DŪKŠTA COGNITIVE WALKWAY

Distance from Vilnius ~25 km
Length of the walkway ~ 5,00 km
It will take you 3 hours to go along the walkway

    We invite you to have a walk along the cognitive walkway set out on the strands of the Dūkšta stream in Dūkštos landscape strict nature reserve. From Vilnius you can get here driving to Kernavė through Sudervė and Dūkštos, and driving from Vievis or Trakai you have to turn to the direction of Maišiagala-Dūkštos.            
    The installers’ objective is to show natural and cultural treasures, lying very close to our capital, to the visitors. The beginning of the route is very close to the cognitive walkways of Dūkštos oak-wood, which have already got very popular. This path is designated for those who can or want to walk along the forest and field paths and who desire to know and admire only natural nature. That is why only minimum recreational equipment is installed in the path – benches, stairs and information stands.
    We trust our visitors and think that you respect nature, the serenity of forest inhabitants and the work of the walkway installers. We hope you will not disappoint us with your behaviour. 
    Wishing to go along the entire circular route, you will have to cross the Dūkšta two times. Warning: it will not be an easy journey, because in the cognitive walkway there are a lot of steep slopes, and if you want to climb them, you have to have comfortable footwear and not to be afraid of fatigue. Especially you have to watch your children, so that they while hurrying did not roll down from the steep slopes!!!  
    However if you lack time or powers, we suggest choosing the shorter (2,1 km) segment up to the hill fort of Karmazinai, from which one can return by car or back along the same route up to the Signatories’ oak-wood. In early spring you will also be able to walk only along this segment of the walkway along the Dūkšta, because it will be impossible to wade the swollen rivulet. Having walked to Karmazinai valley, a parking lot and a resting place are set out on the Oaks Hill in front of the mound.            
    Go along the walkway bravely – you will not get lost, because along the whole route, direction indicators and references to the objects you are approaching will accompany you. In total you will get acquainted with 3 hill forts (Bradeliškės, Karmazinai, Buivydai), impressive Dūkštos and Karmazinai exposures, huge boulders in the rivulet, and old oaks. In addition, an agility try-out awaits you when crossing the fords and climbing the steep slopes of the hills on the Dūkšta banks.             
    At every object worth a look you will find information stands, if you read them, you will be able to get more information about this locality.

 The values of Dūkšta cognitive walkway:  

	1. DŪKŠTOS EXPOSURE     The river torrent having scoured out the bottom of the slope in the twist near the former dam, a part of the bed stores covering the slope has slipped into the river. Then the layers of the bed stores forming the slope uncovered and the exposure formed. The height of Dūkštos exposure is 14-15 m; its length along the riverbed is 20 m.
	2. BRADELIŠKĖS WATER MILL     Bradeliškės water mill is built at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a nice two-storey building with a cellar. A miller lived in the narrower part of the house, the other part was for the production with the system of gears in the cellar (unfortunately, at present the facilities have already been destroyed). In the Soviet times, a leisure centre was functioning here. Today, unfortunately, this building is in a deplorable condition...
	3. DŪKŠTA STONE (or the story of a stone)     “...As hard as a stone, having a heart of stone, standing stock-still… It seems that there is nothing harder than a stone… It had been battle-scarred. It had gone through fire and water before it came here.” In this way, scientists tried to explain on the stand installed at Dūkšta stone where this stone was born and how it came here.
	4. SPRING     The major part of the small streams, flowing out of the Dūkšta slopes, run dry until summer, and this spring is active all the year round. In the hills, surrounding the Neris valley, precipitation water filtering the earth constantly supplements the reserves of the escaped water. Part of such filtered precipitation water does not get to the deep underground watercourses and escapes by groundwater springs in the slopes of the river valleys. This spring is of such a kind.
	5. KARMAZINAI EXPOSURE     Not far from Karmazinai mound, the Dūkšta turns to the south, not having climbed the steep slope of the valley of 55 m high. The strong torrents constantly erode the slope in one place or another, and it slips, uncovering the layers of the bed stores forming the slope. The height of Karmazinai exposure is 35 – 36 m, the length along the riverbed is 40 m. In 2005, it was declared a natural heritage state-protected object.
	6. THE HILL FORT OF KARMAZINAI       This is a small hill fort, therefore it is thought that it was not always populated, and it was used as a hiding-place to escape from attacking enemies. From archaeologists’ point of view, from the 6th century, the hill fort of Karmazinai lost its defence function and became a sacred place – a saint grove, where rituals in honour of gods took place.
	7. THE OAKS HILL     From the observation tower in the Oaks Hill, built by Vilnius Forest Enterprise in 2006, the valley at the confluence of the Neris and the Dūkšta opens. One can also see a part of the great turn of Velniakampis, which the Neris makes here, flowing from Vilnius and having burst from between the hills. This expressive landscape of the Neris valley started to form before approximately 15 thousand years with the gradual retreat of the last glacier.
	8. THE SAINT OAK OF THE HOLLOW      This oak, growing on the left bank of the Dūkšta, is a decoration of the valley forests. This is the thickest oak of these vicinities (the trunk diameter is 1.57 m, the girth of the trunk is 4.95 m). The age of the oak is about 300 years. It was declared a state-protected natural heritage object in 2005.
	9. THE HILL FORT OF BUIVYDAI       From the end of the first millennium to the 14th century, this hill fort together with the hill fort of Bradeliškės, which is nearby, is attributed to the common defense system. The hill fort has not been investigated so far. The hollows of the Dūkšta valley, overgrown with centennial oaks, surround the hill fort of Buivydai from three sides. From the neighbouring hills, two ditches and embankments separate it. In the south of the fill fort there are remnants of the ancient vestigial settlement.
	10. THE HILL FORT OF BRADELIŠKĖS      The hill fort of Bradeliškės formed on the natural hill of the Dūkšta banks, fortifying it additionally. This is the best-investigated mound of the Neris Regional Park. According to archaeologists’ data, the mound was inhabited 2,5 thousand years ago and was used until the 14th century. Out of the 7 hill forts exiting in the territory of the Neris Regional Park, this one was inhabited for the longest time. The hill fort of Bradeliškės, together with the hill fort of Buivydai, which is nearby, composed a part of the defence system of Kernavė and Vilnius.
	11. THE SIGNATORIES’ OAK-WOOD     The oak-wood of the Signatories of the Independence Act of the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet was planted in April 1994 in order to remember the Independence Act. When planting the oaks, more than half of the Parliament members participated. At that time 141 oaks were planted. In 2003, the foresters of Vilnius Forest Enterprise planted new trees instead of a part of weak oaks.