time, i will show you the second road trip and we will continue to see Czechia with some smaller hikes.

Welcome to my home, i hope you will like it :)

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 07 May 2021, 00:50

yeah told you its our backyard...!

Although never knew the Czech Republic had so many lost place architectural sites! Guess it was Jan Saudeks fault! hahahaha!

Hope you get the joke...!

Pfizer sells vaccines these days....probably also blue colored! hahaha..

I know parts of the czech photography biz.I know Jan Hnizdo for 35 years and have taken pictures with the 20x25 pola 30 years ago..image transfer.....

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 07 May 2021, 15:53

hah, dont expect level of those guys... and ofc i was using either a phone camera or my old Canon 600D :) nothing that advanced you mentioned.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 16 May 2021, 22:23

my second road trip - this time in the eastern part of CZ

video:
https://youtu.be/BPmIsIRBxsA

photos:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jzgyiHTJG7bXDzCB6

This was the second of the two biggest CZ adventures. You can see what was left from the CZ-Austrian border (more iron curtain stuff) and ex border patrol army bases/baracks. And some mountains etc.

Next time, i will ad some random smaller things. I also installed some photo sharing web app on my own hosting, so I hope iam done with using Google photos. I can make albums and share them or share individual photos hosted on my webhosing service. No 3rd party.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 17 May 2021, 03:35

Video is interesting but I'd like some educational or entertaining commentary. Will be on your website? Where is that site? Maybe add CC captions if you don't want to speak. Youtube's CC thing has an auto translation ability we non-czech speaking people can use.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 17 May 2021, 10:39

well, that is an interesting point. I havent been thinking about it too much. There is not much talking or stuff. Maybe i will add some CC later. Its a good suggestion tho - if i make some other (propably short) video just for you guys, i will comment it.

In "short" whats going on:
1st part is departure and pretty much a way from CZ to Moravia part. You can see an old castle (was closed that day) on the way. And then in the evening we arrive in a part that is called "Czech Canada" and the name of that village is "new world" :) which is a nice place to start. And ya - there is a "beer vending machine" - you scan your ID and then give it money and you get fresh beer like from a pub. That stone we arrive at is the CZ - Moravia border stone :) Its kind of symbolic as we are one country. There are more stones like this to mark the Czech-Moravia border.

2nd day you can see some of the Czech Canada nature and there are some stones that have similar shape to things - the most known is the Devils Ass, just a stone that looks like ass :)
After that we (well it was me and my gf that time) go to visit a museum in a forrest that shows old bunker line for defending Czechoslovakian border - first built for defence against Nazis and later used as iron curtian military border patrol system. The museum is set up for the war period mostly, so you can see how it looked like - there are anti tanks and anti personel barriers (barbed wire and so)
After that we move to a next location to see the first ex comunist army border patrol barracks. The building was intended to be used as a hotel after cummunist era, but the investment failed and the building is in a state of decay. I think its going to be demolished as we saw some workers on the other side. I did not stay there for long coz the building was ruined and i did not want to be seen there.
Next is ex military base also used for border patrol unit. The main building looked good and everything seemed to be locked up, so i did not go in. Also i was trying to be fast as it was at some road. Also you cannot be sure if there is no camera or security system, if things look too good :D so i basically run around to see the property. So we left fast. On the way we saw another small bunker - you can see plenty of those in CZ. All those were part of CZ defence against nazi germany built in 1930s. You can even buy some of those.
Next abandoned building is another baracks from CZ-Austrian border line. This one was in state of semi-reconstruction, so it was not too interesting.
in 16:50 min. you can see the regular border building where you were checked for passports and such in the old times (now you just go thru coz EU has almost no internal borders - Schengen space). Did not try to find a way in.
Next one was very original looking barracks again. This time no reconstruction or anything. That building was eaten by nature alot. I very enjoyed it there. Shame that there are no tables or anything left inside. In 24:32 you can see some old wall painting with some comunist type of sentance... non complete but something like "we will serve well and complete every task" or some bullshit.
Next stop is for overnight sleeping. We wanted to sleep at an old castle ruins. Turned out, those ruins were not ruined enough to be accessible. it was more like a paid turist spot and it was closed. So we slept outside the main gate :)

3rd day at 30th min.
The next one was the next baracks on my list - should be the same type as the prevous one, but it was demolished not long time before our arival. So we went on to a next one which was basically in a state of reconstruction and so it was not abandoned and interesting. I met a deer there, scared him a bit in a small auxillary building. Went away to let him run away thru door but it ran thru a closed window....
The last barracks were in a state of decay. You can see cracks in walls you can see thru and holes in cieling and such. I did not want to walk there too much as i found it risky and also the house was at very big road where many cars passed by. So parking there could catch some attention. Still trespassing is not totally legal even when i go to some abandoned places and i do not steal or destroy anything.
That was the end of another day. We wanted to visit border of CZ-SK-AT but there was soooooo much insect and moskitos! it was not possible. There should be another abandoned military base deep in the woods. I have to see that one in the winter. So we drove far and got to next sleeping spot late. Slept in a car, it was comfy.

