Day 3 - Kielce - Kraków - 120km

Dear all,

 

I set the alarm clock for 6h25. My hosts are leaving early to work and I want to be ready to leave when they go out of home.

I ended up waking up around 5AM quite well rested and I could not fall asleep again.

Artur & Asia invited me to join them from breakfast so we spent a bit more of time chatting!

Artur, Asia & Peter Lamb

Guys, thank you so so so much for your hospitality! It was totally spot on! Cheers!!

I decided to cycle through Kielce's city center, afterall it is on the way to Krakow, my destination of the day!

Peter Lamb speeding up

It was quite early in the morning, so there were very few people on the streets.

Townhall, I believe

Central street

Going out of the city was quite simple, following some bike paths.

Clecleway to get out of Kielce

Road at the outskirts of Kielce

The road has loads of small uphills and downhills. I am carrying way too much weight on this trip and I was trying to force it a bit more, as I know that Kraków is quite far and I would like to get there before 17h00.

Peter Lamb cycling south

The landscape varies a lot, being sometimes the road through some forest and some other times on totally open fields. It is impressive the number of times that this change happens!

Peter lamb cycling through forest

Cycling in open landscape. I just overtook that truck, ahahah

At the start of an uphill

I was cycling at the road number 766 for quite some kilometers.

The wind started to increase its intensity, blowing from South, which combined to my heavy bike, me being not so fit and the hills, were making this a very hard cycling day. I was climbing sometimes at averages speeds of 8km/h, trying to make it up somehow on the descent parts and the flat ones.

Peter Lamb at the end of an endless climb. Nice landscape!

Trip has continued, sometimes taking smaller roads. I was just following the directions of South or West to make my choices. I ended up being in nice places and I found it nicer than having all the route planned. It was comfortable to know that, if the things would get bad, I would have water, food and my tent and sleeping bag, that I could use to stay anywhere.

Random road

Random road

Random roads

Random roads

The thing is: when you risk too much, either you will be in trouble, or you will be ending up having a very nice time. And, lucky it was the second option that I experienced. In fact the tarmac road ended, being a gravel road for about 3 to 5 kilometers. I did not see anyone for about 30 minutes and the landscape was so nice!

I really thought that it would be a great place to pitch the tent, for sure it would be possible to see loads of stars that you cannot see while in the city, but I really wanted to get to Krakow, so I continued the journey!

The start of the gravel road

Gravel road continues

Peter Lamb at the summit of one more climb

I ended up in a tarmac road and from there i kept taking the direction of South in smaller roads.

I could reach the road 776 that goes to Kraków.

Tired Peter Lamb at a corn field

The sun started to be setting, and I still had some kilometers to do. Every meter of climb was a total struggle, but kilometers were passing and I was getting more and more close to my destination.

Entering in Krakow is a long downhill, which was quite a lot of fun, overtaking some cars!

I had almost no baterry on the phone, so I could not have Asia's address on my gps. Finding her place was quite challenging, making some (bad) choices about routing, and asking random people on the streets.

I ended up finding her place, already way after sunset. It is a great joy to see a good friend, welcoming you once more into her place.

It was a hard day (maybe the hardest since I started bike touring) but I felt great that I have made it this far!

The link for the data recorded by Garmin device is the following:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/883285417

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance: 120km
• Daily time cycling: 7h25m17s
• Average speed: 16,22km/h
• Top speed: 54,26km/h
• Total climb: 1014meters
• Total distance: 315 km
• Total time cycling: 19h07m23s

That is all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

 

Postado com o Blogsy

Day 2 - Radom - Kielce - 87 km

Dear all,

 

I woke up quite early in the morning, well rested, and with no need of an alarm clock!

I settled with my host Karolina that she would wake up around 9AM so I had time to write the blog.

We shared a breakfast together, having some nice chat meanwhile.

Breakfast!

We had a great meal and soon it was time to leave. As Karolina leaves in Northern part of Radom and I was heading South, we settled to meet in the center, as she would catch a bus to get there and I would cycle.

Bike packed and ready to roll, it was time to start the cycling day!

Leaving Karolina's flat

Navigation was really easy, all straight ahead towards Cetrum.

In front of a shopping mall I found a toolkit spot, and I really needed to tighten some screw on the bike, so it become a very handy spot on my way.

Toolkit point in Radom

I needed to wait a bit for Karolina, so I took some pictures of the city center:

Radom city center

Flowers on the balcony

I did not need to wait long till Karolina showed up in the city center.

Karolina

Well, we went for a walk, up and down the main street, checking up some buildings, like the library, town hall, churches.. Interesting fact is that Radom region is famous for steel production. Due to that fact the city has quite a lot of steel balconies.

