Hamr on the Lake in winter skates - Horydoly.cz - Outdoor Generation<

How to do it

Transport

Buses run to Hamr on the lake on the Liberec - Stráž pod Ralskem line. The car can be parked for free on the square. It is possible to arrive by bike along the new cycle path along Ploučnice.

Recommended equipment

Skates, warm clothes, gloves, spare clothes and a first aid kit on shore, a helmet is suitable for uncertain skaters. You will also appreciate the hot tea in the thermos.

Lake Hamr am Bad (Bad Hammer am See) is a beautiful body of water with sandy beaches, houses and cottages in an acceptable amount on the shores.

SUMMER: Romantic but cold swimming in Hamr

Skating is perhaps even nicer than swimming. Almost no one is here, the wind rarely blows here and there is not much snow.

The best access to the ice is straight from the long and safe dam. Families with small children prefer a mild flat approach from the bathing beach. The disadvantage on this side is that if the soil is not properly frozen, the local shallow water does not have to freeze properly.

At the far shore, where there are swamps in summer, we can drive around tiny grassy islands.

Historic Hammer am See

Hammer am See was originally a hammer on an old natural lake, which was much smaller than today. Its surface shines below Děvín Castle, in the Polomené Mountains and the Kummer Mountains.

Hamr, or the workshop for processing iron ore from under the Děvín castle and the Hamerský Špičák mountain, is first mentioned in 1322, when it was owned by the knight Mikuláš Blekty from Útěchovice, which is now part of the village of Hamr na Jezeře.

In the 16th century, the Hamerský pond with an area of ​​57 ha was established. The builders achieved this simply by artificially raising the natural dam.

The mines were abandoned in the 19th century because what could be exploited economically was mined. The remains of mining can still be seen today in the natural monuments of Děvín, Ostrý and Schachtstein.

At the beginning of the 20th century came tourism on sandy beaches. The Czechoslovak president also had his summer residence here in the Government Villa. The last president to come here regularly was the red butcher Antonín Zápotocký. The former chateau and later the forestry house also began to be used for recreation.

But in the 1950s, uranium began to be mined massively in the area. Water was lost from the pond, the surrounding landscape was devastated by industrial buildings. Since 1968, the Soviet military zone has hit here. Classical deep mining turned into chemical mining, which meant that sulfuric acid was pushed into the ground and then vacuumed again with dissolved uranium ore.

Although the devastating mining has been stopped, the clearing of the landscape has been going on for two decades and will continue.

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