a trip to poland

fizzer

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next july me and my good lady have been invited to a wedding on the far side of poland (chelm) its only a few miles from the ukraine border,i was going to take the bike and make a bit of a holliday of it .ferry from newcastle to amsterdam and take a day to ride over germany and a day to ride over the other side of poland.its 883 miles each way .not to much of a hardship splitting it into two days each way
any way my question is ,is poland a safe place to go ,i have never been before .is my bike likely to be safe on a night when we are sleeping .also in general is there anything i should be mindful of.
cheers guys ian
 
It's safe, it's in the EU and you'll find any number of its citizens on any decent UK High Street to ask, seeking out first hand, local knowledge.

PS They are the UK's second oldest ally, after Portugal.

PPS Do not ask if you should remove your panniers whilst sleeping. You'll just look ridiculous.

PPPS They have a strange lack of vowels in their alphabet and they spell their place names in 'foreign'.
 
went last year, harwich to hooke overnight and across Germany, Czech, to krakow. no problems at all, loved the Harz mountains in Germany, Hated prague, Poland wonderful. With reference to bike being safe its no different than anywhere else i have been to, just take the same precautions as you would normally take.
 
I was in Poland last year and also earlier this year. In general it is as safe as any other place in Europe. There are some very poor areas of Poland, whilst your bike is likely safe as long as you lock it, I did meet a couple of riders who has small items stolen which they left on the bike. One guy locked his helmet to the bike when he went visiting a Cathedral. Unfortunately someone stole his gloves which were tucked inside the helmet, the had his Navi bracket taken from the handlebars.

You will find many of the cities have car parks with an attendant present, at least during the daytime. I made a good experiencing of paying a few Euro's to park the bike in these places, next to the attendants cabin.
 
Poland is great and my experience gained from stopping in about 5 different places over the years is that if the hotel doesn't advertise parking you normally get offered secure parking around the back or similar but I've never heard of anyone having problems even when parking in full view of anyone going past.

For a near enough 900 mile trip I'd be trying to get 600 done the first day because it's hard to keep a high average once you cross into Poland and even some of the motorways have such a shit surface that the trucks stay in the outside lane because the inside lane is so badly damaged. They also drop the speed limits where the surface is poor then sit there with cameras waiting to pounce.

I spent a couple of days following the Tatra mountains on my way to Romania this year and if you're looking for somewhere to lose a couple of days on your return they're well worth a look.
 
The motorways in Poland are ok, the ones I have been on. Back roads are a lottery. Some will be beautiful smooth tarmac with few villages other roads will be proper worn out by trucks, potholes you have to avoid and villages every 2 miles. A real pain to drive in a car. Other than that you just have to be on the lookout because the driving standards are poor. The north of Poland is a bit flat with the south being more mountainous. The food is fantastic and generally the people hospitable. You do get a fair few knobs, same as here. Theft of items are more likely than nicking your bike. Learn to say hi, goodbye, thank you, good night as the Poles like it when you try to speak their language. Older folks can't really speak English, German or Russian maybe. Younger folk will be able to help you out with the language barrier. It can get very hot that time of year. 30 degC + not uncommon.

On your way to Chelm you will pass Warsaw. Not been there yet but worth a visit. It can be expensive, same as Krakow I guess.

If you plan to make a loop through the country and enter at the north then a visit to Leba (pronounced Weba) is a must. Previously an artists and fishing village it is now a tourist resort and fishing village. It is well set up to cater for visitors. The Nazi rocket development was done there and you can visit the site. Some big dunes a bit further on and fantastic beaches.

Gdansk or Trójmieście (Tri-city meaning Gdansk, Gdinia, Sopot) is also worth a stop. Gdansk known for its ship yard but is was a walled city and trade centre. In the old part you will see all the grand terraced houses once owned and occupied by noble men. At the entrance to the harbour is Westerplatte. An army fortification that was the scene of the first attack in WW2. Off the coast from Gdynia is Hel. Another tourist spot and Army base. Catch a ferry from Gdynia to there. Sopot is more tourist orientated with good beaches.

