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

 

 

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