Following the former railway line

Following the former railway line, bicycle path no. 5231 passes through the Kuřimka Micro-region. So let’s now follow the former railway line from Kuřim to Veverská Bítýška.

The first railway station on this line – Kuřim – is now situated on the line leading from Brno to the town of Tišnov that was opened in 1885. The old building no longer exists as it was rebuilt during the reconstruction of the line from a single track to a double track. To follow the old line, take Farského Street, go along the track in the direction of Tišnov, cross the road at Legionářská Street and continue on Husova Street past an old mill to the Kuřimka Brook where you can see the first reminder of the past, the remnants of an old bridge. From here, the track turned slightly to the left. Continue downstream along the brook towards the church, and while passing along the castle join the road in the direction of Moravské Knínice. Before the village, go along the brook towards a huge tube that was left here from the times of construction of the Hitler's Highway. After that, join the track again and walk towards the village. There used to be a station called Moravské Kynice behind the road going to the village of Čebín. The track then went along the Kuřimka brook, the bicycle path passes there now. Fifteen years ago, you could still see the spots where railway sleepers had been laid because small “beds” were left on the path from that time, each at the same distance from another. Sometimes you will even see bridges. Next walk towards the road, turn right on it and proceed to the place where the road turns left and runs up a hill.

Here, the track descends into a valley and continues alongside the brook to the village of Chudčice. Before the road you will be able to see the place where there used to be a station carrying the same name. The track then used to lead right on the railway embankment. Since then, houses have been built in this place so we will have to proceed below it towards the largest cutting. We will get through the cutting which successively passes into an embankment. From there, we will see the Veverská Bítýška Township. The path then descends towards private houses and you will notice some railway buildings. From this station an industrial railway ran across the Svratka River to a quarry.

Following former railway lines, bicycle path no. 5231 – Mokrá Hora – Kuřim – Veverská Bítýška begins in a part of Brno called Mokrá Hora (Wet Mountain). First it runs through the streets of the city, together with the so called Černá Hora Beer Path. Later it copies the path, more or less, of the old local railway line from Brno to Tišnov (the so called Tišnovka) coming to former railway stations Jehnice, Česká and Lelekovice. (In Česká, there is currently a railway station of the Czech Railways company.) From Lelekovice, the path continues at the foot of a hill called “Babí lom”, on a wooded path which runs past a historical beech tree “Milionův buk” to Podlesí, and alongside Podleský potok (the Podlesí Brook) to Kuřimka and Kuřim. In Kuřim, the path turns into active roadways and streets, including the characteristic little lanes of Podhoří and U Rybníka (At the Pond) with the view of the panorama of Kuřim's castle. The path then runs for almost one kilometer on the class 2 road toward Moravské Knínice. After that it more or less follows the former railway track from Kuřim to Veverská Bítýška, through Moravské Knínice and Chudčice. In the latter, there is the second historical tree of this region, a 250-year-old “Chudčická lípa” (baswood of Chudčice).

Several bridges have been well preserved in the course of this segment of the path, as well as long embankments and a railway cutting through a large segment of rock between Chudčice and Veverská Bítýška, which is the largest construction project on the track. Behind the former railway station building of Veverská Bítýška (house no. 29), the path joins, in the center of the village, the international Prague – Brno bicycle path no. 1 called the Prague Path, and also other paths in the southwestern surroundings of Brno, i.e. in the valley of Bílý potok (White Brook) toward Šmelcovna and Javůrek, or in the valley of the Svratka River toward Tišnov, etc.

Besides marked trails, the bicycle path is crossed by several nature trails and local trails, such as the “Trail for Health from Mokrá Hora to Lelekovice” (Stezka zdraví Mokrá Hora – Lelekovice), the “Ponávka River Region Trail” (Stezka krajem říčky Ponávky”), the “Town Trail across Záruba and Horka” (Naučná stezka Zárubou a Horkou) in Kuřim and the “Nature Trail along significant landscape elements” (Naučná stezka po významných krajinných prvcích) in Moravské Knínice.