Library

Steel balcony

Cityhall

Radom downtown

Peter Lamb and Karolina in Radom downtown

It was getting late, around lunch time, so it was time to hit the road. Karolina, thank you very much for the hospitality, for bringing up your friend Isa to join us for dinner, for the breakfast and for the visit to Radom city center. Cheers!

Navigation to get out of the city was not too difficult, i turned left and right for sometimes quite randomly, but the fact that Garmin device shows you the direction you are cycling helps quite a lot.

Radom cycling path

I reached the road 744, heading south and sometimes I was the only vehicle for some time.

Road 744

Empty road in the middle of nowhere

And, how about some selfies?

Peter lamb cycling in style

Peter lamb and the Polish countryside

Peter lamb

I have been told that there would be some hills on the way to Radom. But the weather was good. Sunny day, not much wind and quite warm. Very good to cycle!

Polish countryside

Polish countryside

I stopped several times. To be honest, legs were quite ok, but to sit on the bike for more than one hour, geeeee, it hurts! In one of those stops, I saw that there are some cycling routes in Poland. I have to find out some more information about it:

Bike routes in Poland

I got kind of lost in one of the cities (well, once more, I just did not follow the notes I have written before, but intuition and maybe some luck, led me to the place I was looking for: the lake, just at the outskirts of Skarzisko Kamienna.

Peter lamb by the lake

Peter lamb's bike

One girl stopped for a little chat, suggesting that if I have a tent I could stay in the camping in the next city, which is nice and by the lake. But I have a family waiting for me in Kielce and I do not want to let them down. Maybe one next time!

The route is just by the lake, quite pleasant!

Route by the lake

Simply beautiful

The route ends up being through the forest, with no tarmac but even though quite pleasent to ride.

Route through the forest

I ended up choosing the wrong path. There is a small road that goes to the other side of the lake, basically returning back but on the other shore. Anyway it was nice going there as the view is very nice.

At the end of the lake

From that point I focused more on the navigation and cycle, rather than on taking pictures, but I must tell that I had a great time on the downhills on the road just paralel to the main road that connects warsaw to krakow. It is a really pleasent road to ride.

Road towards Kielce

Tired Peter Lamb about 8km out of Kielce

I have sent a message to Artur, my host in Kielce around 2 hours before, saying that I should arrive to the city just around 20h00. I wanted to be sure that I would not be disturbing their family life, as they also have a young daughter. When I got to Kielce I had a message from Artur, stating his address and his phone number. Great, they did not let me down.

Finding their place was not difficult and they welcomed me very very well. Presentations done to his wife Asia and their daughter Kinga. What a girl full of energy!!

I just got them a small souvenir, a magnet from Lisbon and in exchange, i got a very comfy bed, a room for myself (I have slept on floors, attics, couches, mattresses... So a super nice room is great for a change!!) some warm shower that is always great after 87 km of cycling... On top of that they offered me soup and tea. What more can you ask? Well, it is great to experience this hospitality! Cheers guys!

We have been talking during the meal. They will be going to Iran for vacations. That sounds like a very good experience. Artur also gave me very good references about Georgia. It is on my list!!

 

Summary of the day:

• Distance: 87km
• Time cycling: 5h09m11s
• Average speed:16,88 km/h
• Top speed: 49,58km/h
• Total climb: 544 meters
• Total distance travelled so far: 195 km
• Total time cycling: 11h42m06s

Once again, I could not import the files from Garmin device. I will update this post later...

 

That's all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

Postado com o Blogsy

Day 1 - Warsaw - Radom - 108 km

Dear all,

 

My holidays have finally arrived and the destination chosen for this year was Poland. I have been in the country several times, but I just have made some kilometers by bike in 2013, so this time I wil have the chance to see more of it.

My flight was on Wizzair, the biggest low cost carrier of Eastern Europe. At the moment they operate with 62 planes, havind direct flights from Lisbon to Warsaw and Budapest. The advantage over Ryanair is that the operate to Warsaw's main airport (Fredrick Chopin's airport).

It is an overnight flight, departing Lisbon at 1 AM and getting to Warsaw at around 6AM.

Packing was, obviously, done in last minute and I must thank Marta for the help

Bag's packed

As Wizzair charges for every piece of luggage, i decided to go to the airport some hours before and make a Safebag out of the three bags.

Three bags are only one piece now

Wizzair carried my bike for an extra 30€ which is not bad at all. Lisbon's terminal 2 also has a oversized luggage drop point, so all the process was smooth and easy.

My bike near my parents home

I have to thank once more to my father, that despite the late hours, took me once more to the airport and helped me out carrying the bike. Cheers dad!

