Can you say "Szlak Orlich Gniazd"?
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡Day 5 ~ 2 July ~ Bobolice to Podzamcze
Another travel day.
We start off in the same direction as yesterday, but carry straight on at Zdów
We're cycling on mostly very quiet country roads through the forest.
Ah, slight problem ahead. No big deal for us, and a small car could probably get through, but this chap is going to need a saw and a ladder.
A busier road, though still not exactly crowded by Surrey standards, with a very posh cycle lane. Amanda has warmed up: she's taken off the fleece since the previous picture.
Now here's a curious thing. See that cycle route sign pointing to the right? It's just in front of a gate. On the other side of the gate...
No Cycling!
This is actually the Głęboka cave site. The cave can be visited, but we don't think a guided tour in Polish will be very informative.
So watching a group enter is as close as we get.
Instead, I climb the rocks above and Amanda tries out the plant-identifying app I installed on her phone (and declares it a great success).
We say hello to the sheep.
After this stop, that fine cycle route from a few pictures back leads into a long smooth fast descent. WHEEEEEE!!!
Oops. We've shot past a turn without realising it for well over half a kilometre. Back up that road isn't so lovely.
You see a lot of these little shrines. Ok, the garlands of plastic flowers aren't quite our thing, but it's obvious that the locals like to keep them at their best. Some are even marked on Google Maps: this one, we find, is called 'Figurka Matki Boskiej' on the main (almost the only) street of the village of Podlesice.
This one, on the other hand, is well outside the village in what appears to be just a roadside field, and has no significance that Google knows about.
We want to visit Bąkowiec Castle, but while there is some evidence of it being open in the past, it's definitely closed now, and appears to have been for quite some time judging by online comments.
This is the best view we can get.
This helicopter flies overhead and loops around and back again several times. (There may also be more than one, but we're not sure.) It seems to be some sort of military exercise: you can't really see it very well in this picture, but that reddish spot just below and behind the rotor head is the Polish Air Force insignia.
That insignia is an unusual form, a 2x2 red/white checkerboard when the majority of the world's air forces use circular or mostly-circular roundels. And in 1993, the red and white pattern was reversed to conform to mediaeval rules of heraldry! As ever, Wikipedia tells all.
And don't even ask what this is. A Google reverse image search offers nothing, and the "Polish Truck Spotters" Instagram page appears to contain nothing but pictures of trucks, presumably spotted by Poles or in Poland. They have a Facebook page too, but that doesn't help either.
It will have to remain a mystery.
Continuing, we pass this quite attractive church in a nearby village. But it wasn't the church itself that had caught our eye...
It's Saint Florian! Remember him from Kraków?
I'm trying to work out what he's thinking from the expression on his face. He definitely looks like his mind is on something else.
Okiennik Wielki - a rock with a hole in it. The name literally means "Huge Window" in Polish. Let's go investigate.
There's a clear trail around the base.
From here we can start to climb up.
Right to the top.
There are less easy ways too, and it's a popular spot for local climbing enthusiasts.
The path down is a bit overgrown.
A little bit further along the route, we think we hear singing in the distance. We stop and look back and what do we see but a procession of people, indeed, singing. It's some sort of religious group, but what their marching and singing is all about we can't tell. The banners are just their emblem. Is it a saint's day? Well, let's go to https://catholicreadings.org/tag/list-of-saints-whose-feast-day-is-july-2/ and see if we can find out...
Blimey, there's dozens of 'em! I suspect that many of them were defrocked back in the 1960s purge of dodgy saints after Vatican II, but none seem to have anything to do with Poland, anyway.
They wave to us in a friendly fashion and continue on their mysterious way.
Are you getting the impression that today is becoming a day of unanswered (but not very important) questions? I certainly am.
We look back from the top of a long uphill.
Ah, nice and flat now.
Time for a spot of lunch, and to check the trip notes.
Arriving into Podzamcze, we can see that its castle is a lot more substantial and intact than some.
Interesting public art.
The very stylish hotel Poziom 511, where we are staying. The name refers to the altitude: 'poziom' translates as 'level' and the hotel is located 511 metres above sea level.
Clean modern design in the rooms.
Oh, and a mirror on the ceiling, though not above the bed.
Mirrors in the corridor, for that matter.
The restaurant aspires to a high standard too.
The wine is from their own vineyard and rather good.
Seems like a fine place to spend a couple of nights.
⬅ previous ⬆intro next ➡