Getting from Gostynin to Torun was a shorter, easier, day than the last two at about 115 km, but there were a couple of minor issue, one major pain, and one rather unusual section. One minor issue was that, riding small roads, I rode for a a long time before finding a place to eat lunch. There were stores along the way, so I was able to buy both food and water, but it was more than 75 km to the first place where I could get a meal. That was at the intersection of 252 and 266 in Zakrzewo. The unusual section was a dozen km later on 250.

250 had no identifying signs on the road, just a sign at Slzewo say 250 that way, it was very small, and it had very little traffic. A nice bicycling road, except for some ominous signs and gates - the gates were all open - and, of course I couldn't read the signs, but it looked like a former military area. Then I started seeing warning signs with pictures of bombs on them! Those signs went on for quite while. I figured it had been a bomb testing range. Then there was the tank crossing sign, with a special reinforced section of road and what looked like fresh tank tracks in the dirt on either side of that section...

The most stressful part of the day was trying to get into Torun. I say trying because I failed on my first attempt and had to ride back it from the north. Three major roads, 1, 10, and 15 come together south of Torun. And there is construction where the traffic from all those roads is on a single two lane road. It was - and probably is right now, a very big traffic jam that lasted for several km. I managed to get through the worst of it on sidewalks, but I also managed to miss the left turn I needed to make to get to Torun. Realistically, I couldn't have made that turn anyway, since there were pretty solid likes of traffic, mostly big trucks, in both lanes, but I didn't even see it because of the traffic. I found my self heading east on highway 1, which was not good.

I stopped at a bus stop to look at the bus route map, and figure out what to do. Then I headed west on highway 1 and found the turn which, a few km later, took me over the Wisla and into Torun. Torun has quite a spectacular looking, and large medieval town. I went there looking for a place to stay and, of course, and internet cafe.

Torun

Torun, is the birthplace of Copernicus. I found the Kopernik Hotel - two star and my room doesn't have a shower, but comfortable and friendly, just outside the old town, and just over 1/3 the cost of my room in Lublin. I cleaned up - across the hall and I forgot to bring something to wear back to my room, so I wore my towel ;-) to get back to my room - and, after getting dressed, headed out to find a place for supper and an internet cafe. I had my supper at McDs - they have a great yogurt dessert - and asked the server where to find an internet cafe. McDs is a good place to get that information. The place recommended was just around the corner, and not working. I found another half a kilometer away, but it is running Win98 and doesn't have the drivers needed to mount my usb drive. I'll go back to the first place today in hopes that it will be up and that I will be able to use my usb drive to upload this report.

265 near Gostynin

A slighty hilly, section of 265

252 with wheat and wind machines

Wher 250 ends at 15, south of Torun

Except for riding 15 for less than 10 km coming into Torun, and the horrible mess where 1, 10, and 15 all come together, all my riding today was done on small roads and, other than some sections being bumpy, was really nice riding. I was in a really good mood for most of the day because of my stay in Gostynin last night and the knowledge that I was taking a rest day in Torun. Although I've really enjoyed most of the last three days of riding, I've been pushing hard to get here before the weekend and my knees are sore. They'll feel better after a rest day.