September 24, 2014
To Zawada: One of the best days ever
Today was the sort of days cycling that makes you want to go on cycle touring forever. We knew we had a short and easy day so we had breakfast quite late and then explored the small town of Pilica. The sky was blue and the sun shining which always makes things look so good.
We had got some excellent maps from the hotel last night so started to pick our way along very small country roads with little or no traffic - such a change from yesterday. The roads were flat and the farmers were all out tending their fields. A couple of years ago when we were flying over Poland on our way to Copenhagen Ken noticed the extremely long narrow ares of cultivation and wondered what it was all about. Now we could see it on the ground and what it seems is that every area of cultivation is about 50m wide and goes on for about half a kilometre in length. Potatoes were one of the crops that were very prominent. Apparently this year there has been a bumper potato harvest and the prices are low. There are no fences enclosing these fields but we saw quite a lot of what were obviously milking cows outside grazing. These were in groups of about 9 and kept from wandering by having a chain around their horns which was tethered to the ground. They looked like Friesians but all had massive horns. As we got near to here there was a huge silage making operation going on, it was clearly a festive occasion with about 20 people of all ages and us gathered around to admire the proceedings. Tractors hauling trailers and big trucks were importantly bringing in their loads of cut maize and dumping it in a big pile. There was one really big Dutz-Fahr Tractor was that was driving up and down over it to compact it all. Every little while it had to break off from this duty to pull out a smaller tractor, or truck that had got stuck in the cut maize because it could get no traction.
There were small hamlets along the way but they were really just collections of houses and had no services. In one of these I spotted a place that well could have been a small shop (it is very difficult to tell) and ever hopeful that we might get a coffee went in. Yes it was a tiny shop but didn't sell coffee. Inside were two delightful young women Carolina and Yola who said it wasn't a coffee shop but they could make coffee, so they made us a cup each. They were Biotechnology Students in the last 5 days of their vacation. Carolina told us that she was in the fifth year of a five year degree studying in Krakow. When I asked her what her job prospects were she said she was worried as there were few jobs available here in Poland. When we asked about moving to another part of Europe she said that she was concerned that her English would not be good enough. Actually we felt her English was good, she was easy to understand as she did not have a pronounced accent, listens carefully and with her warm outgoing personality I am sure with immersion in the language she would become proficient very soon. I do hope things work out well for both of them. In the mean time she says she will change the name of her parent's tiny shop to "The Coffee Shop" !
Before we left home we saw a very depressing Polish Film set I think not long after WW2. It featured in its black and white gloom small wooden houses. When we were in Krakow I saw tours advertised to go on Wooden Architecture Tours so became interested. Apparently there are a lot of very well preserved wooden churches, I think from the 19th century and also many old wooden houses. We didn't see any of the churches but we saw lots of wooden houses. They have vertical weather boarding, many have brick ends, they were single storied and they are not painted, I imagine that they are stained. Very many are in fairly poor condition but lived in, a few had been well restored. Next to one I noticed a massive concrete block mansion in what seems to be the latest preferred style being built.
Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles)
Total: 2,734 km (1,698 miles)
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