Kotlina Klodzka and Czech

Another trip with my brave F800R, 26.07-02.08.2022, 1350 km

26.07 Tue, 236 km

Difficult start

On the first day, the weather was unpleasant already. I got caught by some heavy rain. So the rain suit came in handy from the start. While I was putting it on, I met another motorcyclist doing the same. He was from Tomaszow. He told me he once travelled alone to Albania and Czarnogora and recommended it, since in Albania, there are no highways.

I arrived in Wielun after 4 hours. Completely exhausted. I wouldn't have made it straight from Warsaw to Kotlina. 8 hours with side roads. Nope. And highways, extremely boring and using my tyres.

As for Wielun, there is nothing there. A typical drive-thru city. It does look like someone is trying to take care of it, but the atmosphere is unpleasant and there are many bums. The prices in the restaurant at the town square almost knocked me over. I took just a smoothie. Only my hotel was nice in there. Clean, smelled like raspberries, I believe. No kettle to make a tea though.

 

27.07 Wed, 251 km

Encounter with the police

Took off without a rush after the breakfast at the hotel. I needed to make a few stops to rest a little.

In Kluczbork I visited the museum of Jan Dzierzon, the "father of modern apiculture".

After I left Kluczbork, I got caught by the police. It was a typical trap, where you could already practically overtake a slower vehicle, although the sign "end of municipality" was a few meters further. I was going 76 km/h and the fine would be 400 pln. The policeman was with the bike too, it was a BMW with a boxer engine. He asked whether the sticker "look, admire but don't touch" referred to me or my bike. Kinda creepy when I recall it now, although I think he didn't mean it in a bad way. He didn't punish me, I shaked his hand (was I supposed to do that?) and took off. This was the first time I got pulled over for speeding, I wasn't sure how to behave. He noticed I was nervous.

I ate at Chorwackie smaki. The waiter was talking to me in Italian, I believe.

I made it just in time to visit the gold mine in Zloty Stok. The female guide was making so many jokes as though she was doing a stand-up there.

Arrived at my accomodation in the evening. They didn't expect a motorcycle, so nobody greeted me, but I managed to open the gate myself. The bed was surprisingly small and I didn't really sleep well, I felt quite homesick and stressed, I guess.

28.07 Thu, 88 km

Dolni Morava and Miedzygorze

Took off early to reach the Dolni Morava before the crowd. 9:00 am there were a lot of people already, but no lines yet. I had an online ticket, just scanned it and went through, nice and easy. I met some Polish tourists. They invited me for vodka. I thought they were joking, but they did pull out vodka. Did I want to drink vodka in some bushes with five strange men I just met? Nope. Sad how they couldn't really enjoy the experience, they just went quickly through the bridge to keep on drinking. I spent a lot of time there, enjoying the views. Some nice Czech lady offered to take a picture of me. The Sky walk tower was also pretty cool, with great views. 

Then I drove to Penzion u Cmelaku to grab a bite to eat. 

 

There was a Polish menu. I totally didn't understand the Czech language. On top of that, it turned out that my internet in roaming was so slow, on both phones, that I couldn't check where I could go next. So I returned to Poland and headed to Miedzygorze. The nature there was amazing. I took a walk from Zapora to the Waterfall Wilczki and it was magical. 

 

29.07 Friday, 76 km

Kletno

There was a risk of storm today in the evening, so I took off early again. The internet and reception were terribly slow in my accommodation, so I went to the nearest city - Bystrzyca Klodzka. On entering the city, you enjoy the beautiful panoramic view of the city.

I went to the Filumenistic Museum. It's the only museum in Poland where exhibits on fire are collected. What a charming interesting museum. The history of matches, lighters etc. I spent a lot of time there. 

I booked online a ticket to the Uranium Mine and headed there. The road was difficult. The mine is in the mountain Zmijowiec. There were difficult steep narrow u-turns. 

The tour in the mine was short, but interesting. 

Then I walked to the Museum of Earth in Kletno. Small but nice, with interesting minerals and fossils. However, the price seemed high and the guide seemed bored and as though he wanted to get over with the tour as fast as possible. He even switched off the light while I was still looking at the exhibits.

I asked a local how to get to the old quarry and she advised me to go up the forest path. It was worth it. I enjoyed a lonesome quite viewpoint at the querry, lake and mountains. 