4th day at 36th min.
Sleeping point, car parked on a parking space at forrest. Destination was a hill with a lookout tower. Path there lead us right at the CZ-slovakian border. There was a small monument for soviet soldiers that were killed in WW2 at 37:51. Time for a lunch (MREs)
The next night we went to a small hotel to have a shower and sleep in a bed for one night. Its good especially when travellnig with a gf.

5th day is at 40:20
On our way to another lookout tower via nice mountainous landscape, having nice diner and so. The lookout tower was at some fancy hotel built in a communist era - you can totally see the architecture, especially on the interior. They lended us keys coz we saw one group leaving the tower. Was nice to be there alone :) We waited out some rain there.
Going north trying to copy CZ-SK borders. There was a big and well known water dam (43:30).
Then my gf had an idea to climb the highest point of Beskydy mountains called Praděd. And we went from the lowest valley there :D It was a pretty tough climb. We got back to the car very late at dark and slept in the car again.

46:30 is the 6th day
You can see the sleeping setup. The seats recline the way they form one continous "bed". Damn I loved this car. It rusted too much, i had to get rid of it. But it was bulletproof. Japanese tech. It was just the road salt that killed it after 22 years. I sold it to some dude, seems like the car still lives.
Next trip was to CZ-PL-SK border. Point where three countries touch. It was raining but that did not stop us.
49:47 was funny, coz the landscape really looked like it was some kind of painting or just a picture. I felt like iam in a painting. It looked like that with naked eye :D ... oh btw the border is in a creek so we were not standing in the exact touch point (which says this sign 52:21).
And that was all for the day

day 7
Going west in the north (Silesia). We go to amunition storage compound. Its been build before WW2 so even nazis used it. There are info tables about that place. Now its open area, some of the buildings are rented as garages and storages.
That day we planned to visit my friend i had not seen for a while, so after that amunitions storage place we headed to visit him.

Day 8
After a nice day and evening with some beer and other alcohol, the next day we headed back home to Prague. So this was the last day. Was like 5 hours of driving to get back home but it was nice. You can see the last part compressed into 10 minutes (those 5 hours of drive). So you can see alot of nature and villages and such.

I hope this is enough for you to enjoy the video more :) Feel free to ask anything.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 19 May 2021, 17:43

Cool Pictures and Video!
Here are my thoughts which you should NOT take serious. All people in Maravia are dead! I didn't see a single person, was there a Zombie Apocalypse?
Nice to see healthy goats!

My favorite shot was:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP ... gxUmpPZ25R
I will assume this is a beer tap and FREE? (just hoping)

How many days was the trip?

I think I saw your shadow with someone else but fully aware both of you are dead...

I was very interested with your video and photos since I am part Bohemian. Thanks for sharing!

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 19 May 2021, 18:13

Yeah all dead......
Um talking about dead...
That was a building full of DD beauties

.. chicks....

Europes most famous lost place..in ex Yugoslavia..

https://www.styriabooks.at/info/blogs/dekadenz-in-beton

The name was the Penthouse hotel run by the mag Penthouse in 1972...in old communist east....

https://sometimes-interesting.com/halud ... ace-hotel/

https://www.haludovo-palace-hotel.ch/geschichte.html

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 May 2021, 22:09

Steinie wrote: 19 May 2021, 17:43 Cool Pictures and Video!
Here are my thoughts which you should NOT take serious. All people in Maravia are dead! I didn't see a single person, was there a Zombie Apocalypse?
Nice to see healthy goats!

My favorite shot was:
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP ... gxUmpPZ25R
I will assume this is a beer tap and FREE? (just hoping) :bananathumb:

How many days was the trip?

I think I saw your shadow with someone else but fully aware both of you are dead...

