One man, a tent and a bike: part 2
I finally made it out of Germany! Making it all the way to Poland on my bike was great, but I started to feel a little bit down. Read on to find out more.
The first few kilometres in Poland, on the Baltic Sea coast, looked and felt like Germany. But as soon as I reached the first town I began to notice differences. Street signs, ads and the people were all bilingual.
I was extremely excited to be out of Germany, and to have made it on my bike. However, this was coupled with the same uneasy feeling that I had when I first started out. I felt abandoned and alone, even though before I crossed the border, I had rid myself of this feeling. So to get rid of these negative thoughts I went in to the first Sklep (Polish for kiosk) and I bought myself a Snickers and I saved the receipt.
A free ferry ride, near Świnoujście, brought me over to the other side of the canal. During the ride, I had the pleasure of talking to a group of older women who were intrigued by my bike and my tour in general. After departing, I continued onto the next section via a wide country road where I noticed a big difference when compared to cyclist friendly Germany. There wasn’t a bike path, but instead only a shoulder to ride on. Even then, cars and lorries sped by keeping their distance, but only barely.
After hitting the next town, things got better as I rode into a wilderness protection area. Here I noticed another difference to Germany: Poland keeps it nature much less commercial. The small lakes didn’t have any fences around them and there wasn’t a burger joint insight. There was only the crystal clear water and the forest around me.
At the end of my day’s route, I found myself in at a camp site that was situated directly on a lake surrounded by forest. At first look, everything seemed great, but then I felt a little out of place. There were a few older caravans around and I wasn’t sure, if I could even camp there. It seemed like I was the only one around. After searching for a while, I found someone and decided to stay there. This wasn’t a hard decision due to the view and the price of roughly four Euros. I found a table and sat down to do some writing when a women kindly asked me to help her with her classic car.
We walked to the car, which was making strange noises, and I quickly realized that the ‘78 Camaro LT had too much oil in the motor. I then had the pleasure of driving the car the last 500 meters to where a mechanic would later stop by to take care of everything. The people who owned the car, Jürgen and Margit, invited me to dinner afterwards. We sat, ate and talked a lot. In general, everyone I met at the camping site were very friendly and I was happy that I went with my first instinct to stay there.
One of the next day’s highlights included a deserted road through a pine forest. For roughly three hours, I didn’t see a single person until I was close to Kołobrzeg. When I reached the city I ate a pizza - it was Saturday - and I searched for a cheap room for the night. The second highlight of the day was my decision to not stay in the room and instead to camp directly on the Baltic Sea atop a dune. My first time free camping in Poland was a great success and the early morning view while brushing my teeth (as well as other things) was truly enjoyable.
Sadly, the next day was the last day of the summer weather. Around midday, I found a couch on the beach facing the sea and I took a chance to relax and eat while enjoying the view.
As I headed inland, the streets got rough through the old villages with old churches, fields and industrial parks from the communist days. I ended up pitching my tent in an unattractive forest where I had to deal with a wild boar. Due to prior experience, I started clapping and whistling as soon as I realized what it was and I was able to scare it off.
The following morning, I was riding a road and had my first mechanical. One of the screws that holds the mount mechanism to my bags loosened due to all of the rough roads. It was an easy fix, but nevertheless, I exchanged the plastic for metal as soon as I hit Warsaw. 40 kilometres later, I reach the small city of Słupsk. My legs were toast after 11 days on the Baltic Sea coast and they needed a break. After going back and forth a bit with whether or not I should, I took a train to Gdynia. I rode the last 30 km to Danzig and I headed for the hostel I found while riding the train. The Baltic Sea portion of my tour was basically finished and my rear end did well on the 820 kilometres I had behind me. After such a large ride, I took two days off in Danzig for recovery and relaxation.
