EN > Trip tips > Cattle Trail

The project is aimed at restoring (and providing a unique and fresh view of) the natural and cultural heritage along the famous Cattle Trail, an ancient route for cattle drives that connected the Krakow area to Vienna several centuries ago.

The construction plans of the local ČSOP chapter for the coming years are ambitious: they want to gradually open the rest of the trail to hikers on foot, with tree lines formed by pear and plum trees, and to gradually restore the characteristic natural waystations of old – barns, rural orchards, wetlands, wellsprings, fountains, drinking troughs, but also small architectural and technical monuments.

For the time being, the first waystation has been opened within the NET4GAS Closer to Nature programme in 2018, near 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.