Rzędkowice Rocks

Above the fields east of Rzędkowice runs a wall of white limestone outcrops more than a kilometre long, visible from afar because it stands in open country rather than forest. The Rzędkowice Rocks are one of the most popular climbing areas in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland – climbers have put up around 450 routes here – and also a protected natural monument with rare dry grasslands. The best-known rock, Okiennik, has a rock window and traces of people who were here more than 2,500 years ago.

History: from Scythians to climbers

In the Okiennik rock, Scythian arrowheads dated to around 600 BC have been found. In the 6th–7th centuries AD a primitive fortified settlement called "Pasieka" stood here. Climbers arrived as early as the 1950s, and it was they who named many of the pinnacles and divided the wall into sectors. Since 2009 the whole group, together with its grasslands and sites of rare plants, has been protected as a natural monument covering 44.5 hectares. The rocks also lie within the Eagles' Nests Landscape Park and the Ostoja Kroczycka Natura 2000 site.

What to see

The limestone ridge runs north-west to south-east for just over 1 km. Walking along it from the west, you pass:

• Wysoka and Mała Grań at the western end,
• the Zegarowa sector with Baszta and Turnia Szefa,
• Turnia Cyklopa, Wielka Baszta and Turnia Lechwora,
• Okiennik – a rock with a window branching into several passages and a large shelter called the Garage at its foot; climbing routes on Okiennik reach 33 m,
• the Solidarność sector with Pęknięta Turnia, and Leśna Turnia at the eastern end.

Most routes are 10–20 m long, and the rocks also attract boulderers. Look down as well as up: dry grasslands cover the south-facing slopes. Around 330 species of vascular plants have been recorded here, 24 of them protected – including proliferous pink, stemless carline thistle and moonwort.

Curious facts

• Some rock names come from locals, but most were given by climbers – hence names like Turnia Kursantów ("Trainees' Pinnacle") and Turnia Szefa ("Boss's Pinnacle").
• Włodowice municipality notes that the rocks are used for climbing training and that dry grasslands of this kind are rare in Poland.
• The area is under heavy visitor pressure, so stay on worn paths and keep off the grassland.

Tripto tips

• Time: a walk along the whole wall takes about 1 hour; with a hike on to Góra Zborów in Podlesice, allow half a day.
• Trails: the Rzędkowice Trail (Myszków – Góra Włodowska – Rzędkowice Rocks – Góra Zborów) passes the rocks, as does a trail from Rzędkowice via Lgota to Kroczyce.
• Climbing: the rocks are popular and get busy on warm weekends – for a quiet walk, choose a weekday.
• The village has a municipal campsite with showers and toilets, handy for climbers and cyclists.