Then I went for a fish. They had only trouts which they breeded themselves. The trouts however could be ordered made in differents ways. Then I took a walk around the ponds on premises. Cool place. 

The road home was amazing. Me and my bike, the local road, empty space around me and the mountains in the distance.

30.07 Sut, 0 km

Rainy day

Sat home and planned the rest of my journey. I discovered that the internet works better downstairs. I made friends with a cat. 

 

 

 

I also learned that the building I was staying in was registered as antiquity. The house was in fact quite old. I was cold during night. The windows and doors were old and uninsulated. There were also some interesting items in this house.

 

 

 

31.07 Sun, 206 km

Teplické skály

Today there was a late start, since the morning was cold. I took a road along the border, but it was in poor condition. But the views were nice sometimes.

I arrived at Teplicke Skaly around 11 am and I had to stand one hour in the line in full sun. Something I hate, but I waited, since I already got there and they didn't charge me for parking. I spent over two hours there. It's true the experience is outstanding, can be hardly described and pictures won't show the magic of it. The so called Siberia was enchanting. The narrow pathway between the cold, high rocks, covered with vividly green moss, and between them the subtle sunlight and sparkling mist.

 

I climbed onto the rock castle too. Everyone praised it, but I didn't think that the view was worth the struggle. 

After that, I drove to the restaurant near the border, but it was too crowded so I left. I went down the road of 100 curves. The views were nice, but the road was mostly in terrible shape. Finally, around 5 pm in Kudowa- Zdroj I could eat something. Then I bought something for breakfast and headed back home. I could tell I spent four hours on bike today. It's a limit for me. My wrist and buttock hurt.

01.08 Mon, 122 km

Moving on

Time to take off to another location. I'll have my own bathroom there, so I won't have to worry about people who don't know how to use a toilet brush. The cat was waiting for me in front of the garage as though he wanted to make sure I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye. 

Annoyingly, my water pump seems to be weeping again. And I already replaced it. Is it time to admit that this bike just likes to weep some coolant?

 

I stopped at the viewpoint, right at the border. I asked someone to take a picture of me with my bike.

I went through Czech right to my next accommodation. It seemed like many things were closed on Monday, so I couldn't really visit anything.

It was supposed to rain, so I left my bike at the hotel and went to search for a restaurant. At one they told me I could get a dessert but not lunch before 2 pm. Weird. Then I found some place with fish. You could even rent a fishing rod and catch a lunch yourself. They had goats too, but I believed they didn't eat them.

 

 

 

Then I took a nap and when the weather got better, went to the city to eat a supper and buy groceries.

02.08 Tue, 370 km

The abrupt end of the vacation

It turned out that I was sharing the accommodation with some unpleasant people who acted as though they were alone. At 10 pm, they started shouting and playing music outside. I tried to sleep with my earplugs, but I was quite stressed. When they got back into their room, next to mine, they kept on talking and playing music. I gotta admit though, the walls were like made of papier, you could hear every little noise. At some point I lost it and gave them a piece of my mind. I know I was quite impolite, but politeness never works with such people. Actually, nothing ever works with such people, since they are egoists. Police helps, but I had no reception there. I couldn't contact the owner either. Even though these people shut up after my slam, I couldn't calm down. I slept just a little and woke up again. I've seen plenty of situations like this. It only works short term and I bet they would keep on being loud for the rest of my stay. And what if they maliciously do something to my bike? My mood and morale were maxed out. My mental resources were exhausted. At 3:00 am I just packed my stuff and left. Driving the bike in the dark isn't the wisest thing, but I felt like I had no other choice. Perhaps a lone, one-week vacation is a maximum for me. Perhaps I chose bad accommodations. Perhaps it was bad time - July and August might be the time when you're bound to meet frustrated, uncivil families. I never met such people when I was travelling in low season. Luckily, the proprietor agreed to reimburse me for the remaining nights.

It was such a relief to be back in my own flat and in my own bed. And to see my love again.

Silesian and Holy Cross Province in Poland with F800R

02.05.2021 Sun

Adventure awaits!

A one-week trip with two accomodations. The first one in Slaskie (Silesian) Voivodeship and the second one in Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Voivodeship.

The first stop was my boyfriend's city, I got there on Friday already.

