Walk around Ejpovice lake

Today we will look together at Ejpovice lake, or rather at Ejpovice reservoir.
We will start our trip in Pilsen - Doubravka, at the railway station.
We will take a passenger train in the direction of Beroun. Along the corridor route, we are in Ejpovice in a moment. We will not buy a return ticket, as Czech Railways has already canceled it. We only get two ordinary ones.
The train passes with us through the longest tunnel in the Czech Republic, trains run through two tubes, each measuring 4,150 meters.

The photo is from the winter of 2018, just after the new commissioning of the new track.

After passing the tunnel, we will get off at the finish line, in the village of Ejpovice.
From the station we go down the hill following the yellow tourist sign. We can't miss the dam. We can hear a strange growl from afar. What is it?
We come closer to the water and we are amazed. Yes, it is a lift for water skiing and wakeboarding. It's a nice time to watch agile athletes run into obstacles.
Then we go for a walk along the wooded bank of the reservoir.

Lake Ejpovice is the original iron ore quarry, which operated in 1958-66. The Klabava riverbed was relocated here due to mining. However, the profitability of the local ore was not enough for the centrally planned economy of the previous regime and mining was unprofitable.
After 1966, the river Klabava was returned to its original bed and the quarry began to sink.
Filling of the water reservoir did not take long, because Klabava, which springs in Brdy, is usually very watery, especially during the spring melting of snow.

On the opposite bank we can notice the inflow of the river Klabava into the lake. Let's go see it.
The shores of the lake are mostly lined with birches and other hardy trees, which like to inhabit the landscape damaged by human activity.

We can also find ferns on the banks. They fascinate me with their rolled leaves.
A plant that resembles the prehistoric period of the earth in appearance and origin.
By the way, on the northern shore of the lake we can visit an interesting geological locality Ejpovické útesy. It is a protected area of ​​natural monuments.
The reason for protection is the world's oldest locality of autochthonous occurrence of the Lower Ordovician fauna.

The cliffs form cobblestone rocks in the north wall of the former iron ore quarry. This body represents a rock cliff on the shore of the Lower Ordovician Sea. In addition to abrasive phenomena caused by the surf, fossils of native organisms from the Early Proterozoic period have also been preserved on this cliff.

In any case, we will miss a visit to this certainly interesting area today.

We will look at the inflow of the Klabava River into the lake.
It was reconstructed in 2005 after major floods that damaged the riverbed in 2002.
With a higher state of water, we can admire the mighty rapids here.

We will also use the restored footbridge and cross to the other bank of the river. The footbridge is a self-supporting construction without pillars in an ideal anti-flood design.

On the other bank of the river are the Ejpovice water tunnels, the original galleries, which diverted the flow of the river Klabava during mining in the quarry.
The pair of tunnels excavated by mining in the late 1950s is still in good condition.

The tunnels were completed in 1958 and are more than 1500 meters long. In one of my next articles, we'll look inside each of them.
The right tube is currently being prepared for use with a small hydroelectric power plant.

The left tube is abandoned and passable. The tunnels are not straight, so it is not visible from one end to the other.
In winter, the site is an important wintering ground for bats, so we should not enter and disturb them during this period.

From the water tunnels we will return along the southern shore of the lake to the caravan park.
Here we can refresh ourselves at the restaurant's service window and after a while continue along the shore to the river outlet from the lake.
The lake has no dam, there is only an overflow, so the water level in the former quarry cannot be artificially manipulated.

Shot of the west side of the water area near golf courses.

Our walk is slowly coming to an end. We walked five kilometers.
The train departure time is approaching. The train station is not far from here.
We are in Pilsen in ten minutes.
It was a nice trip.

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