Today’s journey took us north through central Poland as we loosely followed the Vistula River, steadily working our way up towards Gniew. The scenery through which we rode was straight from the Teutonic Knights’ romantic anthology. Despite covering nearly 90 miles, it passed fairly easily thanks to the smooth terrain and captivating scenery.
Toruń to Gniew
DAY #20 of 35Poland1,239 miles total
Leaving Toruń, we initially rode down a lovely bike path for around 15 miles. We had almost no bicycle traffic and the generous width made for some very pleasant ‘chatty riding’ 🙂
We hated to leave Toruń….we could have spent several days here. The red brick building is Toruń’s post office. Napoleon slept here on his way to Moscow. Early morning, Toruń’s square was quite. Such a difference from the afternoon and evening before. Saw this very cool modern building riding out of Toruń. Looked like a performing arts center, but couldn’t be sure with our limited ‘googling while cycling’ skills. We had this gorgeous cycle path all to ourselves – for close to 15 miles! The edges of the cycle path hadn’t been mowed so the wildflowers were in full bloom. Looks like Shrek has moved to Poland.
We stopped for a coffee break at Chelmno and basked in the surrounding scenery. Protected by an almost intact medieval fortress wall, Chelmno has one of rural Poland’s famous town squares and double story ‘only’ buildings – which made for an authentic coffee and ice-cream break setting.
Our coffee break this morning was in lovely little village of Chelmno with a beautiful square. The village square was lined with three and four story residences. ….and, of course, an ancient watchtower. This was a poster on a renovation fence that shows what the square may have looked like at the turn of the 20th century. Except for the fashions, wagons, horses, etc. (haha) not much has changed. A pause at the Vistula River, the longest and largest in Poland and the 9th longest river in Europe. The Vistula has limited navigation for large freight barges because of its shallow depth in places and shifting sand bars. Certainly available for pleasure boats.
Next we passed through Grudziądz, another town that grew significantly during the era of the State of the Teutonic Knights. Sadly more than 60% of the city was destroyed during World War II, although at first glance this is not terribly obvious.
Part of the historic Grudziadz City Wall. We spotted the van and trailer along the Vistula … Colette’s yummy lunch beckons! Colette and Richie setting up lunch. Lucky to get rezzies at “Lunch at Colette’s”. She does a fantastic job of providing a lunch with a fantastic variety of whatever she can get fresh from local supermarkets. A post-lunch selfie with the city walls in the background, next to the Vistula River. You see a pretty city wall on the hill … we see a cobblestone – read jaw jarring – street with a menacing incline that we need to ride out on!
Continuing onward, today we played a game of counting storks. Spotting stork nests in the most amazing locations was a fun pastime whilst riding.
Another view of the Vistula River. We were riding along the outside of a dike when we came upon a ramp. Thinking we would take the ramp and ride to the top of the dike for a wonderful view of the Vistula River, we were sadly mistaken … where’s the river?!?! We had to reverse course back down to the road. One of many stork nests. These were standing at attention. Poles love storks. In many places these birds are encouraged to build their nests with special frames on house roofs or on poles near farms. People in the country still believe that a stork nest brings luck, protects the house against fires or against being struck by lightning. In 2004, over 52,000 stork nests were reported in Poland. We believe we saw that many just on our first week in Poland! We took a side trip to see the Kwidzen Castle. A pano view of part of the Kwidzen Castle. A birdseye view of the Kwidzen Castle. Tour leader, Ben’s, drone shots are hard to beat.
Today’s Destination: Gniew
Situated on the Vistula River, Gniew is home to around 7,000 inhabitants and another one of the most historical towns in Polish Pomerania. It is renowned for its medieval brick Gothic castle, which has become the region’s most recognizable monument.
The iconic Gniew Castle.
A cool bridge with a nice cycle path across the Vistula River. Actually, it was a bit bumpy and slanted to the left, but a welcome reprieve from the motorway. Our destination in the background — the Gniew Castle and Hotel Rycerski in Gniew. Somebody’s happy to arrive after our detour to Kwidzen Castle brought us to 88 miles. … getting closer …
After arriving at the hotel, we had a great view of the Vistula River valley. It flows north to Gdańsk and the Baltic Sea…. our destination tomorrow.
Our abode for the night is a renovated Teutonic castle replete with a jousting arena, spa facilities and medieval theater – a fitting end to a long but not necessarily taxing day in the saddle. On the somber side, there was also a WWII concentration camp here.
