Góra Zborów

According to local legend, witches from the surrounding villages gathered on this hill before flying off on their broomsticks to the witches' sabbath on Łysa Góra – hence the name Góra Zborów, roughly "Gathering Hill". Today it draws climbers and hikers instead: limestone towers up to 30 m high, a maze of paths between the rocks and the only show cave in the northern part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland (the Polish Jura). The treeless summit is one of the best viewpoints around Podlesice.

The hill and the reserve

Góra Zborów (also called Góra Berkowa) lies in the Kroczyce municipality, beside regional road 792. Together with neighbouring Kołoczek it forms part of the Kroczyce Rocks, a ridge more than 3 km long. Sources give the height of the summit as between about 462 and 467 m above sea level; it was the highest point of the former Częstochowa province. A concrete triangulation pillar, put up during the German occupation, stands on the summit rock.

The "Góra Zborów" nature reserve was created in 1957. It covers 45 ha and lies within the Eagles' Nests Landscape Park and the "Ostoja Kroczycka" Natura 2000 site. Karst processes have carved rock towers, caves, rock shelters and sinkholes. Botanists have counted around 210 species of vascular plants, arranged in zones: pine forest at the foot, beech woods higher up, and dry grassland and rock vegetation on the tops. Eagle owls and rock thrushes nest on the cliffs.

Jaskinia Głęboka

At the foot of the hill, beneath the Krucze Skały and Dwoista Baszta rocks, is Jaskinia Głęboka ("Deep Cave") – 170 m long and 12.5 m deep. It can be visited with a guide, and even in summer the temperature inside does not exceed 8°C. The entrance leads through an old excavation: spar was mined here before and after the war, and drill holes and broken dripstones are still visible. The reserve's other caves are closed for safety reasons and to protect bats.

Did you know?

• A quarry operated inside today's reserve, worked by forced labourers of the Third Reich. During the war the area also saw skirmishes between partisan units and German gendarmes.
• Climbers have given the rocks their own names: Sphinx, Camel, White Bastion, Raven Rocks, Millers and the Rock with the Mouse Traverse.
• Just inside the reserve entrance is a lapidarium displaying different types of limestone from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland.

Tripto tip

Start at the Jura Natural and Cultural Heritage Centre in Podlesice on road 792 – it has a car park and a ticket office selling admission to the reserve and the cave. The reserve entrance is on the other side of the road. According to the regional environmental authority, you may only use the designated routes: the red Eagles' Nests Trail, the green Rzędkowice trail, the black trail and the "Góra Zborów – people and nature" educational path. Climbing is only allowed at designated crags using the existing bolts; do not walk on the tops of the rocks, where grassland is being restored. Allow 2–3 hours for a loop through the reserve with the summit and the cave, and wear shoes with good grip – limestone can be slippery.