I was very interested with your video and photos since I am part Bohemian. Thanks for sharing! :bananacheers:

Haha :D you did not disapoint. Well... even tho its not serious, i will answer anyway :) ... so:
On my vacation I tend to avoid ppl as i have enough of them normally ;D (like a zombie apocalypse training ;) ) But also i dont want to include ppl in photos for privacy reasons. But we met like 10-20 ppl overal (not including when going to a supermarket to buy some water and food or driving thru city). I remember two guys especially - two brothers about 50 yo. We met them in a restaurant and had a good fun talking to them. They said they like and have old motorbikes and looked a bit like bikers. Had some helmets and so. They had some special strong accent from Vysočina (middle of Czechia or between czech and moravian part). Was funny a bit too. We met them later and they had really old mopeds :) cool guys. They went to the same place - the bunker museum in the forrest after the lunch.

That beer tap is like a beer-o-matic machine thing :D its pretty rare even here. You throw coins there and scan your ID (that you are 18+ yo) and you can get a beer from tap in your glass or you can use a plastic cup that is present there. Pretty cool. Funny is that there was an ID card of someone's granny - some kids used it to get a beer :) that granny must be considered to be an alcoholic, coz eveyone uses her ID :D

I think it was 8 days - read the long post ;)

Yes, it was with my GF i had at that time and I have no more. We broke up few months after that vacation for very complicated reasons.

Oh you are my "brother"! that explains your interest in beer ;) Its in your DNA ;) cool.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 May 2021, 22:11

Rayman: ya, I like urbex and there is sooo many places in the world. Good youtube channel is Broken Window Theory. Check it out. Those are some german guys, so you will understand them well even with no subtitles. Their video production quality is awesome.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 25 May 2021, 02:38

bitkar wrote: 17 May 2021, 10:39I hope this is enough for you to enjoy the video more Feel free to ask anything.

That's a good write up. You should put it in the video's description. I'd do a good comment, like, etc. on the video but I'm going to delete my yt channel. Was Moravia its own country once? How did the two merge?

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 25 May 2021, 09:30

iam not a youtuber... i dont care too much about views or likes, its ok :) I did the video for me, for my friends and for ppl that are just interested.

Moravia... yes, it was its own Kingdom... its all complicated, I think it got pretty big by marrying others around and such. The whole europian history is very rich. Iam not a historian to tell you exactly.

There is propably a YT video for that ;)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 27 May 2021, 18:32

OK... one new fresh photo album from last weekend. Shot with a proper camera. I hope you enjoy it.

It was a weekend with my friends in a cabin in Orlické hory (Eagle Mountains). Weather was not the greatest but especially after all those lockdowns it was nice to drink beer with people :) and eat awesome czech food we made ourselves.
We also did some small hikes (with kids and pregnant women). Very slowly got on the higest local mountain to a lookout tower. And second day was with a cable car up to the hills and then back down on a path that was made for kids (you can see a princess there). Lastly you go around an abandoned church (which is actually being reconstructed, so its not abandoned anymore).

for everyone incl. google-and-other-corps-and-social-network haters, its on my hosting here:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16221386633758
password: U3DA

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 27 May 2021, 23:51

That food looks delicious. The scenery high in the mountains here is a lot like that but not quite as green.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 28 May 2021, 10:29

That was a gastroporn :)

That is basically the most Czech traditional food there is, called Knedlo-vepřo-zelo - dumplings can be two types (one is just from flour, other from potatoes), pork meat, and cabbage (or you can have spinach). Czech food is alot about pork and cabbage. After things get back to normal, you can come and we can go to a restaurant for that one :)

Anyone is welcome in your small country.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 07 Jun 2021, 19:45

one new hike during the last weekend. It was a trail at Vltava river. Pretty "offroady", not easy, not for kids too much. Very steep slope with a chance to fall on the rocks and to the river. Not that bad for healthy adult tho. Only about 7,5 km circuit, but not fast to go around. Its called Drbákov - Albertovy skály (Drbakov - Albert's rocks).
You have some things, translations and such in the description. 99% of the photos are just shot to JPEG, but i edited them on my PC anyway. I might aswell shoot raw next time.

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16230932313469

The attachement is an audio recording so you know how a czech forrest sounds like :) (i thought it could be nice)

Hope you like it :)

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 07 Jun 2021, 22:57

Thats the official part of the Czech woods!
The private part isnt disclosed in any of the pictures!
We had a case of a major of a small town who was documented with his secretary in the woods! He was filmed with one of those surveillor cameras that the hunters use..and strap onto the trees...!
Well that poor guy got fired....!

