To Branč Castle From Sobotište, SK - Across The Undulating Countryside Up To The Horizon

We started our tour again on the Western edge of Slovakia, namely in the little town of Sobotište which has several sights and attractions worth exploring. They testify to local, once varied craft and social events. There were also a few important individuals (e.g. Samuel Jurkovič, founder of the first credit cooperative ever) and less common communities of people (e.g. the well-known Habans) living and active in Sobotište. But let's go back to our trip - we wandered a bit on the yellow sign at the northern end of Sobotište as it is poorly marked there. Then we continued along the river Teplica to Valcha, later to the KST(Club of Slovak Tourists) shelter under the hill of Uchánek. From Uchánek, we had a fairly good view of Branč Castle in the distance, from which we were separated by a wide valley and still quite a few kilometers. When we finally got to it, tired, it was shrouded in strange but still comforting Saharan dust. During the hike we could enjoy the spring colours of this area and quite a few houses and farm buildings made of adobe, flowering fruit trees in ubiquitous orchards, which were diversified by the local animals, i.e. the domestic and the wild ones, insects etc., and all this in the unique, pleasantly undulating environment of the Biele Karpaty (White Carpathians). Watch our video to see what this circuit looks like in probably the most appealing spring season. Route attractions: Nyáryi manor house with the cooperative museum Haban mill, bell tower and chapel - mind, the mill is closed in winter season there is more in the village of Sobotište, but we did not manage to see everything - in addition to other Haban monuments, e.g. the key-house, there are also 2 manors, an evangelical and Catholic church, a mini-observatory and 2 Jewish cemeteries Valcha - one can identify the former cloth workshop only by the name of the location KST shelter under the hill of Uchánek with the possibility of sleeping Uchánek hill with a beautiful view of Branč Castle Exceptional pension Ailit - restored peasant house with farm buildings from 1833 in Podbranč Evangelical bell tower under Branč Castle Branč Castle - stood on an important trade route towards the Czech Republic, today it is a ruin, consists of 2 parts - the so-called lower and middle, they were imprisoned in the castle and there is a monument to Calvinist and Evangelical priests Route: https://sk.mapy.cz/s/povutapafa Distance: ~ 18 km Elevation difference: ~500 m Terrain: undulating, asphalt, dirt, and forest roads Difficulty: moderate 3-30-2024