From Kraków to Toruń - Day Two 26/8/12

No need to worry. That’s what I kept telling myself but yet every little sound was a threat to my nerves. I felt my body stiffen with breaths coming in short gasps as the sounds of life in the forest kept me in a state of great fear. My body was stiff, my nerves ruined. I longed for daylight and the chance to pack up and go.

          When it came, I did just that, the only problem was the going part. I couldn’t remember which way I had entered the forest. I tried a number of ways but to no avail and decided it would easier to do it without the bike. I did find the way but then couldn’t find the bike. I backtracked and searched for at least one hour with my legs getting scratched and stung in the process until I finally found it. Back on the road again, I felt exhausted and dizzy from the lack of sleep and stress. I was also itching like crazy from the mosquito bites I had received despite spraying myself with repellent. Weather wise, it was sunny but windy which made progress that bit slower.

          Again, I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go. Without a speedometer it was difficult to gauge what was possible. The 973 road was pleasant enough, most importantly, it was quiet. My first aim was to get to Nowy Korczyn. Along the way I passed some villages and made a detour to see a village called Zalipie which had some interesting painted wooden houses. Other than that, there was not so much to report on except typical villages with lots of chickens and many barking dogs that made a racket as I passed by.

To get across the Wisła, it was necessary to take a ferry which was maneuvered across the wide river by means of a cable. The wind was quite strong at this stage and the thought of getting blown away down the Wisła was not so unrealistic. It was a relief to be on the other side and to be on the move again. I avoided the main road as much as possible passing by villages such as Pawłów, Brzostków and others until I got as far and Rataje Słupskie and was forced to take the busy 73 as far as Pacanów and then I got off it again and once more traveled along much quieter roads through the Polish countryside.

          When I reached Staszów, my body was really drained of energy. I just couldn’t go any further. Fighting the wind had really been hard and it was time to rest even though I wasn’t satisfied with the distance I had done. Camping wild was not something I wanted to repeat so I looked around for accommodation but there was none to be seen, at least with my eyes. I was looking at a map which showed a campsite when a drunken old man asked me what I was looking for. I told him and he said he would help me. He wanted to take a taxi with me to Golejów where the campsite was located but I refused as it didn’t seem so far away. He said he would walk with me and show me how to reach the campsite. He wasn't the most desirable company but it seemed wrong to turn down the offer of help. Understanding him was not easy as his speech was slurred from too much booze. We continued walking with me trying to reply to his questions but then I felt his hand touch off my groin. I thought perhaps it was an accident given his state but then it happened again and he shockingly asked me without any shame if I wanted a blowjob. I couldn't really believe my ears but he repeated his offer with an expressoin of sincerity on his face. I politely declined and then had to insist on going the rest of the way myself. He was not happy with this at first and tried his luck unsuccessfully to get more money from me. Fortunately, there were no more offers of other sexual favours and there was no struggle to get away from him.

The campsite was located next to a lake. It was cold at this stage and the weather had changed so I was happy to have a place to stay to rest and recover. The facilities were nothing special, neither were the food options on offer. I had to settle for a bowl of soup and a toasted cheese baguette (zapiekanka). I was really hungry and knew that I had to look after my diet more if I was to complete the trip. Sleeping in a tent meant an early night as it was dark before 9 o’clock. The only other people on the campsite was a Polish family that made up for the lack of other people by making a lot of noise by shouting and swearing as they got drunk not so far away from my tent. At least there was less of a risk of being attacked by wild animals during the night. The scratching of bites was difficult to resist as I found it impossible to ignore the waves of itchiness that came upon me.

From Kraków to Toruń - Day One

Day One 25/8/12

The day before had been a bit of a mess considering I had to come to Kraków by via Poznań by train and then prepare myself with the appropriate equipment for the trip I was about to undertake. The key things I needed were panniers (saddle bags), a raincoat, a sleeping mat and some lights for my bike. There were other temptations such as a gas stove among others but but I limited myself to the first three. The Amber Trail (Szlak Burszytnowy in Polish) had a website dedicated to it but no physical map to guide me along the trail. This was what made me more apprehensive than anything else. With the aid of the online map, I circled all of the places that appeared on the route on my road map of Poland with the hope of somehow figuring it all out on the road. It took some time to go through the whole route and when I finally reached the end and circled Gdańsk, I really felt like I had achieved something.

          My bike had been serviced so I expected it to run smoothly and endure the many kilometers ahead – 80 – 100km per day seemed a realistic aim despite the fact that this was the first trip of such a kind I had ever undertaken. With the panniers packed tightly at the back, on top of which was a tent and sleeping mat, it was a bit of a struggle to get going at first. Going out the night before had not been the greatest idea in the world to ensure a smooth start.