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 08 Jun 2021, 09:39

haha, that was a bad luck... what are the chances you end up in front of such camera in a forrest with thousands of trees :D

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 08 Jun 2021, 15:48

Beautiful! So green. The sky is great in many of the photos. Many bird sounds. Here it is nearly silent in the desert. When a whirlwind picks up sand nearby you can hear it hitting the leaves of plants. A hiss. In the mountain forests sounds are wind, coyotes, bird sounds are mostly ravens. Coyotes and ravens make many different sounds. Insects at night. I like wilderness away from trails and campsites. This waterfall was more enjoyable before the forest service bought the land and put trails, steps, and signs there. Sometimes the historical and other info. on signs is interesting though. https://www.splododyne.com/splododyne-o ... waterfall/

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 08 Jun 2021, 20:29

Every form of nature is beuatiful in its own way. Even the deserts. I like the rock formations there.
Ya CZ is quite green place, not as green as tropical, but still green (during summer time). But we have also desert, its about 1 sq km :D i think it even has one dune. I need to visit it, Its not that far yet Ive never been there.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 18 Jun 2021, 16:22

i browsed my phone and made some cleaning.. and came up with "random mix" album from my phone.... you can see the date in the info... there are some newer, some older, but it does not matter much:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16240332475174

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 01 Jul 2021, 03:41

I like those panoramas. The structure of the rocks is interesting.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 Jul 2021, 16:29

16 km in Kokořínsko area last weekend.

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16267108244920

Sadly only phone photos. I took my DSLR but made a rookie mistake. I knew the battery is 3/4 full, so i did not check it. But last time i left the camera on (it went to sleep mode only) and it drained the battery in the meantime. :-/

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 19 Jul 2021, 17:55

I am sure there is a story here....

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 Jul 2021, 19:01

I did not see anyone there to ask about it ;) I thought somebody of you will notice ;)
I guess its somebody that emigrated from Czechoslovakia and got back home after years in USA.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 20 Jul 2021, 01:26

That lake! It is wonderful. What is the red circle thing with a blue arrow painted on the tree?

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 20 Jul 2021, 07:16

oh, that is a traffic sign "no entry for motor vehicles", just super old and eaten

usually looks like this

and the blue arrow is a sign for hikers, its a blue hike trail. We have such color coding for trails.(red, yellow, green, blue)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 24 Jul 2021, 20:12

today was a nice day... it was a TANK DAY :) at a private armor museum :)

Here is a video:
https://youtu.be/VDpAGphn-Kw

Here are photos (DSLR):
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16271556185885

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 07 Sep 2021, 08:43

next week is my vacation. Not many plans as covid usually does shuffle with stuff. So i planned simply. I will just hike into mountains (Krušné hory) and found a place at a lake. I plan to sleep there and walk around that part of mountians. Just few days, not the whole week. Just chill, nothing big. Will sleep only under a tarp in a sleeping bag. Its gonna be cold in the night and morning, that will be not too pleasant. But overall just starring at the stars and into to the waves, it will be near zen experience i hope :)

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 11 Sep 2021, 01:24

Sounds very good. I hope it is. Take a few photos.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 17 Sep 2021, 19:16

well... it was not as long as i thought. Weather was against, so i decided to go back home after one night there. One more reason was that a new tarp I bought was not really good. It become wet even before I finished making a shelter. I confirmed that testing it at home.
But for a while it was very very nice place to be. It was not cold, even night was fairly warm, place was really calm and silent. All i heard was rain and crickets and deers making noise in the distance, saw a curious sqirrel in the morning. But weather was not about to get better. So I decided to go back to car and drive home. It seems like every my vacation is wet. This year/summer has been very rainy indeed.

Here are some pictures from those two short days:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16319045573469

check out the description for information

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 17 Sep 2021, 20:23

Wonderful scenery and good photos. Wish you could have stayed as long as planned. I'll bet the symbols on that cross were carved later. Graffiti. The all seeing eye, eye of Horus, norse runes spelling 'omak', and the X, hmmm wonder what that is.

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 17 Sep 2021, 21:12

Interesting to see the pix of Flaje!
Im more the communal type person though..and Karlsbad is more of my liking.. but then now in the meanwhile all my friends here know of my disturbed relationship to water coming in masses from the clouds..!

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 17 Sep 2021, 21:14

https://www.spar-mit.com/reiseziele/wes ... n/karlsbad

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 26 Sep 2021, 20:50

this weekend was maybe one of the last "summer days". It was very pleasant temperature and even at night it was nicely warm. I had this little 23 km (14 miles) trip with my friend. I regret two things - not taking sleeping bags, coz it would have been a great night to spend there and not taking DSLR, coz i needed something advanced for the night photography, which i tried with a mobile phone.
but here is few pics. Its in the North Bohemia, not directly mountains, but still pretty nice. We started late and it took some time to get there. So we finished it at about 22h. Stars looked good as there was almost none "light smog".

