2020-03-19 Day 494 Thu

More blogs and procrastination…. 

I think the procrastination is winning……

Rang June and John and had a chat then spoke to John Yeo. He has heard shops may be shutting so had bought welding stuff and paint so he can continue working on his mini. A group of them have a 4x4 trip organised in a few weeks but may need to be put off.

A walk along the beach which was really beautiful in the sunshine and the little bit of wind behind us. A guy was in his waders out in waist deep waves casting for elusive fish….

The cliff is continually falling, trees and all. I thought the sea was washing away at the base and that may be part of it but there is water running out of the cliff which I think softens everything and the cliff just oozes down..

Jack wants us to go visit and have lunch. We put him off saying we need to catch up on stuff. We will visit in a few days.

Another quiet night

0km  Camp site  55m alt.

2020-03-18 Day 493 Wed

More blogs and procrastination….

A few people walked past and a few cyclists.

John spoke to another couple(Jack & Ola) out walking their dog. They live 30km’s away. So people are still allowed to drive.

We had a long walk about 1600hrs down to the little place of Orzechowo where there was a light house well inland.

On the way we met the same couple and they swapped numbers with John and invited to stay with them.

John had started out fast and I just was a saggy bag on the walk home. My legs did not want to move. Which is unusual on the flat….

0km   Camp site  55m alt

2020-03-17 Day 492 Tue

We are de-stressing a little as we at least are in a place of our choosing if a travel ban in imposed. 

A beautiful spot to be stopped in.

Peter sent a message to say all the flights  have been cancelled and airport closed.

The info from other overlanders from around the world is also a bit confused. Some are stuck in countries where camping grounds and hotels are closed but keep getting moved on as they are not welcome where they are.

Also we have had some long days of travel and that wears on us a well.

We tried to catch up on computer stuff. I managed to get some blogs posted but it is taking me a while.

 

I cooked up the chicken marylands I’d bought, into a stew in the pressure cooker. Although a number of key ingredients were substituted (the chicken and mushrooms were the only ingredients not) It was very good. Enough for a few days and a few meals to freeze.

John went for a walk around and found a better spot with more sun, so we moved 600m east. We are at the end of a track so felt more “legal”. More people moving around today.

2km  Camp site  55m alt.

2020-03-16 Day 491 Mon

Another early start as we are worried the Polish government would put travel restrictions on for non-essential travel and we’d like to choose the spot we hole up in for 2 or 3 weeks or more.

At the village of Ciechocinek between our camp and highway we stopped at the little market stalls and bought some fresh fruit and veg. Then went to the local supermarket and stocked up on a few more essentials. Have not been able to find any hand sanitiser at all in any of the shops but that was like that before Corona not all countries have it. 

We continued our drive north, just before Ustka we headed north east to the coast. 

Found a lovely forest of pines. One track we wanted to drive down had a barrier across it so we found another camped close to the sandy cliff above the Baltic sea.

A quiet evening

Some cyclist went by and a walker. John spoke to the guy who indicated in polish something about Police and not being here.

306km  Camp site  43m alt.

2020-03-15 Day 490 Sun

We are still hoping to get a ferry across to Norway but we are not sure that is a good idea, not really sure what a good idea looks like at the moment.

We then learnt that Norway was closing its borders to foreigners Mon morning 08:00. So no show now, that decision has been taken from us. 

I had updated brother Mike yesterday on our plans. This morning he sent through the number of a guy that had hired his boat 3 years running. Mike contacted Peter so the chat started, then I contacted him. He had lots of ideas of staying in the SE corner in the mountains but to drop by his village first for fresh milk, cheese and boar sausages. Sounds wonderful. We thanked him and said we will head north for now we thought we could get a nice camp on the Baltic sea shore.

We drove through pine forest after Pine forest on nice roads.

There were animal bridges across the freeway. Have not seen the likes for a while now.

This bee hive building was the building for the road maintenance/snow clearing  trucks. We saw 3 or 4 of them

The amount of mistletoe on these trees was amazing

We filled with water at a truck parking lot. The tap had been well insulated to stop it freezing.

We headed north early with the thoughts of sitting on the Baltic sea for a while and just think about our options.

Poland is a little larger than some other of the EU countries we have just travelled through. Made it ¾ of the way to coast and travelled a muddy track to the Vistula river. A quiet spot.

428km  Camp site  73m alt.

  

2020-03-14 Day 489 Sat

  

Highways most of the way to Aska and Tomic’s home. 

Some signs we never get to work out their meaning.

Half caught graffiti.  

Lots of mistletoe in the trees here and it is easy to see as no other leaves.

Tomic came out to get us, as although we found a park, we did not know where their building was. Upstairs and a distant welcome (corona).

We chatted for a while and they took us out for a walk around.

Their little one Costic has been inside for a week with a cold and runny nose. To make her ready to go out they attached a hose with catchment area to the vacuum cleaner and after squirting stuff up her nose proceeded to vacuum (from outside) her nose clear……  Any way solved any sniffling issues for the next while.

Poland has now closed her land border with Slovakia so only just got into Poland, 12 hours to spare.

A lot of shops closed, but managed to buy me a SIM at a small corner shop. 60Gb for AU$3.

The building they live in, and the others around, were built 70 years ago as accommodation for the steel mill workers.

We walked around the protected wetlands. What a wonderful spot to have on ones doorstep in a large city.

Back at their apartment we had a bite to eat, they had problems buying take-aways as the shops were closed. Tomic showed us on the map a good campsite close by (10 mins) on the river.

We trundled off there for a quiet camp and they drove off to visit Tomics parents place down south east.

99km  Camp site  228m alt.

2020-03-13 Day 488 Fri

We were not quiet sure if we would get to cross the border to Poland today. Our friends tell us the borders are all closed except those to Slovakia. We think we are still trying to get to Finland although the number of Corona cases there are growing quickly.

On the freeway to the border and nowhere to exit when we saw an outlet for the road toll machine so stopped yes this is where we drop it off. Got the deposit of €50 back and €35 from the cash credit. The road cost us €15 quiet steep really.

Our anxiety levels rose as we are now the only vehicle other than trucks and only a few of them on this free way. However we blinked at the border and were through no checks at all. There was a police car parked just past the border but no interest in us. What a relief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Map tracks come alive once you are on the ground but this route took a while to believe. An amazing entry to a free way

Another new country for the both of us. It is a while since we entered a “new” country.

We would camp early and make our way up to Kracow and our friends early tomorrow.

Lake Zywieckie looked like a likely camp site just 43 km into Poland . The first place we stopped at, and had a late lunch, started to get the feel that it was a place hoons visited. A car with loud music stopped by there were used condoms on the ground amongst the other rubbish so we moved on.

A little track (trench) up the hill about 1m below ground level a bit slippery but we got up some of the way. At a small saddle we turned back down, as it just got narrower and stepper with less rocks. Back down had the feeling of being in a bob sled track!!!

Finally found an old parking place and below it more parking I think it was a tourist site in days gone by. A quiet camp on a concrete pad. Only a few cars came this far from the road.

248km  Camp site  379m alt.