Epic roads & Polish birds.....

Monday 4th June:

We were up early at 'Nr 159', greeted by a pleasantly warm & sunny morning. I'd had a bit of a rock 'n' roll night, partly because of a bit too much sun the previous day, but also because of the 'animal' sleeping in the adjacent tent, so the weather and breakfast were welcome.

Stegna was behind us by 9am and we were on the road to Elblag. A really good 'A' road as, to be honest, are most of the main roads here........don't mention the minor roads. We turned left after Elblag and made our way through some glorious countryside towards the Polish 'Lake District'.

Onwards through Orneta, Bartoszyce and Ketrzyn to Gizycko. The latter is the town at the heart of the lakes area and where we'd intended to stop. We sat in a cafe beside the river and debated our next move over a coffee & Gofry (look at the photo & tell me you don't want one!).

We'd made such good time and the weather and the roads were great, so we decided to make hay and press on to Suwalki, because it would cut down on what was going to be a lot of mileage tomorrow.

Good decision. The 655 & 653 from Gizycko to Suwalki just entered my top ten biking roads......an awesome twisting, turning, well surfaced and quiet rogue through fabulous countryside, interrupted by the occasional village and low flying Storck...they come in over the hedgerows like Exocets!

A Polish bird...waiting to attack...:

We skirted around Suwalki and entered the Wigierski Park Narodowy. After negotiating a few dirt roads, we came across a wondrous campsite beside a small lake. Part of the Agri-Tourism set up, the site was just an extension of the garden at the back of the owners house. He hadn't officially opened up and was just prepping the place for the season, but he had no hesitation in letting us pitch up for the night. Fantastic. After tea, we did a spot of fishing from our own pier. Steve's an expert fisherman, so he showed me how it was done......casting straight into an adjacent reed bed and snagging the line, losing the hook & float in the process....oh dear....Fish 1 : Haggis 0.

Steve play with his worm:

 

What a great campsite, just got to get up a wet, sandy slope with the bikes in the morning :-/