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16326074687664

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 06 Oct 2021, 20:27

this weekend i will go on another hike (at least 30 km is planned) as i need to train more for 70 km hike i will attend 13th-14th November.
Czech army (airborn regiment) does it as a memorial to paratroopers from WW2. I will have to walk 70 km carrying food and water in a time of 20 h. So we need to walk alot and train our legs :) wish us luck (its a two member team and both of us need to reach the destination). Ofc part of that hike will be at night. There will be some reenactors like a nazi checkpoint and such :) I think its gonna be a great atmosphere there.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 10 Oct 2021, 17:18

OK, got 30 km for a training. The terrain was pretty difficult and challanging sometimes. Was suprisingly hard. Way to go...
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16338852969766

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 10 Oct 2021, 18:06

If you ever plan a walk south of Praha give me a heads up! Its only 3 hours from Vienna..! Please a wee bit in advance so that Im not back in Paris! Im sort of both in your backyard.. and Marcels!

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 10 Oct 2021, 21:45

I would like to visit Austria for some via ferata. I would let you know. Next warm season. I dont want to climb somewhere in the mountains when its cold.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 12 Oct 2021, 14:39

It is worth the long hike to see that beautiful scenery. I like the houses in pics 2485 and 2486 and the cave photos.Only 70km (43.5mi), come on, can't you do something challenging?

Good photos. (Spacekdet, you must compete. Need camping pix.)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 12 Oct 2021, 21:22

ONLY??? :D
I did some training today went from work to my home almost across the whole prague :) Was over 22 km, took 5hours (incl taking pics and figuring out the route on the go)... 4,5 hours moving. For a context - by car it can take 1 hour with traffic or 25 min. with no traffic.
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16340724460164

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 17 Oct 2021, 20:15

training in progress and it was a nice day today... so i went 14 km (almost 9 miles) thru parts of prague i didnt know they existed.
took my DSLR this time!
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16345011945190
(every photo is still Prague, i did not leave the city)

RAYMAN · Post by **RAYMAN** » 17 Oct 2021, 22:18

Nice! Just managed to pass by in Prague on my way home from Berlin last time.. looking foreward to seeing more next time!

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 18 Oct 2021, 00:55

I like that city. Prefer small towns but it looks like a good place to live. The night photos are great! Jealous of the moon photo. I just get a blur.

bitkar wrote: 06 Oct 2021, 20:27Czech army (airborn regiment) does it as a memorial to paratroopers from WW2.

It is good to honor your warriors. Here people participate in a hike each year in memory of the soldiers who died or were prisoners in the Bataan death march in WWII. https://bataanmarch.com/about-bataan/

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 18 Oct 2021, 16:12

Prague is pretty small for a Capital (over a milion ppl here). The city center is very nice and old, some other parts are more modern and you can find some parts that look like small town. You can find even places with cottages/cabins and gardens, large parks or forrests. You can live in a quiet neighborhood or in a crowded downtown. Its a really nice place to live. But its getting rediculously expensive to buy a property/house/apartment.
Anyway its worth visiting, worth seeing. And now after covid the turism is not as bad/high.
If anyone wants to come, you have my support.

good to know a history and remember it. War veterans are ppl that cannot be thanked enough.

Rayman: sure, thanks to you guys i dusted off my DSLR :)

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 19 Oct 2021, 02:34

Finis wrote: 18 Oct 2021, 00:55 The night photos are great! Jealous of the moon photo. I just get a blur.

A few tips if you're trying it with the Pentax:
Use a tripod.
Set up the countdown timer for the shutter, press and let go until camera finishes exposure.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 Oct 2021, 18:11

actually this moon is shot on F7.1 and 1/100s ISO100, i could hold it in my hands. I had to go shorter with exposition so the details were exposed right. Otherwise it was overexposed and looked like a bright circle with a glow. Moon is surprisingly bright for a camera. If you pres "i" you see the EXIF of those photos. Ofc tripod is a good thing if you shoot stationary things.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 24 Oct 2021, 16:01

Yesterday i went hiking again, originally with friends, but both are sick. So i went alone, only 20 km. Windless weather, got cold after dark and rained a bit, mostly cloudy, so no sun thru the colorful leaves. And it was all wet after rain.
But very nice trail, pine woods, soft trails, not many ppl, almost empty forrest. I took my old trusty Canon and managed to take a picture of the nightsky. Actually that was more than the eye saw :) Was really fun, except walking on wet wooden stairs in the dark. It was pretty slippery.

