Polom U Potštejna: Forest, Hiking Trails and Cultural Heritage

Polom U Potštejna combines marked hiking trails, protected woodland and small cultural monuments into a destination that reveals itself step by step. In the area around the village are the dense Černý les forest, the Modlivý důl nature reserve and the listed complex of the hunting lodge in Hájek. For you, this means that when choosing accommodation, you can weigh nature experiences, historical traces and arrival by train against one another without reducing the village to a single attraction.

Hiking trails in different directions

A yellow-marked hiking trail leads from Sopotnice via Černý les, Polom and Proruby to Potštejn. In addition, a yellow-marked trail from Potštejn via Proruby, Polom, Sopotnice and Česká Rybná to Popluží near Žamberk is described. Polom thus appears as part of a network of trails connecting the village with several surrounding landscapes and settlements. A green-marked hiking trail leads from Potštejn via Modlivý důl and Polom and through Hájek, Malá Skrovnice and Velká Skrovnice to Brandýs nad Orlicí. Those who want to explore different trail routes during their stay will find specific directions here rather than just a short circular walk.

Forest and protected landscape

Polom borders the Modlivý důl nature reserve. The protected area preserves woodland with the original tree-species composition of the forests of the Middle Orlice region. Above Polom and Hájek, the dense Černý les forest extends towards Sopotnice.

Hájek also offers a special feature for visitors who want to combine landscape and geology. The geologically significant site consists of abandoned wall-stone quarries in Cenomanian sandstones. Marine fauna occurs in the sandstone formations. The place therefore represents not only forest paths but also rock formations and traces of a long-vanished marine world.

Small cultural monuments around the village

In the area around Polom, the listed complex of the hunting lodge is located in Hájek. It can be reached via a forest path that branches off from the road from the direction of Proruby and Polom. In the cadastral area of Polom u Potštejna, the Chapel of St. John and Paul is also among the buildings considered valuable. In front of the chapel stands a monument to those who fell in the years 1914–1918. Opposite the chapel in the village square, a memorial cross bearing the inscription “A 1793–1899” commemorates local history.

In front of the former farmhouses Nos. 1 and 2, a statue of the Virgin Mary, erected in 1876, stands on a pedestal. It is precisely these scattered details that make a visit to the village varied: alongside longer paths through the forest and protected area, historic markers can be found at the village square, chapel and former farmsteads.

Arrival and accommodation location

The nearest railway stations to Polom are in Potštejn or Sopotnice on line 021 from Týniště nad Orlicí to Hanušovice. Those who want to take the rail connection into account when planning can consider these two places as possible arrival points. In Polom, a shop and a restaurant provide food and shopping options during the week. When choosing accommodation, you can therefore first decide whether a location near the described trail network or proximity to one of the two railway stations is more important.

Other destinations you can open in the travel overview: Kounov, Tutleky, Chlístov U Dobrušky, Javornice, Vamberk, Dobré, Potštejn, Rychnov Nad Kneznou.

To the higher-level travel overview: Okres Rychnov Nad Kněžnou.