The Bridge Oak of Staré Dobrkovice

The crash barrier runs in front of it. This oak stands at the mouth of an old stone bridge over the Polečnice in Staré Dobrkovice, on the left bank, close enough to the carriageway that the district's own record places it behind the road's safety barriers. A second oak stands at the far end of the bridge, so the two of them frame the crossing, though only this one is registered and documented as a protected tree. It is a heavy tree: 4.15 metres round, a figure the national memorial-tree register and the Czech district list arrive at separately and agree on. The bridge beside it is a protected monument in its own right and was restored in 2021, which is why the stonework looks better cared for than the verge. The setting is the point. This is the old road west out of Český Krumlov toward Kájov, about 2.5 kilometres from the painted houses of the old town, half an hour on foot down the river valley and a few minutes by bike. There is no gate, no ticket and no opening hour. You stand on the roadside, watch for traffic, and look up. Nobody has dated it. The register kept its girth and not its years, and if you know how old this oak is, tell us.