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16350846032954

I added few pics from the phone to illustrate night hiking :) And there is a monument of Jara Cimrman (read about him - he is the greatest genius of all times, scientist, inventor, artist,... ;)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 31 Oct 2021, 16:55

this weekend 28 km hike in České středohoří. Its a part of CZ with alot of hills (what remians of volcanic processes), so there are a loat of castels and ruins. Weather was nice, kind of hazy, sunny, windless. Was nice.

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16356883190832

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 14 Nov 2021, 18:48

Gentlemen! We did it. The 70 km march is done. Mission was accomplished. Iam still a bit sore and tired, but i will be soon ok. It was a great experience with everything set to the war era with historical club members dressed as nazis with their motorcycles and vehicles. We even had fake IDs and such. We had to gather intel on where to go and who to seek there (members of resistance), starting with briefing and parachute jump from a replica of a plane for training pursposes in a hangar of our army. They really did a nice job.
In total we traveled over 65 km on foot ascending over 1 400 m in total which took us very nice 15 hours of time (time limit was 20 hours).

here is some facebook things/stuff for those of you who use it:
https://www.facebook.com/43vysadkovypluk

some comments are in english. Its a facebook page of czech army 43. airborne batalion. (organizers of the event). I guess there will be more photos and videos added.

and some pics from my friends phone:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16369807727008

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 19 Nov 2021, 03:09

Excellent! The photos are interesting. Cant' see fakebook. Is that beer in that can? So y'all played the part of Czech soldiers or resistance fighters vs. nazis? What encounters with the enemy did you have? Check points?

Um, you still have that fake ID? Is a passport included? Uh, um, how much bitcoin for that? Need to know the language to be convincing ... never mind.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 19 Nov 2021, 13:24

that can is some energy drink. Fake document was something like a passport with a little card that was a travel permit.

Well, the original story is:
Its WW2. Czechoslovakia (rather czecho-moravian protectorate) is ocupied by nazis. There is resistance amongs the czech citizens who help to fight against nazis. Czech government fled to exile to UK. Czechs there join royal army as pilots (to defend britain against nazi attack) and paratroopers mainly to fight back. Paratroopers are trained as a special forces to be inserted back to CS to do all kinds of stuff (recon, information, sabotages, etc.). Resistance helps paratroopers - cover them, gives them accomodation, food, etc.

This march i atended was related mostly to operation codename Tungsten. Two paratroopers were supposed to be dropped near New Town in Moravia. But due to navigational erros, they were in fact dropped about 80 km by air far away from the drop zone. It was winter, almost xmas. It took them few days thru forests to get to their contact and evade all the nazis. Their side mission is to deliver crystal to another para group for their radio. They should contact somebody to live there and for the support. Main mission of Tungsten is to support other paratroopers and drops or material - to navigate the planes using radio beacon etc. And also orginaise some ppl to leave CS to GB. They had been doing it till the end of the war successfully. This was the real deal. The photo with candles is actually at the place they went.

In this march we are more or less replicating that as a tribute to all those guys. We were the paratroopers, contacting resistance and finding our way. We began with briefing from british officer, then "jumped" from a "plane" and went to that place. We had to contact resistance fighters to find our way there. We got clues like "map hidden in newspaper" or another contact name in another village, place written on a Cocacola bottle,... We got 2 pair of fake documents "made by british inteligence" for us and one more fake documents that were blank. Our mission was to deliver the blank documents to a guy in the target village.
We went thru checkpoint once. Normally you would show your fake IDs. But we managed to use crowds and slip thru. They must not find the blank IDs and a map we were given (those who failed with the map did some additional excersice). In one place - a pub - we just left it for next destination and we saw nazis on the road going there to raid the place. That was close ;) And there was one more checkpoint (big one) with a tent and such (and a dead body :D). We went there with our fake IDs, went thru and actually got a ride on a military truck to the finish with the meal (guláš) and beer and get our prices (mug, tshirt, etc.). But profesional soldiers that have S.E.R.E. certification were selected for interogation (and when they found a knife with english writings, they were in trouble-those pics are on fakebook).

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 09 May 2022, 21:30

ok, its the season again - everything is green. Altough there was tons of pollen in the air which was not great for my alergies. I was walking for few minutes and I could see tons of green dots on my camera. It was really everywhere in big amount.

