Now was the time to start the serious cycling in Poland. I decided to follow the Green Velo route to see how it’s like. It’s also an easy choice, as it’s really well signposted. I only had very high-level map of it, but it was enough to follow it.
It turned out that this part of the country is quite hilly. The small roads were nice, but I had to do some seious climbing most of the time. It felt like there was more ascent than descent, and almost no flat at all. The North-West breeze didn’t make it much easier. On top of that, I had very low energy for some reason, and had troubles making the legs and breathing work together. But it was sunshine and tha sceneries were fabulous.
I had a pause at the Hanczsa lake, wich is 108 m deep. People were sunbathing and swimming at the small beach.
Even though I took a little shortcut, there was some gravel for the day, and I was really slow. The kilometers were not that much, but they were quite hard. There were not too many shops, and I was just about to run out of water, as I spotted a small shop in a village. There was an old lady keeping the shop and she was eagerly discussing where I was from and where am I heading. In the front of the shop, two young boys, maybe 14 – 15 years old, were also having a break. They seemed to be on a bicycle tour on their own.
I continued, and rode some gravel, and the boys passed me with ease in an uphill. Bugger.
As I reached the asphalt road in Stanczuki, I decided to leave the bike route and stick to the 651 road to Goldap. It was already past 5 o’clock and the cycle route sign suggested 28km. Main road was less and it was easy riding.
Kristiina Ullgren 