Further inland is Malbork. The biggest Castle in the world and once stronghold of the Teutonic Knights. An UNESCO site. Towards the Lithuanian, Belarus border is the Wolfs Lair. Near Ketrzyn. Not been there but we will go there in the future. From there you can head south the Chelm.

South from Chelm you have Krakow. You'll pass through some woodland areas. I know south from Kielce is some good roads (Cisow to Rakow area). Krakow is well worth a visit but you need a few days to see the places around there. The old town, the salt mines, Jewish quater and Auschwitz. If you plan to go to Auschwitz, leave early. Make sure you arrive before 10:00 otherwise you have to take a guided tour which can be drawn out. The place is in 2 parts, one being the former army barracks and the other the dedicated work camp with the gas chambers and incinerators. An eye opening experience.

South from Krakow is Zakopane. It is in the mountains and a popular place for the Poles to visit. Not bean there but will eventually.

From there is a straight run back via Czech and Germany with many more opportunities and places to visit.
 
On my most recent trip I used the E36 which is the main road between Berlin and Wroclaw and the first 30 miles to where I turned off were pretty bloody awful. It was getting late and I wanted to get to my hotel for a beer but even 70mph was hard work and the next day I avoided motorways because I wanted to take in the scenery a bit more.

Previously I've crossed into Poland on the E67 and it was better than the E36 but still quite badly broken in a lot of areas though that was 3 years ago so it's probably been repaired with a spot of that fabled EU cash by now :D
 
wow ,thankyou very much guys for taking the time to type all that ,this is all good stuff
cheers ian
 
Hi, Ian.

I'm Polish and I really believe that u are going to enjoy the visit in our country, there are many beautiful places to go there. Although u are heading towards the Eastern border.
It's worth it to explore this region as it has a big meaning for all Europe and for us historically. As u are probably aware Polish border was changing during the years, but those Cities like Chelm, Zamosc, Lublin are Polish to the bone. ( which mean they were multicultural under the Polish Crown and as palced on the East border were no to much demaged during the 2 WW, so that mean u have chance to see them in the orginal shape)
Here u can experience Polish hospitality, history, and cuisine full of different influences mostly from the East :beerjug:



Anyway, when u get tired of visiting Cities I believe is worth it to visit mountains placed approx 300 km at south from Chelm, called Bieszczady.

There is some info about my region: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bieszczady_Mountains


Great views there and not bad roads, that suppose to be wild part of the country but not anymore, really great place to ride the bike and there is a lot pf places biker friendly :)

This is the route :
https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/Woło...0d032f9f6!2m2!1d23.4711986!2d51.1431232?hl=en

If you have any question, bring it one!!

If u decide to cross border u should go to Lviv( Lwow), which was called "Perl among Polish Cities", so of it beauty its still there :)
 
next july me and my good lady have been invited to a wedding on the far side of poland (chelm) its only a few miles from the ukraine border,i was going to take the bike and make a bit of a holliday of it .ferry from newcastle to amsterdam and take a day to ride over germany and a day to ride over the other side of poland.its 883 miles each way .not to much of a hardship splitting it into two days each way
any way my question is ,is poland a safe place to go ,i have never been before .is my bike likely to be safe on a night when we are sleeping .also in general is there anything i should be mindful of.
cheers guys ian
Damn sight safer than Co. Durham. (I'm from Consett, by the way).

Its a whole big country. There will be good bits and bad bits - just like anywhere else.
Use your eyes and your common sense and you'll be fine.
 
I was on the E30 that runs from the east border of Germany to, at least, Warsaw. I left Berlin and headed to Poznan and it's all new motorway with two lanes and either 130 or 140kph limit - fast road and newish. I was in Zakopane, Tatra mountains, two weeks ago on the bike and it's a ski resort with a lot of lovely, and huge, log buildings. The roads to and from there and good. As was mentioned earlier watch out for village roads that the trucks have ruined as they drop of into fields at the sides! Other than that, have a great time!
 


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