But I had a smaller hike... almost 20 km:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16521278539268

enjoy the photos from the DSLR.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 10 May 2022, 00:07

The sky! Everything is green. Beautiful!

What is at the sign that says "povest o kameni"? What is the pretzel like thing in img_0024? You can drink the water at U Curacku?

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 10 May 2022, 08:16

Pověst o kameni = Legend about a stone. That big stone overthere is called Sharp Stone or Devil's stone. The legend tells that the stone was in the way annoying a farmer. One day during a storm, the farmer wished that a devil should take the stone. Well devil listened and wanted a sould for that. It was agreed (it should be done before sunday church ends) and devil took the stone, but it fell where it is. So the devil failed, because he was late and the sould was spared even tho the stone was gone from the farm. :D old stupid tale :)
I dont know what that thing is, propably it was part of the stone scene. We can play "what it is" :D but i really dont know.

Yes, the water is drinkable. There were two streams, both were good.

Btw the whole place has a rediculous names for today's standards. Kokotsko - the name of the area. Kokot means a dick :D (and its a bad word you dont normally say) And čůráček - little dick (čůrák = dick) all very dirty words in present time :D čůrák comes from word čůrat = to piss. Well čůraček may refer to a weak water stream too, so its not a bad word really, but it can be used as it too. End of Czech language lesson :D

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 22 May 2022, 19:33

some new small hike day...

1. Czech little desert with one dune :)
2. hike thru some forrest, nothing special

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16532459165251

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 23 May 2022, 02:22

Why is the desert a desert? I like the close up sand photos.

What is the structure in img_0092? Where does it go?

trueBlue · Post by **trueBlue** » 23 May 2022, 03:06

Nice!
I do not see any spice

: color.png (8.57 KiB) Viewed 3410 times

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 23 May 2022, 08:59

well, its not really a desert, its just a sand dune, but it can be called a small desert, why not? :) deserts dont have to be large, no? Is there a sand? yes, is there a dune? yes :) so its a desert ;)

the structure is a water spring. But its kind of dry these days so it doesnt really flow from there. But there was some water.

trueBlue: ya, its too small, all have been harvested and now the worm is pissed ;D

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 14 Jun 2022, 17:59

so... today I was in the aircraft museum. I forgot how big it is... I have over 300 photos :D stay tuned.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 04 Jul 2022, 02:37

... patiently staying tuned.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 04 Jul 2022, 15:54

ohya... I have been mostly out of free time recently... and its not gonna get better for like two more weeks.

Next week I have my main week-long vacation - i will go hiking for around 4 days or so to woods. If I will make some videos or photos, i make too much and process too little :D its gonna get better some day tho.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 16 Jul 2022, 12:36

Ok, so in the meantime... I had a vacation, so I did some hiking in the most god forgotten places of CZ. It is one of the biggest forest areas in the west called Český les (literally - The Czech Forrest). Its uninhabited and very virgin/pure nature mostly because it was part of the iron curtain. In a history there were villages but most of them were destroyed to make a "safe zone" against evil empiralistic western powers... or more like a "forbidden zone" so ppl cannot emigrate out of the communist hell. But its (for our measures) pretty huge and pur forrest nowadays.
I saw there was a tourist trail throughout the whole forrest nort/south all the way. It was about 100 km. So that was supposed to be my vacation - hike 100 km in a pure nature, sleep in the forrest and such.
So I did and it was awesome. This part of CZ is not a big tourist attraction because there is literally almost nothing. So I was really all alone. During my journey I met ONE dude with a backpak and two couples of older bikers on a bike trail. But I did not go all 100 km. At about 40th I noticed that my boots are starting to break apart. My outsoles were coming off the boots basically. So I ended my hike in the middle at the border town with the Germany. I took a bus and a train home... maybe I will do the other half later.

Quite a shame. It was really nice, I ate tons of different berries, all was so quiet, calm, green, relaxing...

Here is a video I made:
https://youtu.be/0gQXiCrS-go

Here is the photo gallery that complements the video:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16577993587157

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 26 Jul 2022, 10:50

and finally the photos from the aviation museum Kbely:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16579823945153

I definatly recomend visiting the museum if you ever come close to it. Photos dont make it justice and I could not shoot every single thing there is.
Ofc everyone is welcome to CZ and if you need any help coming, count on me.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 28 Jul 2022, 01:16

Saw the video. Too tired, much work, to comment much now so more later. I liked its film-like presentation as well as the beautiful scenery and camp set ups. Will look at photos soon.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 01 Aug 2022, 19:52

just a short test of the new boots
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16593815402235

at Kokořínsko again. Just a small adhoc trip to rocky area. They are very comfy right from the getgo.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 10 Aug 2022, 03:31

New boots look good. Durable design. Lots of interesting rock formations there.