On Sunday I left around 15:00. I was planning on visiting a few places on my way to the first hotel, but the weather changed my plans. I had only one goal: to arrive in one piece, me and my bike. The ride was three hours long. I planned two stops at the gas stations. Theoretically, there was still a ban on drinking/eating in. But at Lotos, they allowed it and at Orlen, even though they didn't, nobody said anything. Luckily, they didn't have the heart to chase the poor motorcyclist out in this weather. Sometimes the wind was so strong I thought my bike was gonna fell over. But I was fighting to keep it straight and on my lane.

I visited just one place. The viewing point in Kleszczow. You can observe a coal mine from there.

I didn't freeze. The water-proof outfit did it's job. I was warm, dry and cozy. My hands and feet also stopped freezing when I put waterproof covers on them.
Note for the future: get some information beforehand about the best roads leading to the destination. Google maps suggested the worst road. For the last ten minutes of my trip, I was fighting to survive. It was a sandy, moady road with many pools, some of them so big that they were impossible to ommit. Sometimes omitting is worse when it's more slippery on the steepy mud. Manouvring on such a road can be worse than just riding straight forward through everything. There was one pool, so huge that I flinched, but eventually I drove through. My bike dived halfway in, but we made it. 

I arrived in Lebki at 19:00. The place was nice, clean, cozy and warm, luckily. The heaters were working nicely. I washed the dirt off the clothes and hanged them to dry. I inspected the bike for damage, but it was fine. I cleaned the mud off it with a cloth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a warm supper and went to sleep. Tried calling my boyfriend, but the range was very poor.

The place is called "Morgi na Lebkach". The room was unbelievably stylish.

03.05.2021 Mon

The weather was supposed to be pretty poor today, but I waited until noon and it turned out not that cold, 10℃ and no rain, only an occasional drizzle. I rented a bicycle to visit a few places. The bike was in rather poor condition and it seemed to be something wrong with the rear sprocket, but the owner said it was gonna be fine. So I took off to explore the nature. 

 

 

The rhododendron reserve. Sadly, the flowers didn't bloom, probably because it was such a cold May.

 

 

 

I eventually got to Lubliniec, but everything wad closed since it was a bank holiday. So I bought some food at the gas station. Unfortunately, the sprocket issue got worse. It had trouble engaging with the hub. I was 17 km away from the home. The issue was annoying, but I managed to get home. Such a shame that they rent bikes that can't even do one thing right: move forward. Wouldn't kill them to maintain them a bit. I myself would be ashamed to rent such a neglected bike to somebody.
After I got back, I took a stroll in the neighbourhood, looking for some more worthseeing nature. Some landlord spotted me heading in the direction of his fields, took a bike and started stalking me "descretly". He asked me where I came from and whether I wasn't afraid of wolves.
I called my boyfriend during my walk and surprisingly, the range in the middle of the fields was good, but when I got near the hotel, it got worse again. The host told me that T-Mobile had the worst reception in there.

04.05.2021 Tue

The struggle continues...

I decided to spare myself the delight of renting the bike again. I drove with my motorbike to Czestochowa. Today was my birthday, but it didn't stop the bad luck from continuing. More on that later…
The first stop was Jasna Gora. 

The Knights' Hall.

Then I thought I'd check out one museum. It was 4 km away. I hesitated whether I should bother changing my sport shoes back to my Alpinestars. It's only 4 km. But then I thought, okay, but what if something happens during these 4 km? So I changed my shoes, took off and then that happened.

The guy in the car behind me was in much more hurry than me. I decided to give way at the junction and he thought we were both gonna make it and didn't make sure if I thought the same. 

My taillight and handbar were broken. Also, my intercom fell of my helmet. The man apologized, signed the papers for the insurance and I took off. The museum seemed to be closed and the district was shady. I borrowed some scotch tape from a store to fix my taillight, but I was bothered by some drunks paying me compliments, so I hurried away from there. I was looking for something worthseeing in that city, but every museum seemed either closed or uninviting, or the attractions weren't really that interesting. I had enough reasons to leave this town and never step foot in it again.

There were just a few interesting murals in this city.

I ate illegally in front of the restaurant.

I drove to Blachownia which I liked much better. The lake and the parks surrounding it that were more like forests were amazing. 

A spring with healthy water. The locals come here numerously to gather water into the bottles.

I borrowed some transparent tape from a local to seal my broken lamp better. We had a nice chat and I came back to the hotel. I also temporarily fixed my handbar with reinforced tape that I always have with me.

