I planned on a long day today for a couple of simple reasons. I feel like I’m over Poland, or at least this region, so I didn’t want to faff around on the way to Lithuania. Secondly, there weren’t many food or accommodation options between 50 and 100kms. Tomorrow should be easier…
So 100 it was, 108 in fact, and it was fun and pleasant the whole time. I largely followed the Green Velo route which is well signposted, but I preferred to place my complete trust in Komoot to work out the best route today. It’s been brilliant in Europe so far this trip, and the Green Velo route seemed to go around the place like a drunken sailor.
I had breakfast beside my tent and hoped that the bar / restaurant here would open for morning coffee. No signs of life by 8:30. Oh well. I was off.
It occurred to me earlier, that this campground didn’t really match the reviews that I’d read, and I wondered if I’d gone to the wrong place. Sure enough, 500m around the bend in the lake, was a nicer looking place. That’s two nights in a row now that I’ve been fooled by extremely similar names – each so full of consonants to be unpronounceable to this tourist.
I made it into Węgorzewo quickly and found the nearest Zabka which is a convenience store, but closer to the 7-11s in Asia. To get a decent coffee, I get a cappuccino and an espresso and pour one into the other. This is a self service operation, but they won’t let me get a small cappuccino in a large cup and then just add the espresso – I have to use two cups, take a few sips and combine. A tiny complaint.
And there’s the other thing, ‘large’ translates as ‘Duzy’, which I love. ‘I’ll have a beer please, and make it a duzy’. Of course it’s not pronounced that way, but I still do it.
So, in Węgorzewo, I also bought second breakfast to have somewhere along the way. There are plenty of shelters with seats, tables, toilets, and bins along the way. They’re labelled ‘MOR’ and well signposted. It’s fantastic, and makes travelling here quite easy – as long as you’re stocked up with food.
There were some nice bike paths and great dirt roads today. Occasionally, in the middle of nowhere, the dirt road would turn to old cobbles for about a kilometre or more. It stops you dead in your tracks and cyclists tend to ride in the dirt at the very edge rather than have their fillings fall out mid ride. The guys who ride Paris – Roubaix certainly earn their pay but I had to do it for free.
I had lunch before Goldap, which was the halfway mark. Goldap looked nice and was quite large – and perilously close to the border with Kaliningrad/ Russia.
When I decided to ride to the Baltic states, I’d forgotten about Kaliningrad. It’s taken me four days to ride around it, otherwise, I’d be well into Lithuania by now, so this last four days feels like a bit of a waste. Perhaps that’s why I’m keen to leave Poland.
At the 86km mark, there was a fantastic old viaduct for trains that was never used, or only used for a short time. That’s the main picture at the top of this post. There are a number of these in the area, and they were part of a transport plan that was only partially implemented. It was very impressive, but I didn’t feel like climbing the viewing tower walking up the hill to see what it looks like from the top.
Onward and upward. After more than 90kms, I decided to stay in a reasonably priced B&B rather than camp tonight – I felt I’d earned it.
The last part of the ride was just superb. It was mainly on quiet dirt roads through farmland and forest with the last 7kms or so on a minor road. At one point , the route went a few hundred metres from the Russian border. The traffic had almost disappeared and the light made the place look dramatic sometimes.
When I arrived at the B&B, there was nobody about, and it took a good 10 minutes to find someone. The place is v-e-r-y nice. It’s called Kalinka and it’s about $60AUD for bed and breakfast. A great place for a splurge in Poland.
I got cleaned up and raced to the only restaurant around the place where I had the best schnitzel I’ve ever had. The chips and salad were pedestrian, but oh wow, that schnitzel… The people in the restaurant were your typically friendly helpful Poles who speak great English but refuse to admit it – they’re all self deprecating about their language skills.
Throughout the day, when I stopped, I read various articles about the Bairstow dismissal in the second test. I just can’t believe there are any complaints from the English. I can only imagine what my junior hockey and cricket coach, the great Kev Kinnane would have (justifiably) said if I’d done the same in an Under 16s match. The situation is so ridiculous that I’ve completely lost interest in the Ashes as a result.