That video! Watched again. Very cinematic. And the place: beautiful! Consider going far from trails, buildings, etc. if you return. Who are the people who have the memorial around 3 min 15 sec?

Hike photos: Water, green, nature! It is interesting that displays, markers, rest spots are in good condition. In many places in the US vandals would harm them. Exploring abandoned buildings is not so easy here either. Cameras, gangs, homeless, fences, sealed up sometimes. Keep out signs. Most that are on remote public land are fenced. An unused fire tower in the mountains was open to climb up.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 10 Aug 2022, 10:09

new boots are Czech military original boots (current issue), so far, so good (leather+goretex membrane).

that dude with memorial was a policeman that died trying to defend CZ against nazis in 1938. (I dont know the details)... oh and btw: that remaining metal and concrete at it is the actual iron curtain. This whole area was forbidden, thats why its so remote.

urbex: It depends, some objects are completely abandoned, some are fenced, some are fenced and have alarms (motion sensors or cameras)... Generally I try not to go where electricity is/might be (usually in or near cities, so police can be there fast). Usually its either secured or its neglected so there is some way in already and no body cares (i never create way in). Also homeless or gangs are not in the middle of forrest, but rather in the cities.

MikomDude · Post by **MikomDude** » 24 Aug 2022, 23:06

bitkar wrote: 01 Aug 2022, 19:52 ...just a short test of the new boots...

...at Kokořínsko again. Just a small adhoc trip to rocky area. They are very comfy right from the getgo.

bitkar wrote: 26 Jul 2022, 10:50 ...and finally the photos from the aviation museum Kbely:

Loved the pictures from the aviation museum and the nature where you went for a hike looks lovely as well!

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 25 Aug 2022, 08:37

thanks dude :)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 29 Aug 2022, 19:05

a minor hike (17 km, a little more than 10 miles) south of Prague, an hour away by a car

phone photos:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16617862896951

The weather was really tough. It rained alot recently and the day it was raining a bit too. So it was not only wet but it was super humid.

Steinie · Post by **Steinie** » 01 Sep 2022, 15:18

I really like all your photos!
(Except for the one where everyone gets the finger trying to cross the bridge...)

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 01 Sep 2022, 16:57

lol... it looks a bit like that :D

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 30 Jan 2023, 20:43

Did a little wintery, snowy hiking after some time... with my friends near my hometown. Went to local small mountains up to the top mountain. This year is pretty warm winter, so I acted fast while there is a lot of snow and looks like a fairy tale. I wanted some nice winter hiking photos, so I took my trusty old Canon. There was a lot of ski runners too. The best thing was up there - the lookout tower - it was surreal how nature formed incredible snow crystals. Really pretty. Weather was pretty good. Very windy up top tho. Usuall temp was around -5C (ca 20F).

http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16751088197377

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 31 Jan 2023, 04:52

bitkar wrote: 30 Jan 2023, 20:43 I wanted some nice winter hiking photos
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16751088197377

Well, you got them!
I liked your four legged hiking buddies but keep the short-legged guy out of the deep snow.
Also really liked the wooden shelter with the half-log bench and table.
The snow blown and frozen onto the walls and ceiling of the mountain top structure is also very 'cool'
Thanks for sharing!

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 31 Jan 2023, 15:09

thanks for appreciating it :)
that short legged is pretty long, he can peak out in case of emergency :D

Tables like that are quite common at the hiking trails so the hikers can rest and get some snack. its nice. Some of them are humble, some are really nice and even quite big.

Finis · Post by **Finis** » 08 Feb 2023, 01:29

Fantastic photos! Each one is art. Interesting how they are almost black and white.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 10 Feb 2023, 10:22

Nature is a great artist...

ya... this is how the world would be almost without textures :D

spacekdet · Post by **spacekdet** » 10 Feb 2023, 23:51

Finis wrote: 08 Feb 2023, 01:29 Interesting how they are almost black and white.

That's life in the north...for months.
You get used to it.

bitkar · Post by **bitkar** » 23 Jun 2023, 16:22

finally vecation... I finished what i did not do last summer... Česky les.

here are some photos:
http://lychee.michalgrega.cz/#16875358606732

again, iron curtain area, I continued south. There was a little more civilzation but it was nice... but too much insect this time of year.
Video will be posted later. I must cut something together.

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