May 25, 2025 – Rytwiany – Sandomierz – 68 kms – Hotel Pod Cizemka
May 26, 2025 – Sandomierz – Pikorowy – 52kms – Trzy Stawy
May 27, 2025 – Pikorowy – Biłgoraj – 55kms – Hotel Sukcesor
Ruth: We have spent our last few days cycling through open fields filled with poppies and bachelor buttons and then dipping into forests on either a track or a paved road. Spring has arrived in Poland and it’s lush and beautiful. Most of our time we are following bike routes. We left the Vistula cycle way and now we are following a section of the Green Velo Route and it’s variant the 301. The route is well marked with great rest stations along the way.
The cycling has been going well. Right from the start I felt strong. Gord on the other hand has not been leading the charge as he usually does. Could I possibly be catching up to him, or is he actually, gulp, aging? Neither, it turns out, he has been much more peppy since he adjusted his brake pad that was dragging for a few hundred kilometres.
Gordon: I’m a little embarrassed that I let a brake pad drag for several days, but it was easier to fix than premature aging.
We are now off the tourist circuit, passing through a series of towns that are a mixture of the old and the new. It is evident that the pace of change has been breathtaking in the past 30 years, as most of the homes appear to have been built in that time. There are still many of the older squared log homes in the rural areas, but many of them have been abandoned or converted to outbuildings.
The town we are currently visiting, Biłgoraj, has a reconstruction of an enormous 17th century wooden synagogue. A plaque on the building says that the original structure, and every other wooden synagogue in the country, was torched by the Nazis during the Second World War. The population of many of these towns was 30 percent Jewish prior to the War; it is chilling to consider the horrors and change wrought by that era.
We found ourselves on a Camino.
Sandomierz
this is so lovely – and I never knew the term bachelor button for cornflower. Will integrate that into my vocabulary. 🙂 I knew Poland was lovely but the photos are really next level.
Buen camino, what a beautiful concha you found there. Have a great time and lots of bigos to stay strong.
“A brake pad is easier to fix than premature aging” (!) great line. Thanks for the addition of the map at the end with the notes of the route showing the itinerary. Thanks for your posts.
So cute you think that the aging would be “premature”! Signed, your much younger sister.
Is it symptomatic of dementia that I still think of myself as middle-aged?
Thanks for coming along Hu. I always enjoy your witty comments.
Hu the two websites that I used to plan are: Veloplanner.com
Wobblyride.com
I always enjoy Ruth’s paintings
The Study of Kasamatsu Shiro intrigues me.
I always enjoy Ruth’s paintings
The Study of Kasamatsu Shiro intrigues me and sent me searching for his images. Thankyou for the introduction and for your thoughtful creative sharing of your journeys.
Thank you Kate! I love Japanese woodcuts and Japanese painting. Their compositions are so interesting. I wish I had brought a smaller brush, but my kit is very minimal this time.