Tag: Poland

 

 

 

 

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 15^th October as we set out, initially south-eastwards along Lake Mikolajskie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

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 windscreen! However, after about half an hour, we were able to turn right into the much narrower Lake Beldany where conditions were quite calm.

We had the whole lake to ourselves…..

……except for a small fishing boat, and the yacht in the photograph at the beginning of this post.

We also saw these wonderful Autumn colours.

At the southern end of Lake Beldany, is one of only two locks on the whole navigable system. You can see that the lock keeper had given us the green light to enter.

‘Lock’ in Polish is ‘Sluza’ 🙂

Before leaving the lock, we had to pay a toll. We didn’t catch the Polish first time, so the lock keeper repeated himself, this time saying, ‘Sieben zloty, dreißig groschen‘ – 7.30 zl 🙂

After leaving the lock, we cruised on for another hour to the Pod Debem Marina, at the far western end of Ruciane-Nida, where we moored. Beyond this point, there are a further series of lakes but these are only available to non-powered craft.

Overnight, we experienced the first rain of our Polish trip. By the time we got up next morning, it had stopped raining, but it was cloudy for the whole of our return journey on Friday 16^th October, with the occasional few spots of rain from time to time.

We passed back under these two bridges in the centre of Ruciane – the higher one carries the railway, whilst the lower one is for the parallel road.

Then we had to pass back down through Sluza Guzianka. The photograph shows how the toll is collected 🙂 Upon payment, you receive a receipt which is also handed over in this same manner. I did get the impression that the lock keeper had posed for similar photographs to this, previously 😉

The lock is of a somewhat unusual construction with sloping sides at a 45° angle. There are a series of ropes which hang down the slope which you have to hold onto whilst the lock is in operation. After that, it was plain sailing, all the way back to Marina Miko at 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.

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

Then came the swing bridge.

We arrived a few minutes early. But when it was10.35, the light initially remained red as no less than four boats were first allowed through, travelling in the opposite direction! The only boat traffic jam we ever experienced during our time on the Masurian Lakes 🙂

Then it was our turn…..

After passing through the canal, first we cruised northwards on Lake Kisajno, before reaching the wide expanse of Lake Dargin. Here we had the whole lake to ourselves, with the exception of one small fishing boat.

We then passed under this bridge and a narrower channel that followed, to take ‘Mamry’ onto Lake Mamry, or the Mauersee as it is known auf Deutsch. An aerial photograph of this bridge is widely used to promote tourism on the Masurian Lakes. I saw it featured on an advertising poster displayed in the Prague Metro a couple of years ago, which first stimulated my interest to explore this area.

Just one example of the variety of bird life we saw on the Masurian Lakes.

We reached Wegorzego early in the afternoon, and having found and paid for a suitable mooring in the port, we set off to explore the town. After a most enjoyable late lunch, we visited this Church, dedicated to St Peter & St Paul.

The whole Masurian Lakes area lie in what was formerly East Prussia, part of the German Reich until 1945 and predominantly Protestant. Under the Potsdam agreement, the borders of Poland moved westwards and this part of East Prussia was absorbed into the Polish state, with the German population being expelled.

As a plaque in the porch explained, (in Polish 🙂 ), this Church building had belonged to the Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession until 1945. Following the expulsion of German Protestants, it had been taken over by the Roman Catholic Church. Whilst its exterior remains fairly plain, the interior has been romanised! New stained glass windows have also been installed of which this is an example.

The next morning, Tuesday 13^th October, we decided to have a long day of cruising, and return to Mikolajki. It had taken us around four hours to cruise from Mikolajki to Gizycko and around three hours to cruise from Gizycko to Wegorzego. Therefore, it should be perfectly possible to cruise from Wegorzego to Mikolajki in no more than seven hours which proved to be the case. We left Wegorzego at 09.10, and reached Marina Miko in Mikolajki, just after 16.00.

However, our return journey was not without incident, Early in our cruise that day, we passed this yacht. But rather than navigate again through the centre of Gizycko and wait for the opening of the swing bridge, we chose to use the alternative route west of the town. This involves cruising further south on Lake Kisajno, and then passing along a short canal under both a road bridge, followed by a railway bridge, before entering Lake Niegocin.

