Poznan

The Town Hall in Poznan © Ricky Yates

We left Malbork in the late morning of Sunday 18th October and, after crossing the Wisla/Vistula river, joined the major north-south motorway that comes from Gdansk and heads towards Warsaw. We then made speedy progress southwards, at the expense of a relatively modest toll. Having crossed the Wisla/Vistula river twice more, just south of Torun, we left the motorway and headed south-west to Poznan.

As well as booking us into a double room in the Tey Hostel, located right in the middle of the historic city centre of Poznan, Sybille had also downloaded a map to her tablet, to help us negotiate the narrow one-way streets and reach our destination. The advice of the hostel was to drive to the front door, unload, and pick up a parking permit for an . . . → Read More: Poznan

Frombork and Malbork

Frombork © Sybille Yates

On the morning of Saturday 17th October, after our visit to the ‘Wolf’s Lair’ and the remains of the incomplete Masurian Canal, we then set out to drive westwards to continue our Polish adventure. Over the next few hours, using our recently purchased Polish road atlas, Sybille very successfully navigated us along a series of secondary roads, all the way to the Baltic Sea coast at Frombork.

The journey took us through a variety of small towns and villages, interspersed with areas of both agricultural land and forests. Some road surfaces were excellent, whilst others did leave something to be desired 🙂 No doubt helped by it being the weekend, traffic was fortunately quite light.

After about three hours of driving, we reached the slightly larger town of Braniewo, where we were only six . . . → Read More: Frombork and Malbork

Masurian Lakes – Mikolajki to Ruciane-Nida and return

Passing yacht on Lake Beldany © Sybille Yates

 

 

 

 

We spent the final two days of our time on the Masurian Lakes, cruising from Mikolajki to the south-westerly navigable extremity of the area, the twin villages of Ruciane-Nida, before returning to base at Mikolajki.

 

 

We were blessed with a wonderful sunny day on Thursday 15th October as we set out, initially south-eastwards along Lake Mikolajskie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mikolajki from Lake Mikolajskie © Sybille Yates

This is the view we had of Mikolajki, as we cruised away.

Sun and spray on Lake Mikolajskie © Sybille Yates

The wind was relatively light, but coming from a south-easterly direction, so we were cruising directly into it. Hence the small amount of spray on our . . . → Read More: Masurian Lakes – Mikolajki to Ruciane-Nida and return

Masurian Lakes – Gizycko to Wegorzewo and returning to Mikolajki

After a peaceful but chilly night – there was frost on the mooring pontoon first thing the next morning 🙁 , we set off from Gizycko, to cruise to the northern navigable extremity of the Masurian Lakes, the town of Wegorzewo.

There are two possible ways to cruise northwards to Wegorzego. We chose to take the shorter route which involves passing along a canal through the town of Gizycko. On this route, there is a nineteenth century swing bridge which is only open at certain set times. We set out from Ekomarina, in order to be at the swing bridge when it opened at 10.35 that morning.

Railway bridge at Gizycko © Sybille Yates

On entering the canal, we first passed under this railway bridge which has sufficient headroom.

Swing bridge at Gizycko © Sybille Yates

. . . → Read More: Masurian Lakes – Gizycko to Wegorzewo and returning to Mikolajki

Masurian Lakes – Mikolajki to Gizycko

Our floating home from 10th – 17th October 2015 © Ricky Yates

The Masurian lakes are located in the far north-east of Poland, not far from the border with Belarus, Lithuania and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. They consist of a series of moraine-dammed lakes, interconnected by a number of short, man-made canals. There are only two locks, both at the southern extremities of the navigable system.

The area has been popular for boating and sailing since the early 1920s. It is an amazing natural paradise and motor boats are prohibited from some areas, in order to protect the flora and fauna.

Mikolajki, where Marina Miko is located, lies at the centre of the lakes area. It is one of the main centres for visitors to Masuria, with a variety of hotels, apartments for rent, boatyards and restaurants.

. . . → Read More: Masurian Lakes – Mikolajki to Gizycko