ČSOP opens the first waystation along the route of a historical “cattle highway”
It is in the Oder Valley that we find particularly well-preserved fragments of this “cattle highway”; many of them represent to this day little self-contained natural refuges within a landscape that is otherwise under intensive cultivation as farmland. Sunken paths and fragments of forest pastures have survived – we even know where the watering places were. The corridor along which cattle herds were driven is known approximately between Skotnice near Příbor and Bělotín near Hranice.
It was the local chapter of the ČSOP, Studénka, that showed the necessary enthusiasm for restoring the cattle trail. “Our plans for the coming years are ambitious: bit by bit, we want to make the rest of the trail accessible to hikers on foot, leading them along rows of pear and plum trees, and along that trail, we are going to restore the characteristic natural waystations of old – barns, rural orchards, wetlands, wellsprings, fountains, drinking troughs, but also small architectural and technical monuments,” says Ivan Bartoš, the spiritual father of the project and chairman of the local Studénka chapter of the ČSOP. Step by step, stations with info panels interpreting the local natural and cultural heritage (supplemented by interactive elements) will be put up within the cadastral area of each municipality along the trail.
Today marks the festive opening of the first waystation, not far from Šenov (Nový Jičín): Banner’s Well. This is the tufa-lined mouth of a spring coming to the surface on Hůrka Hill, which itself is a formation of highly calciferous sandstone. We are essentially dealing with petrified sand from ancient seas, and the lime is provided by the shells of marine animals. In the immediate vicinity of the wellhead, the limestone is deposited in layers to build what is known as a travertine dome – a stratum of porous limestone, usually grown over by bog plants.
Banner’s Well is above 150 m from the bus stop Šenov u Nového Jičína, Salaš, at the junction leading to the Salaš Restaurant (GPS: 49.6178017N, 17.9741992E). The (1st segment of the) Cattle Trail marks the 92nd site overall – and the 14th within the region of Moravia-Silesia – which the ČSOP, working within the NET4GAS Closer to Nature Programme, has made accessible to the general public. It is through this programme that NET4GAS has been supporting nature conservation projects across the entire Czech Republic for the past twelve years and counting.
