Heading Home

We have an appointment with Eurotunnel on the 18th July. We've booked a couple of nights at a campsite in Ghent (Belgium) and we're keeping our fingers crossed for decent weather.

Today, we head for Campsite Lake Markkleeberg, a lakeside campsite just south of Leipzig, arriving early afternoon after dropping off our ViaToll box which has been bleeping its way around Poland as it notches up the Zloties on my account.

The 'van needs a bit of tlc on the way but we're here, safe and snug on a rainy day.

Moving on....

Now we're here:

Its Campingpark Essen-Werden  and  it's great for a two night stay.

Nice little town with Essen itself only 12 minutes away by S-Bhan (suburban train). German public transport systems are great.

A short walk up the river takes us to this large dam and lock.

There's a great little bistro just around the corner from the site.

Aiming for Ghent in the morning.

..,..............

Germany > Netherlands > Belgium

(sorry Netherlands, we love your towns, but time is chasing us onwards)

We're here..

 The site's part of a sports complex on the outskirts of Ghent... and very nice it is too: great facilities, great pitch, shuttle bus into town - if only I could get the outfit round the sharp corners without three reverses each time it would be perfect. After our recent site experience, though, I can understand why the owners don't want easy access for large caravans.....

Anyway, we're all sorted and looking forward to Ghent tomorrow...

Wonderful Wroclaw: Last stop in Poland

What a great end to our Polish adventures. We've loved travelling in Poland; the towns are full of history with their majestic buildings, often reconstructed after war damage. The people we've met have been great: often going out of their way to help.

Anyway, we're here in Wroclaw in what feels like a communist era campsite. We've also got a large number if Irish travellers with massive caravans for company, each with their full size washing machine and accompanying large 4x4. Some younger members of the group have flash BMWs which cruise around the site with the music going... Cool, Great, live and let live and all that... but we've got a large 4x4 on a UK plate, too........no washing machine, though.

We love Wroclaw. We easily travel into town from the campsite by tram.

Impressive Town Hall, that

Impressive Town Hall Clock, that

Even more impressive main square.. might be the largest in Poland. St. Mary Magdelene's twin towers are just visible at 10 O'clock.

 We climbed the church tower to get the previous shot

These little fellas crop up all over the place:


Yup, that's how us Brits deal with Brexit...

This is a detail from the amazing Panorama of the Battle of Raclawice, so long that it has it's own circular building.

From the bridge between the twin towers of St Mary Magdelene's Church - The woman with the broom was condemned to sweep here for eternity as a penance for leading a frivolous life... luckily, the little girl contrived to get this sorted by a passing wizard.

Lots more, but that will do. Goodbye Wroclaw.

Turning homeward tomorrow.

The Black Madonna

We have an uneventful trip to Katowice, some three hours away from Zakopane.

We decide to drop the 'van off at the campsite there and head to the Jasna Gora Monastery, at Czestochowa, to see, amongst other things, the famous Black Madonna. All the info is in the link.

The monastery attracts thousands of pilgrims each year and Poland's Pope John Paul addressed the massed faithful from the balcony here. We see the Black  Madonna and the crowds attending mass in the chapel in which it hangs.


The Monastery

 The Madonna

In the chapel

View from the tower

Back to earth.....

On the way back we pop into the local IKEA to try to find a new griddle pan - but what we really wanted were the meatballs for dinner....
....the Tata Mountains seem a long way away somehow.

Towards the Tatra Mountains: Zakopane

We're here....

 The Tata Mountain range - We use a cable car to ascend to 1,987m and then walk along a couple of trails.

The Poland - Slovakia border runs along the range... Here's a shot of Poland from Slovakia as we step across the border. A foot in each country...

..and this is the touristy but rather nice Zakopane...

Zakopane from the hill above, accessed via a funicular railway. We walk back down.

On our final day here, we walk 18+ km, 50% of it uphill, to see two of Poland's glacial lakes in the Tata Mountain range. We discover that half of Poland gets the same idea.... Quite amazing that so many family groups do this walk. For the less hardy, horse drawn traps take 15 at a time most of the way to the first, and most famous, lake. The second is strictly for the fittest..


Lake Morskie

 

The hoardes.. It's 8km to the first lake, too

Lake Rysami, a tough walk above lake Morskie

On the way to pick up exhausted families

Somebody tell this deer it's supposed to be wild.. gave me a nasty suck on the hand.

That's about all from the Tata Mountains - a brilliant visit. It feels like a holiday!

Off to Katowice tomorrow for an overnight stop (or two). We intend to visit Czestochowa from there.. stay in touch to see why.