The flight was a bit late but not a big deal. Unfortunatly it was very tough to sleep as there were inflight sales, they were trying to sell food and drinks and the seats were not that comfy, so I ended up sleeping less than 2 hours! Ups, I am going to suffer during the day!!

My ride to Warsaw

Another pic of the aircraft

This time there was no reason to worry that my bike would not get to Warsaw, afterall it was the only flight departing from Lisbon's terminal 2 at that time, so most likely the bike would get into the right plane.

So, after picking up the luggage, I headed to Oversized luggage (belt 5A) to collect my bike.

Everything arrived safely :)

Well, the bike box does not fit into the "Nothing to Declare" corridor, so I needed to ask the officer to pass through the "Goods to Declare".

I assembled my bike at the arrivals terminal.

Assembling the bike

Almost ready

All set and ready to roll

I asked someone to look after my stuff and changed my clothes into the cycling ones.

I had some sandwich, juice and chocolate for breakfast and about 1 hour after starting to assemble the bike I was ready to start my trip.

Peter Lamb at Warsaw's airport

I have studied the route while in Lisbon. I had some notes on the Ipad so the navigation should be easy.

Finding my way. Seems that summer is finishing

I wish I had the time to meet my friends in Warsaw, but Krakow is about 300km away and I would like to get there in 3 days, so, as Warsaw Airport is southern than the city, I decided that I would cycle to Radom (about 100km away)

Warsaw is full of cycling path, even on the outskirts of the city. So it was a pleasent ride till I got out of the city.

Warsaw cycling paths

Some crossing

The weather was cloudy, but not too chilled. Good for cycling!

I found many people using this paths, running, biking and also with rollerblades.

It was also surprising to see the bike sharing system really at the outskirt of the city. I thought I would only find it in more central locations. The system is very similar to Paris Velib.

Warsaw bike sharing

Sometimes the bike path is really a paralel track to the main road, quite pleasent.

Peter Lamb trying to get out of the city

At last I found the road 724 that would lead me out of Warsaw.

Last kilometers in Warsaw

That's it, leaving Warsaw

There are really nice small villages around Warsaw. I stopped by for some picture of a building that I really like its architecture. It is a pity that I have no clue what this building stands for,

Nice building

One of the supermarket brand here in Poland is Biedronka (ladybird in Englsi or Joaninha in Portuguese) and it belongs to Jeronimo Martins, one of the biggest retails in Portugal. You gotta love the logo!

Biedronka

The way to Góra Kalwaria was easy, prety much flat and not too much traffic.

No traffic!

On that small village I stopped to buy a SIM card. they have an operator called Nju Mobile (it sounds like new mobile) and you basically get 2GB of internet, valid for 10 days for 5 Zlotys - around 1,30! I wish we have that in Portugal!!

After Góra Kalwaria

The notes I had about navigation were good not to get lost, even inside the villages, so everything was smooth.

Glowaczow main square

Glowaczow street

I was still far from Radom and I called my host, saying that I was still about 3 hours away. Well, it is what it is. Just cycle!

Nice quiet roads through the forest

Polish countryside

Polish countryside

It does not appear in my pictures, but they have loads and loads and loads of apple trees on this route. You also see a lot of packing factories and trucks loaded with apples, so it is probably the region for apple production.

I was geeting closer to Radom, but there were still 35 km left. I was exhausted, stopped by at a supermarket to eat something and it was really difficult not to fall asleep.

Out of a suddent it started to rain, but it was not intense. So, I stopped under a tree and just waited for about 20 minutes. I was too lazy to look for the rain pants so just had the jacket and wait for the best!

After 20 minutes it was still raining so I decided to cycle in the rain. Well, it was terrible those last 30 kilometers. I was wet "till my bones" it was cold and the trucks passing quite close to be left me even more wet.

You gotta love this, as it seems that you are nuts cycling in this conditions!

Wet and cold Peter Lamb

Navigation till my hosts home it was not too difficult even with almost no battery on my phone. I really need to buy a power bank.

My host was Karolina, a super frindly girl who is living at her newly renovated flat. She invited her friend Isa and prepared some warm tea and some past with pesto and vegetables, nhiami, I was hungry!

I was exhausted, but their hospitality was great, so we still went to a shop to buy some beers and came home for some very pleasent chatting.

At 23h i really could not help but to feel dead, so I apologyse to lesve them but I needed to sleeeeep!

Tomorrow there will be more adventures!

 

Summary of the day:

• Distance of the day: 108km
• Time cycling:6h32m55s
• Average speed:16,50km/h
• Top speed:40,69km/h
• Total climb 308 meters

 

I am not being able to syncronize Garmin with the IPAD, so I will post later the track.

 

That is all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

 

Postado com o Blogsy