Friday May 6th 2005

The arrival
Flew from London Luton to Warsaw. Caught a bus to Warsaw Central Station, had a long chat with a rather drunk bloke. Short bus ride to West Warsaw Station where we caught a coach to Olsztyn. Bought another bus ticket to Sorkwity but due to the inclement weather the windows steamed up and we ended up getting off the bus some 20 minutes further down the road at Mragowo. We walked through the town centre and out the other side until we found some accommodation. This was in the shape of Camping Cezar, a campsite that has a number of wooden chalets or huts.
As I recall it was about £4 each to stay the night. Walked back into Mragowo and had a splendid dinner at Stara Chata before walking back on the lakeside path.

Saturday 7th

First day on the water
Arranged the boat hire from Mragowo tourist information. Had lunch before meeting the boat hirers in a small restaurant opposite and met Monica, a waitress who had worked in Milton Keynes. She told us that her boyfriend Peter had a hotel in Krutyn called Hotel Magda which gave us somewhere to aim at staying over the next few days. Met up with the boat guy who was called Martin or Professor surely in a heavily ironic sense. He drove us to Sorkwity and we boarded the canoes. Just before we launched we bought a map (see map pages) off the Prof. Unfortunately we didn't realise, until we had gone all the way to the end of the lake, that North was not the top of the map.
Getting the boat to go in a straight line seemed almost impossible for the first few hours and the choppy water on Lake Lampackie combined with a fairly stiff breeze didn't help much.
We finally found some sort of technique that meant we could go in the general direction we wanted to and we passed through a narrow, more sheltered Lake Lampasz on to our first river section. This was initially great, we didn't have to paddle as the flow moved us steadily down stream. We went round a bend and came towards our first bridge. There were a few innocuous looking rocks around. Seconds after we passed under the bridge we got caught against a rock, with the front of our boat against the bank the left side against the rock and the right side against the resiliently flowing water. We tried pushing with our paddles against the rock. One of the paddles got dropped and rocked the boat which meant that the water got in and our boat started filling up. I jumped out to catch the map as it floated off down stream, the river was only a little more than knee deep. We pulled the boat to the bank and emptied the water out and after a short break continued on downstream towards Lake Kujno. The temperature had dropped slightly and, as a few of us were a little wet, we started to get a little cold. After a longer river stretch we moved into Lake Dluzec. We pulled over on a private jetty and asked if there was anywhere to stay. The friendly local pointed out a building that we had just passed. We paddled back up and were greeted by a slightly agitated and belligerent Rottweiler. We found the owner and his English speaking cousin who was down for the weekend and were shown our very comfortable room.
We were informed that there was a bar that served food a few minutes walk up the road. We spent a rather enjoyable evening with some of the local youngsters getting thoroughly battered.

Sunday 8th

Lazy day
After the previous day's antics the morning seemed to pass us by. We eventually got back in the boats at around midday. We had a renewed enthusiasm for the trip.
We quickly finished off Lake Dluzec and found the river section leading on to Lake Biale. This was a beautifully huge expanse of flat water dotted with a couple of small islands. We were joined momentarily by a couple of the lads from the night before, they seemed to be demonstrating the correct method of propelling a boat in a straight line, at pace, with minimal effort. The next river section was the longest yet and involved passing a number of vigilant male swans patrolling around their nesting partners. It was on this section that we were passed by a German couple in their kayaks on the same route as us. I imagine that this is more common later in the season.
After another peaceful lake - Lake Gant - we got on to a longer slightly wider river section with a reasonable flow. So we just relaxed and floated downstream, chatting and eating some of the biscuit we bought earlier in the day. We went under a wooden road bridge that looked like it had been hit by a bomb and was now completely impassable. We ended up in Babieta, a small village where the boats had to come out to negotiate a weir. We stayed at the SW PTTK chalets just before the village on the right side of the river. We ate at an interesting bar/restaurant in the village that night. The walk home was reminiscent of that scene from 101 Dalmatians as there were dogs barking in every single house in the village. A torch would have been useful as it was really dark but the light from a phone guided us home.

