Pūčkoriai Nature Trail

On the Pūčkoriai nature trail you can choose one of three routes of different lengths – 2.8 km, 3.7 km and 5.3 km. The Pūčkoriai nature trail winds past the Pūčkoriai Outcrop, one of the most impressive and highest outcrops in Lithuania. This unique geological feature was declared a natural monument in 1974. The outcrop is 65 metres high and 260 metres wide. It was formed by active lateral erosion (undercutting) by the Vilnia River. Three horizontal sections are clearly visible on the slope. Further on, the trail descends into the Vilnia valley by the farm buildings of the Pūčkoriai folwark. The trail passes the remains of the cannon foundry, follows the great bend of the Vilnia and leads to the mill. Archival sources show that the Puškarnia manor existed at the foot of the outcrop as early as the 14th century, but what has survived to this day is a complex of 18th- and early 19th-century folwark buildings on both banks of the Vilnia. At the beginning of the 19th century the Puškarnia manor had one of the largest and most beautiful mills in Lithuania, with as many as twelve millstones. Later part of the mill premises was converted into a paper factory. Many fairly well-preserved buildings of the Pūčkoriai folwark still stand on both banks of the Vilnia: a threshing barn, a granary, a cowshed and former farmhands' quarters. The surviving ruins of the Pūčkoriai cannon foundry testify to a large, well-equipped arms factory that was already operating here in the 16th century. Units of the Swedish, Russian and French armies repaired their cannons in the foundry and used its equipment. In the mid-19th century the old cannon foundry became a watermill, and later a wood pulp and paper factory. Climbing the Pūčkoriai nature trail to the top of the Vilnia valley, you can look down on the ponds. In the bend of the Vilnia you can see the remains of the old dam of the former French (Belmontas) Mill, above which a convenient footbridge has been built where the road used to be. The brick watermill was built in beautiful natural surroundings on the lands of the Leoniškės folwark at the beginning of the 19th century by the Frenchman Karol Devimme. Today the mill grounds have changed beyond recognition: the Belmontas leisure and entertainment centre has been set up here, where you can enjoy a good meal and spend time in a cultured way. Further on, the trail winds past Pūčkoriai Hill Fort. Archaeological finds show that people already lived in this area in the Stone Age. The hill fort is surrounded on three sides by the Vilnia valley; on the eastern side it is separated by a hollow, and on the south-eastern side it is joined by a ridge. Its slopes are fairly steep, 10–19 m high. At its foot you can spot a shallow but fairly long ditch. The plateau on top of the hill fort is an irregular oval, 28 m long and 20 m wide, stretched in a north–south direction, with remains of a rampart. Pūčkoriai Hill Fort was used for defence from the first centuries AD. It is an archaeological monument of national importance and one of Lithuania's many hill forts. And finally the trail leads to the sundial. A wooden post with carvings by craftsmen serves as the gnomon, and a meadow with little wooden chairs – after renovation, stone posts marking the hours – serves as the dial. In sunny weather the time is shown only approximately, because the gnomon is not tilted at an angle matching the latitude of the sundial's location.