Poland: cycling routes and bugs everywhere

We entered Poland via an obscure border crossing in the Tatras and made our way through the hot afternoon to a campsite. Wildcamping is not really allowed here, especially not in national parks, so we played it safe the first night. We found a spot in the shadow and sweated through the night, knowing that this would dominate our entire week in this country. We were unaware about the bugs then.

We started to plan our route north, and the first option we checked out were the EuroVelo routes traversing the country. EV9, which we partly followed in Austria, goes north to Gdansk. EV11, the Eastern European route, also goes from south to north, but more to the east from EV9. Plus there is the Iron Curtain route up north following the Baltic coast. As EV11 was relatively close by, we thought that would be a good start. Further east we could then switch to the Green Velo route, which is purely a polish cycling itinerary.

We already knew that EV11 is not completely done in Poland (understatement of the year), but while cycling along the river Dunajec we noticed all the proper signs of EV11. Jackpot, we thought. So wrong we were. There would be perfect stretches, with all the signs (even the cute ones listing the slope in percentage!). And then they would disappear and we would find ourselves on busy intersection where it would be suicide to cycle. And we were not the only ones. At one of those intersections several groups of cyclists were consulting their phones or maps. We were the first ones to choose a direction and even though we warned them not to follow us, we soon led a herd of sweaty cyclists along. As we choose quite a steep hill, we also lost them quickly again. Our advise; wait with EV11 in Poland until it is compelety done! That may take a while, as there is no EuroVelo coordinator in the country right now.

So we choose our own route and made it to the Green Velo just before Chelm. Apparently this is the most well known route through Poland, and granted, it doesn’t mean much that we never heard of it. It was iniated in 2013, funded by the EU, and the main goal was to promote tourism in East Poland. And East Poland they took quite literally, the route hugs the border between Poland and the Ukraine and Belarus quite tightly.

Let’s start with the positive things; the infrastructure is amazing. The route is 2000 km long and there are 230 so called MORs (Miejsce obsługi rowerzystów or cyclist service station) on the way. Picnic benches, waste bins, sometimes toilets or tools are available. Only once or twice we found water though, so that was a bit of a problem. And even though wildcamping is not allowed, some of these MORs are situated at locations where stealth camping would be possible.

There are also plenty of signs, making it all very easy. But every day we would still be confused, as some signs were missing or hidden behind trees or bushes. Luckily we found the Google maps file online, so it was easy to double check.

There is also plenty to see on the route, but lousy tourists as we are, we only stopped at Sobibor. It would be almost disrespectful not to. Although there is nothing to see of the Nazi Death Camp, it’s a impressive site and we stood still to remember what has happened there.

We followed the route north, meeting a fellow cyclist on the way. She is from Germany and we spend an afternoon and evening together, swapping experiences that only cyclists might understand. We camped next to each other just after Mielnik, where our ways parted. Soon after Mielnik we got off the Green Velo, as the route became impossible to cycle. Dirt roads with lots of loose sand (think beach), which might be fun with a mountain bike, but is almost dangerous with a 30 kg touring bike… So we kept to the main roads to our Warm Shower host and her family.

Milena and Marcin are tourers themselves, and we were lucky that they were able to host us. Milena’s mother seemed to be used to having cycling hobos over (Milena and Marcin had to work late) and prepared us dinner, helped with laundry, made sure we were clean and fed and happy. She owns a bakery and we enjoyed fresh bread and fruit cake, and the next morning we were treated to pancakes with blueberries. It was the perfect Warm Shower experience!

We needed something positive, because apart from the crappy roads, we’ve been plagued by horse flies for the last few days. It hot and humid, so the buggers come out in droves, hunting us. We both have a swarm behind us while cycling, they fly along in our draft and bite every piece of skin they can find. There is no way to stop for a pee or drink, as not only the horse flies attack us, but also the mosquitos join in. Ah, nature, you’ve got to love it. That combined with almost daily weather warnings (thunderstorms incoming, find shelter!) makes us long for autumn already. Famous last words, we know. At the moment we cycling through Lithuania, making our way to the coast. Surely it’s cooler there and perhaps even less bugs?