Monday 9th

Lucky [lunch break]
Babieta to Krutyn
After a reasonably early night we set off at not long after 8am. Moving the canoes out of the water after only six minutes paddling was a bit of a nuisance but necessary in order to progress on to the next river section.
The river led to Lake Zyzdroj Wielki where there were some huge Ospreys circling around. This was the most 'commercial' lake yet, in that it had a couple of hotels, holiday parks and campsites but again it was completely quiet with no-one around. At the end of the lake the canoes had to come out again. We were aiming to get to Spychowo for lunch but Spychowo came up rather quicker than we had anticipated so we decided to stop at Zgon, it also provided us with the closest we got to rapids which was exciting. On the stretch after Spychowo we saw our first evidence of the work of the European Beaver, with a number of nibbled tree and stacks of logs and branches. We skirted the edge of Lake Zdruzno and made our way under a bridge on to the narrow Lake Uplik. This was very different as there were trucks visible passing on the far end of the lake and a really dark cloud was catching up with us. After another bridge we went passed the SW PTTK chalets at Zgon and pulled up at one of their jetties. The restaurant there was closed so we left our stuff by the boats and went to a roadside cafe slight further up the hill on the opposite side of the road. As we got into the restaurant the rain began to pour. As we were finishing our meal the rain was also finishing. By the time we got back to the boats the sun had appeared. Our target now was Krutyn.
We had to cover Lake Mokre which took us in the region of an hour and a half but with the sun shining and a fresh fuel on board we soon got to the end, where we had to carry the boats again. We had a brief break and then made our way through the small lakes before the Krutynia River. As we had made such good progress by the time we were on the river section we just paddled gently and drifted, enjoying the sun. We went by SW PTTK Krutyn on the outskirts of the village. We stopped at the bridge near the main crossroad.
We now had to find Hotel Magda* that Monica in Mragowo had suggested we stay. One of the friendly locals pointed us in the right direction and we booked ourselves in for the night with the help of Monica over the phone as her boyfriend Peter didn't speak any English. The rooms were brand new with en-suite bathrooms and lots of towels. We had dinner at Restauracja Mazurska which we had been told was the most expensive place in town. The food was typically good and reasonably priced.

*Hotel Magda is known in Polish as Pensjonat Magda. Their address is Pensjonat Magda, Jadwiga Grabowska, Krutyn 74, 11-710 Piecki. Their phone/fax number 0048 89 742 14 07. Their email address is madgapensjonat@skrzynka.pl. Email might be the best way to contact them as their weren't any English speakers there.

Tuesday 10th

Impossible?
Krutyn to Mikolajki
Hotel Magda provided a decent breakfast and then we picked the boats back up from the hire company. This time they had cushions for us to use, which was great as the arse cheeks were beginning to ache a bit by now. We told the bloke from the hire company that we intended to reach Mikolajki today to which he said "Impossible!" He went on to say that we should consider stopping at Ukta, Nowy Most or at a push Iznota. This was all the motivating we needed to ensure that we got to Mikolajki.
We set off shortly after 9am and within a fairly short space of time we were carrying the boats around a building that appeared to be a watermill. The next stretch of river was quiet pleasant with plenty of opportunities to stop at the various campsites and shops with signs by the river. A couple of hours after we set off we had reached Ukta were we stopped for a quick break. Having experienced the combination of lakes and river sections over the past few days this long section of river was quite, quite different. The river had a lot of bends as it meanders North towards Lake Gardynskie and made for slower progress across the page of the map than we had been used to. We paused just after the SW PTTK site at Nowy Most for a drink and a rest. We pushed on through a number of smaller lakes and past some pretty riverside houses and stopped for lunch at Iznota. There is a shop off to the right side of the river where we bought a junk food lunch. Our luck was again in as a huge dark cloud that had been threatening us for a while drifted around us while we lunched.
The only thing between us and getting to "Impossible" Mikolajki was the combined lakes of Beldany and Mikolajskie. This presented a huge vastness of water for us to navigate. It took two hours to complete. The combination of wind and choppy water meant it was made a little tougher than it could have been but when we moored up outside a hotel in Mikolajki the sense of achievement was super. This was tainted slightly by the canoe hire company who tried to sting us with an extra charge, which we compromised on after some debate.
We got a couple rooms at the hotel and then had a walk into town. The town was quite nice and geared towards tourists, mainly from Germany. We had a drink in a jazz themed bar and then dinner at the restaurant in the main hotel on the town square, which again was good.

