Przadki Rock Reserve

The Przadki are a group of sandstone tors standing in beech woodland on a ridge near Krosno - about twenty formations, the tallest around twenty metres, weathered out of the Ciezkowice sandstone into columns, mushrooms and blocks with the softer bands undercut, which is why several of them stand on visibly narrower waists. The name means the spinners, from a story that women who spun on a holy day were turned to stone for it, and individual rocks carry names accordingly. They have been a protected reserve since 1957 and a marked path loops among them in about an hour. Climbing on them is prohibited because the sandstone is soft and was being worn away. Odrzykon castle, a substantial ruin whose long inheritance dispute is said to have given Aleksander Fredro the plot of Zemsta, stands on the same ridge and the two are usually walked together.

The landscape

• Twenty sandstone tors - columns and mushrooms up to about twenty metres.
• Undercut waists - softer bands weathered out beneath harder caps.
• A punishment legend - the spinners turned to stone for working on a feast day.
• Odrzykon castle - a ruin on the same ridge, tied to a well-known Polish comedy.

When to go

April to October. Two hours, with the castle.

Good to know

Climbing on the rocks is prohibited - the sandstone is soft and wearing. The reserve is small and the loop is an hour. Weekend crowds from Krosno are significant. A small fee applies.

Nearby

Odrzykon castle is on the same ridge; Krosno is south-west.