I was out of muesli, so I had to run the gauntlet of the local food establishments. There wasn’t a lot open when I looked, but I found a bakery. The only things they had which didn’t include ice-cream, cream or sugar, were a couple of loaves of bread and some ham and cheese rolls. No toastie maker ! Aaaagggghhhh!
What was great about the place, was the barista. I explained how I wanted her to make the coffee – two shots please, ok, normal cappuccino then add one espresso, … It took a lot of sign language but she worked it out and made the best coffee I’ve had in weeks. In Czechia, they would just giggle and refuse to do it.
That meant I had enough to get going, so I set off along the path out of town. Almost immediately, I hit the national park, paid my 8 zloty entrance fee, and took off along the beautiful dirt path that wound lazily through the forest. It was idyllic. Then it stopped and the concrete block road started.
Luckily, it made it into a forest and that compensated for the road surface. I saw some shelters and had an early lunch. These timber shelters pop up everywhere and they’re well used by cyclists, walkers and tourists.
As I was leaving, Chuck and Hans turned up, so, we had a brief chat about the route ahead, and I headed off. They told me that there was a sandy section up ahead, and they were going to take the main road to avoid it. I on the other hand was feeling fresh and adventurous and gave the sand a go. It couldn’t be that bad; it was a designated bike path; surely it would be fine. I think I’m deluded some times.
Well, the sand section was about 6kms long. About a quarter of it was easily rideable and the rest was super challenging. I loved it. I learned a lot about riding sand. I had to walk about 50 metres and stopped pedalling half a dozen times, but at the end of it, I felt like I’d just finished a big sprint session and everything hurt. Of course, I was happy to get back on a road, and I thought the efforts were done for the day.
About 5kms from Sasino, I took a wrong turn (stop laughing Dennis) and backtracked. As I did so, I tried to tell two other riders that they went too far, but was ignored. Back onto the right trail and I hit sand again for a kilometre or two. It was an effort and a half, but everything is temporary and it finished just before my accommodation in Sasino.
Gawry’s is a lovely Agriturismo place run by lovely people. More on that tomorrow. I pretty much collapsed onto their couch. It was fun talking. They spoke only Polski, so Google Translate got a thorough workout, but it was smiles all ’round.
Dinner was the next problem to solve. In this tiny place, there were two restaurants to choose from – each within 100 metres. I chose the one up the hill, which turned out to be fine dining, oh so reasonably priced and absolutely fantastic.
It was full of people too – not bad for a Sunday afternoon in rural Poland. The food was great, the service brilliant and the whole setup exuded quality – from the banks of solar panels powering the operation to the deckchairs on the grassy slope in the setting sun.
That was all I could manage. Back to my room, thankfully down the hill, and off to sleep.