          The first part was familiar territory along the River Wisła to Nowa Huta. I was pleasantly surprised to see an Amber Trail sign at Plac Centralna. If all the route was marked out like this, there would be no need for my map at all. The arrow pointed straight and unfortunately that was where the signs ended. I was faced with National Road 79, not what I wanted. It was busy with traffic racing past on both sides but there was no other option it seemed. The first target on the map was Niepołomice which was not so difficult to get to. I followed the signs and arrived there without any mishaps. Niepołomice is famous for its castle but unfortunately I couldn’t go inside it because of the no bikes sign at the entrance. Time for lunch then.

          The next part was tricky. The more favourable choice was to go through the forest and perhaps catch a sight of the żubry (Polish Bison) that are said to be found here. This was the option I chose but it was not long before I was lost and I hadn't seen any żubry. Following the bike signs was confusing as there were different colours and there was no clear indication which one was connected to the trail I was following. Eventually, I asked for help and had to go back onto the main road again, the 965. This was also confusing and so I returned to the forest again where I finally found the way to Mikluszowice with the help of some locals. Asking for directions from locals was something I found invaluable throughout the whole trip and the old man I asked told me that I would have to change my route as the bridge across the Raba was being repaired meaning I would have to go around it another way.

          I got onto the 964 with the aim of getting to Szczurowa and then taking things from there. This road was not too bad. I was now properly in the countryside passing by small village after village. On this road another cyclist soon appeared beside me and asked where I was from. He kept telling me about his time in the U.S.. He was one of these people that insisted on talking about the same topic without really listening to what I was saying, but while he was doing so, I became increasingly nervous by the way he kept swerving into the centre of the road and then back to the side again without any fear of the cars that also had to swerve to avoid him. Still, it was good to have a pacemaker despite the struggle I had to keep up with him. He had an older bike but it wasn’t long before he started pulling away from me. I guess he got bored with me as he put headphones into his ears and accelerated ahead. I was starting to get a bit concerned about where I was going to sleep. Being in the countryside was great but it meant that finding a place to sleep was going to be more difficult and sleeping in a tent was a last option.

          I stopped for a moment to look at the map when the other cyclist somehow came up from behind me seemingly out of nowhere with a smile on his face. I was unsure of where to go and he wasn’t much help. I was aiming for Żabno without knowing what was there and if I was going to stay there or carry on. He took out his glasses, looked at my map carefully and then pointed straight ahead. I knew the way but I guess I was hoping that he would help me find a place to sleep or give me some sort of advice about what to do next, but this didn't happen. Once again, he cycled faster than me and when we got to the outskirts of Żabno, he turned into the carpark for Tesco. I waved farewell to him and continued straight on happy to lose him.

          My legs were really struggling to pedal anymore so I stopped to have a rest and a bite to eat. Dusk was approaching making it very likely that I was going to have to use the tent. I cycled out of town and turned into a small village called Pod Lesie. There, I approached a woman in her garden and asked if there was a place where I could pitch my tent, hoping that she would be so kind as to offer me her garden but she kept looking in my basket repeating that she didn’t want to buy any fish from me. I insisted that I didn't have fish in the bag in my basket but still she said 'Ryby, nie chcę' so I gave up and went to another old lady who bluntly said no to my request. Further down the road I saw a forest and entered it. I had no choice but to pitch up my tent there with or without the permission of someone. The four-man tent was troublesome to set up but I finally managed to do so before it got dark. It was very early but it was dark so I decided to go asleep with the aim of getting up early the next morning and getting back on the road again. I was very uneasy about sleeping in the forest where every sound seemed to be amplified a thousand times – the fall of a leaf was like the fall of a rock pounding into the earth, the movement of small insects sounded like approaching feet. I closed my eyes and kept telling myself that there was nothing out there that was going to harm me, no need to worry...

From Kraków to Toruń by Bicycle - Nearly Along The Amber Trail

For the next 8 Mondays I am going to post entries for each of the eight days of my biking trip that was supposed to be from Kraków to Gdańsk along the Amber Trail (Szlak Bursztynowy) but ended up being from Kraków to Toruń. It was a journey with many moments of happiness and also other times when I found myself questioning why I was doing it. One thing came from it is that I got to see many parts of Poland I had never seen before and experienced a hell of a lot in a very short space of time. I got to spend a lot of time passing through the beautiful Polish countryside but also had to try to survive on busy roads where I was greatly in fear for my safety.
The above picture was actually taken in the Dublin / Wicklow mountains in Ireland when I was doing a small bit of training before the trip. One hour long cycle was not really enough to prepare me for what lay ahead.