Yesterday, we sat by the lakeside deliberating our route to the South. Trying to work out timescales, where to head for the remainder of the summer and potential options for winter. As usual, we went all around Europe and back again. We want to see Poland but we also spend a few weeks by the sea catching the last of the summer sun. If truth be told, we keep thinking of the time when we took Peanut surfing. He was an old dog but he loved it and we are sure Mac n Tosh would absolutely have a ball. Do we rush and head for Greece or do we bumble? We have no blinking idea but we know, its a nice problem to have!  Our heads were mashed with all the options, so we downed tools at Krakow and set off and left the decision to Mac n Tosh!

The rest of the day we spent travelling southwards. A slow drive due to a mixture of road works, country lanes and coffee breaks at tongue twister towns. We laughed because we couldn’t even understand the alphabet never mind pronounce half the towns. We did manage to stop at and say the two small villages of Jedwabno and Zimna Woda.

By early evening we arrived at Czerwinkz and parked up.

Our sleepy spot: Czerwinkz church and monastery grounds protected by two knights swords.

Wild Camping GPS position at Czerwinkz  N052.395927, E020.309112

Route: Ryn to Czerwinkz

This morning, we woke to the sound of church bells ringing across the courtyard. We opened the blinds only to find a funeral procession walking straight by our motorhome and heading towards the church. In respect, we quickly closed the blinds and waited until they had entered church.

We walked over to the monastery, which is now owned by the Salesian Order. We were admiring the gardens and surrounding landscape when we got chatting to a Polish gentleman and his two daughters. Piotr was from Warsaw and on 2 weeks cycling holiday. Each day Piotr and his daughters would cycle through the countryside to the next free dormitory or just pitch up their tent in the middle of a field. Tonight, the monastery offers free overnight accommodation for which Piotr is grateful as this, along with other free dorms, allows him to afford annual holiday with his girls.

Inside the monastery we didn’t see any monks but we did see the collection of worldly possessions with sombreros from Mexico and snake snakes from the Amazon. Rather a weird collection and not something we expected.

The funeral had finished but one of the attendees had a slight problem. He had a flat motorbike tyre. He asked if we could help and of course, we were only too obliged. Craig pulled out the 12v pump (with a wonky connection) and blew up the tyre but the tyre was knackered. Air hissing out from all around the rim, so nothing for it, change to the spare and head to the garage just like we did in Beja, Portugal last year. We wished Fryderyk and his Russian bike all the best.

The monastery and beautiful basilica church dates back to 1155 and is one of the oldest buildings in Mazovia. On this site, 600 years ago the armies gathered and went head to head against the Teutonic Knight. Our Polish friend, Piotr, seems to think Poland would be in a better state if the knights had won!

Detailed Ceiling

The church with stunning gardens is situated on the hill overlooking the small but equally quaint village. With a simple town square, alleys leading to the Vistula river and a few old wooden houses in desperate need of repair. One particular house with a completely destroyed roof still had an old lady and her cat living in it. Her tiny garden with a perfect vegetable patch and the odd pot of summer flowers. Bless, hope she gets the roof sorted before winter.

We walked the paved footpath back up the hill to Vin. The shaded treelined street provided a cool shade in the mid day sun. Sat on the wall having a fag break the church gardener and his young apprentice. He was deep in thought and appeared to carry the worlds problems on his shoulders, by contrast, his apprentice was enjoying his mobile.

Our Bumble Verdict: Nice setting with interesting history and would recommend if part of your route.

Tonight, we plan to be in Lodz but on route we stopped for a mid afternoon stroll around the town of Lowicz. We parked behind the old town hall and walked through the arches on to the cobbled square. Amid the typical concrete buildings a beautiful dominant collegiate church. Inside a number of elaborate bishop tombs and a selection of handmade wreaths from the recent celebration from the feast of assumption.

We spotted a free wifi spot! So grabbed a cheeky half an hour to upload a post and few piece’s x x Also exchanged a few emails and caught up with Richard who is counting down the days to take off! Richard and his dog Ted set off 4 days, so we sent him some wild camping spots for Spain & Portugal. If you fancy following Richard you can find his blog here Beyond the Van or check out his youtube video on his van conversion. Good Luck Richard & Ted.

Our Bumble Verdict: Good place to stop, stretch your legs and a have a toot for an hour.

Celebration – Feast of The Assumption

A nice little pit stop, a stretch of the legs and now back on the road to Lodz. We started chatting about how few motorhomes are in Poland. We passed half a dozen, if that, since we arrived. We couldn’t think why? From what we can see its a great place for motorhomes and our initial thoughts…

• FirstIy, its very cheap
• Motorhome friendly with lots of campsite, parking spaces and wild camping
• LPG at virtually every fuel station and its cheap
• Water mainly found at fuel stations or cemeteries
• Supermarkets everywhere and very cheap
• Some of the B roads are a little uneven but nothing too bad.
• Main highways are reasonable
• Great selection of beers!

The only downside is wifi, as we are struggling to find a data card. We spotted one in the supermarket but it was in Polish, so we thought we’d hang fire. Next day, found an Orange shop but needed passport to register (which we didn’t have with us). We also nipped in a phone shop but our lack of Polish made it impossible to explain. We’ve called in several supermarkets but no data cards for sale. Unlike our friends Ju & Jay we can’t seem to find one!  So in a nutshell, we have no wifi folks! Hoping to find one at the next supermarket but until then we are just pinching free wifi as and when we can. So if you’ve left us comment or sent an email then apologies for the delay x x x.

We arrived in Lodz, mooched around a bit for a spot and then opted for a quick but very elegant evening meal…crisp butty.

Our sleepy spot: Lodz, small car park about 2 kilometres from the centre of the city.

Wild Camping GPS position in Lodz  N051.757940, E019.473610

Route: Czerwinkz to Lodz