Adventure Day

Wed, Jul 31, 2024

Zegoty, Poland to Milomlyn Poland

miles today 53.2

miles so far 1,821.7

feet climbed today 2,234.0

feet climbed so far 52,491.0

Relive video  

Strava link

Maciej (sounds like Magic without the 'c' on the end) picked us up at 815am.  We had a nice breakfast and visit.

We finally left around 930am which is a little late for such a long day ahead.  Getting from the lodge to the main road was gravel and hilly, but not long. 

Once we got to the main, paved road, we could move faster.  Until this...

This road closed sign was only a few miles from Zakatek Sczczescia. I wonder why Maciej didn't tell us about it when we discussed and showed him our route for today. The sign says something like does not apply to construction vehicles and residents. We walked through. There was a lady in her front yard that was very friendly and tried to help.  I thought she said we could walk through but I was getting conflicting answers from her when I asked questions through Google Translater. Meanwhile, Lynn walked ahead and called me to say we could get to the road we wanted to turn onto. The bridge work over a river was just beyond our turn. The road was still gravel and narrow and slow going.

This is near the place where two semis and two cyclists met. One semi was able to pull into a side road which was fortunately there while we had stood in the grass to allow the other semi to pass! 

We had passed another gravel intersection which must have been where one was going and one was coming from. It was just crazy to meet them when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere! And finally, we made it back to a paved road. 

By 1230 (3 hours since we left), we'd only gone 16 miles but we saw a coffee shop in Dobre Miastro and decided we needed a treat (and some caffeine).

I saw this corn picking machine as I was going up a hill but stopped anyway to take a picture.  The guy saw me and gave me a big wave! One kid is sitting in front and someone else had just gotten off and was walking behind when I took the picture. 

Then, we found another construction zone.

Around 2pm, we pulled off the road at a scenic spot to have a lunch break with the food we had intended for last night: cheese, salami, cucumbers, red peppers and chips.

We stopped for dinner at a restaurant by a lake before getting to our lodge since there is no food near it.

Then we had only a few more miles to the lodge. The last 0.8 was gravel, sand and terrible. Of course the roads are not marked so we only trusted Google and booking.com and our navigation skills to assure us that we were going the right way. 

Who would think there would be a lodge 0.8 mile on this road?

We had to walk most of this road because the sand was too soft or the rocks were too rocky. I actually saw a couple walking with their dog coming towards me. And they spoke English! I asked if there was a lodge down the "road" and they said "yes, you are almost there". Whew! I guess we weren't lost in the wilderness in Poland after all.

The hosts were waiting for us! 

The bikes go in the garage.  And we go upstairs. 

The place, Dom Goscinny Sowia Stopka is $49.40 plus $6 for each breakfast. 

There are 4 rooms upstairs and each had their own bathroom.  Here is a shared kitchen and dining area.

This is where I met a new friend, Amelia (11). Her mom speaks English but she doesn't.  However, she knows what English looks like. She found several books and maps for me that contained English. I gave her a St. Christopher pocket token. 

Today was another tough day, and full of adventures. Pretty early on, we decided to add 6 miles to stay on a paved road instead of taking a shorter gravel road. It probably would have taken longer. 

I decided there are 4 kinds of roads in Poland.

1. Paved

2. Cobblestone 

3. Gravel that's just as bad as Cobblestone only let's add some soft sand in the mix

4. Broken paved that's just as bad as Cobblestone only let's keep it blended in to make it look like it's paved from a distance 

Tunnels of Trees

Tue, Jul 30, 2024

Budry, Poland to Zegoty Kiwity, Poland

miles today 58.3

miles so far 1,768.5

feet climbed today 2,293.0

feet climbed so far 50,257.0

Relive video  

Strava link

We ate yogurt and cookies for breakfast.  Then headed out for another long day.  Our hosts told us about a bike shop a few miles ahead. 

My pedals have been making a lot of noise lately, so It was new pedal day for me (the other one looks the same). 

We rode on some very quiet (and some were very rough) roads today and saw several "tunnels of trees". 

We couldn't find any cute coffee shops or cafes, so we stopped at a grocery store to buy stuff for lunch.

The last few miles was on some really rough gravel. I was surprised at how many cars went by us in both directions.  We finally got to Zakatek Sczczescia that I had booked for $88. 

There was some issue with booking.com. I should not have been able to book for only one night but I did. The owner booked all the rooms for a group doing a workshop. So he had arranged for us to stay at a rental a few miles away.  He wanted us to come back in the morning for complimentary breakfast to make up for the trouble.  I asked if we could leave our bikes and he could drive us to the place since he wanted to meet us over there anyway (the owner doesn't speak English). He thought that was a good idea.  When we arrived to his place, the guests were eating dinner so we asked if we could buy dinner.  He said yes but we had to wait for some of them to finish to make room for us.  We had beet root soup, Thai curry (vegetarian)  and cake.  It was good.

His friend's place is brand new and very nice! 

A beautiful sunset (haven't seen one in a while).

So, he is supposed to pick us up at 815am so we can eat and get out of the way for the other guests so they can eat at 9am.  It all worked out great and I'm glad I asked if he would drive us to the new place because it's on a very rocky and hilly road.

Today was another hard day with the mileage and climbing and the wind, which was 15 to 20 mph out of the northwest (we were going mostly west).