Wednesday 11th

No more boats
Mikolajki to Gdansk
After a large breakfast we walked to the station on the outskirts of town with our bags only to learn that there are only five trains a day. So, it was back into town to get another bus back to Olsztyn via Mragowo. From Olsztyn we caught a train to Gdansk, this took around three hours but went past Malbork Castle which is one of the largest fortifications in Europe. It's a massive red brick place and was rather impressive.
We pulled into Gdansk which was a huge change after being amongst lakes and nature for the previous four days.The station and the city were busy. A friendly Polish lass bought us our intercity tickets for Friday and we then went to look for somewhere to stay. Luck was once again evident as we found a hostel next to the river and the Old Town. The hostel was £10 a night each which included a simple breakfast, bike hire, canoe hire, laundry and internet access. Poland is great. We got a freshly decorated room with brand new bunk beds.
A walk through Gdansk took us through some fantastic architecture, on a par with Bruges or Prague. After stopping in a Scottish Bar for a quick piwo we went straight to the poshest restaurant in town where the rich and powerful of Poland dine out. The cocks on the door however couldn't accommodate a table of five. They had "a three and a two" a simple tactic to say "You don't look like our sort." I called their bluff and asked to see the tables. There was a group of eight in there and plenty of tables all over the place.
We left and ate a fantastic meal in the Restaurant Gdansk. This place has to be seen to be believed. There are more things nailed to the ceiling than even the most 'authentic' Irish bar. Lech Walensa is a regular there, apparently.

Thursday 12th

Evening in Sopot
Gdansk
Spent the day wandering around the Old Town. Went up the Cathedral tower and took in the views over the city and out towards the Baltic Sea. We went to the Road to Freedom exhibition at the former Lenin Shipyard. It was here that the Solidarnosc movement began the end of Communist rule over Poland and ultimately Eastern Europe in August 1980. We had lunch in a Milk Bar on street in the picture above. Milk Bars are former workers canteens and a blast from the past. The food is fairly simple and in this one an example of all the dishes are cooked earlier in the day and placed on the counter for customers to point at rather than wasting time with menus.
The later part of the afternoon we travelled on a local train to nearby Sopot, a coastal resort that has the privilege or misfortune of being twinned with Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Sopot was an agreeable place with many pavement bars and cafes. It also has the only pier in Poland.
We ended up spending too long in a Gaudi-esque bar drinking such delights at Gold Wasser, and were left with only one place to eat at 10:30pm. The place was a tacky American themed 'diner' called Rooster, where the waitresses wear skin-tight red hot pants and serve averagely satisfying meals with fries. We caught the night train back to the hostel and like any method of public transport after closing time it was full of jovial, battered people.
Vladimir the owner of the hostel was up when we got in and was sharing a bottle of dark vodka with some other guests. Within minutes he'd included us and was working through his selection of hard liquor, this included a ridiculous 'drink' called Spiritus that weighs in at a hefty 95% alcohol.

Friday 13th

Training
Gdansk to Warsaw
A late start lead to a bit of a rush to catch the train. The journey was another three plus hours but as we shared a carriage with a former Polish resistance fighter who spoke a few words of English (including Jerzy Dudek before his Champions League final heroics) it wasn't as dull as it could have been.
We found a hotel for £14 a night in Warsaw, that on the ground floor looked really smart but our rooms - on the top floor - were pretty spartan. More good food in the Old Town and a few piwos.

Saturday 14th

Warsaw
Breakfast at the hotel. Drink in the Old Town square Rynek Starego Miasta. Art Gallery in Lazienkowski Park. Dinner in Nowy Swiat.

Sunday 15th

Depart from Warsaw to 'London' Luton
Lunch in a milk bar. Drinks in a crazy bar called 12 on Kezla Street. Off to airport.