05.05.2021 Wed

I took off to the next location.
The weather was not great, not terrible. Passing showers, but mostly it was sunny and rather warm. I managed to visit a few nice places in nature before the weather got worse in the evening.

This was already in the Holy Cross Province, on a small hill where I drove to see the church ruins in Gruszczyn. They weren't that interesting, but the view was. It was a part of 50 km long Przedborsko-Malogoskie mountain strip.

The next stop was Miedzianka and the so called moon fields.

The view was breathtaking.

I arrived in Checiny to see the castle. 

I ate a burger illegally in front of the restaurant. Thug life. But, seriously, what else was I supposed to do? I know, I know... sit home and not go on vacation at all. 

 

The weather got bad, I was sitting on this castle, hiding and waiting for the rain to stop. Had to change into the rain gear again. Headed straight into the hotel, had to drive through a huge pool in the middle of the road. Other drivers hesitated, but I went through it bravely, already been through worse on this vacation, haha.

There was a nice salt room in this accomodation. It was called "Noclegi u Banysia" in Krajno Pierwsze.

06.05.2021 Fri

I woke up to such an amazing view.

I made 25 km by foot. I can tell you now exactly which muscles we use to walk. The hosts claimed on their site that they had bikes but it turned out that this information was outdated. So I went to Swietokrzyski national park by foot. I had good shoes (Salomons) and a waterproof jacket. It was mostly sunny, but it was raining from time to time. I climbed on Lysica.

The rules made for Covid times were hilarious. You could sum them up like, "don't go into crowdy places like Lysica, pandemia is not a good time for hiking, go for a walk near your house, during pandemia you shouldn't do any activities at all. Actually, why don't you just turn around and go home, dont touch anything and hide under the duvet."

I walked to Bodzentyn to see the castle ruins. Then I came back. On my way, I decided to take sth to eat. I found a nice place in Google. On the front door, there were a few warnings reminding that you can order food only as a takeaway. I told the waitress what I wanted and sat down, waiting. How surprised I was when she told me to sit in another room and served a food on a plate. So I was eating illegally on spot. Thug life.

Back in the hotel, I relaxed in sauna and salt room.

The weather wasn't pleasant.

07.05.2021 Thu

The weather was freakish again. It was raining, then it was sunny, then you got rain again etc. But I surely didn't want to waste time, so I went to Sabat Krajno. It's a park with miniatures of the greatest buildings in the world. It's also got other attractions, but they were closed due to Covid/weather/almost absolute lack of guests. I got a ticket for 1 PLN, because I had birthday a few days ago.

 

The next attraction was minerals museum. The minerals were breathtaking.

I couldn't help myself but to buy some souvenirs. I bought a bornite and an aura quartz geode. Later I learned that this aura quartz isn't a quite natural stone. It's been artificially enhanced by bonding precious metals onto the surface of quartz.

I ate illegally in the restaurant again. There were more people than yesterday. 

08.05.2021 Sat

I took of in the morning, hoping for the weather to be gracious today. I visited the museum of Henryk Sienkiewicz, the great Polish novelist. I didn't even know that his historical books have been translated into so many languages, even Chinese. 

In the museum, there were a lot of the souvenirs he brought from his numerous trips. No wonder he was such an enlightened man since he travelled that much. Although one time he barely made it home alive when he got down with malaria. 

He was lucky to be recognized during his lifetime, which brought him fame and money, and a mansion in Oglebork, where the museum is now.

The weather was causing troubles again. At some point, the wind got so strong and it started pouring again, that I stopped at the nearest gas station and put on my rain outfit again. It was the most handy thing during my whole trip.
I returned straight to my boyfriend's garage.

09.05.2021 Sun

Today I got home. It was such a relief to be home again, safe and sound, after all these troubles. 

.....and yet, I instantly wanted to got on another trip! Such mixed feelings! But no, I have to rest first and take care of my bike.

Epilogue:

I got a cost estimation from my insurance company. Suprisingly, it wasn't that low. They also accepted every damage I reported and I felt like they really wanted to help me. The company is PZU. I'm not gonna have to put my bike into garage then. I can take the money and fix it myself.
I felt like they were surprised that I'm reporting a damage on a motorcycle. I can imagine it doesn't happen that often. On the phone they were asking me to make sure whether it's a motorcycle registered on this insurance.