Whilst navigating this canal, we twice made contact with the canal bottom, even though I tried to remain right in the centre of the waterway. Clearly this was because of the low water levels we had been told about before setting out, though this canal had not been designated as one to avoid.

This second problem was that, once we were out of the canal and onto Lake Niegocin, there ceased to be a buoyed channel to follow, even though it had been there, two days previously! Magda had warned us that, from Thursday 15^th October, the navigation authorities might start to remove the buoys for the winter. But this was Tuesday 13^th October! So we navigated south across the lake, guided only by our map and visible geographical features.

When we arrived near to Rydzewo, at the southern end of the lake, we found the culprits!

We cruised further south through Lake Jagodne, where both green and red buoys were fortunately, still marking the correct channel. Then it was back through the four relatively short canals linking three lakes……

……before heading south along Lake Talty and returning to Mikolajki.

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.

When we finally arrived at Marina Miko, following our ‘interesting’ and expensive taxi journey, we were met by Magda and Jacek. Magda spoke virtually word-perfect German and some English. Jacek had some English. So most of our handover procedures and instruction, was conducted auf Deutsch, with translation back into English by Sybille, when I didn’t completely understand the German, and translation into Polish by Magda for Jacek, when Sybille asked something on our behalf, auf Deutsch 🙂

We discovered that we were not only, the sole hire boat leaving the marina that day, we were also the very last hirers of the 2015 season, even though the hire brochure states that there is availability for two further weeks, until the end of October. Magda suggested that we must be pretty hardy characters to be boating in mid-October in northern Poland, bearing in mind that the maximum temperature that day was 6° Celsius.

Two things were made to clear to us. Because of the lack of rainfall over the summer months – Poland having experienced in July and August, similar heatwave and drought conditions as the Czech Republic, water levels were up to one metre lower than normal. This meant that the whole south-eastern area, including Lake Sniardwy, the largest lake in Poland, together with the canal and lock leading to the town of Pisz, were off-limits because of the lack of sufficient depth of water. A number of other little bays off other lakes, were also unavailable for cruising, for the same reason.

Secondly, because it was the end of the boating season, there were now only a few places where we could moor overnight and have access to electric power and water. These were duly marked on our cruising map.

Fortunately, the good ship ‘Mamry’, our home for the following week, had a very effective gas-fired hot air heating system, which had been switched on for a few hours in advance of our arrival. However, after a brief instructional cruise, we tied up once more at Marina Miko, allowing us to take full advantage of the onshore facilities – shower and toilet, together with a 240 volt electric connection for the boat. That evening, we walked over the footbridge into the main part of Mikolajki, having our evening meal in a restaurant that declared itself to be ‘Russian friendly’, but only in English!

The next morning, Sunday 11^th October, we set off to cruise northwards to Gizycko, where we were assured that Ekomarina was still fully operational.

First, we had to pass through three bridges that link the two halves of Mikolajki – a footbridge, a road bridge and a railway bridge.

Then we cruised along Lake Talty……

…..before entering the first of four, fairly short canals, that link three small intervening lakes.

On the way, we met this motorised yacht.

The last of these four canal sections, is both the longest, at 2360 metres, and also has a 90° bend, as well as having some beautiful Autumn colours.

We then cruised the length of the much larger and longer Lake Jagodne, before arriving at this bridge, which spans a 100 metre long canal linking to the next lake, Lake Boezne.

Then came the village of Rydzewo on our right…….

……before we set out to cross Lake Niegocin and reach Gizycko.

Having moored on one of the floating pontoons at Ekomarina, we went to the marina office to announce our arrival. On payment of 54 zloty/CZK 350, we were allowed to connect to mains electricity, given swipe cards that allowed access to onshore toilets and showers, and which also gave access to another room with a washing machine! We decided to take full advantage!

That evening, we were treated to a most beautiful sunset……..

..…after which, we headed into Gizycko, past these beautifully lit fountains, to find a bar-restaurant for our evening meal.