Day 42, Koscierzyna to Fletnowo, PL

Heading back into town after riding out on 20, I turned here for Torun

Today was a day when the wind choose my direction of travel. I left my hotel intending to ride to Bytow on 20, use an internet access place there, and then decide whether to head to the north or to the south from there. I like Bytow, and I wanted to go there, but traffic was bad on 20 and a cold wind - I wore my wind vest all day today - was blowing right into my face. I rode to the city limits of Koscierzyna, then turned around and rode back to the roundabout near my hotel and turned onto 214 which heads south and a bit east toward Torun.

The last time I was in Koscierzyna, I had ridden from Bytow and was on my way to Gdansk. I now know that I had been suffering for several days with intermittent Atrial Fibrillation, but at the time I just knew that I couldn't put out much power and that I ran out of breath easily. I'd taken a sick day in Bytow, which helped, but climbing through the beautiful hills east of Bytow was still challenging and I was pushing my limits when I got to Koscierzyna. The wind was out of the northeast and, when I saw that I could take a road southeast instead of riding into the wind to Gdansk, I wisely chose to take the easier road. It turned out to be a very nice, gentle, ride which was just what my body needed to get me out of A-Fib.

The wreck, which seems to have involved both the big truck on the bridge on 214 and the passenger train under the bridge. It looked to me like the truck knocked part of the bridge railing down onto the train.

The detour route was quite pretty

As I rode into Koscierzyna last night in the rain, a police car came speeding, lights flashing and horn and siren blaring, thought the roundabout I was about to enter. It went down 214, the road to Torun. A fire engine went by soon after and, for the rest of the evening - the roundabout was in front of my hotel - I saw and heard emergency vehicles. When I went to bed I noticed light flashing and, looking across the roundabout, saw a group of men dressed in yellow slickers and emergency vehicles on the other side of the roundabout. I figured there must have been a major accident on 214.

This morning, a few miles from Koscierzyna, the road was blocked and there was a police car enforcing a detour. I rode the - unmarked, I just followed other vehicles - detour on to a small dirt/gravel road running parallel to 214. It was was OK riding, much better than the 'paved' 512! Half a mile or so later, I saw the accident scene on 214. It involved, at least, a bridge, a big tanker truck, and a passenger train. Hopefully no one was seriously injured, but the bridge and the train track were throughly blocked.

When the dirt road ended at a paved road, I used my compass to decide that road was not 214 and that I needed to turn right to get back to 214. Lots of vehicles - 214 has double the traffic of two years ago - were being diverted from 214 and going right by the small dirt road I used since there was no sign that it worked as a detour. I also saw, several miles later on 214, another detour that appeared to be the one big trucks should take.

This image was taken shortly after the detour
214 is a nice, reasonably well paved, road through forests and small towns

I enjoyed riding 214 today just as much as I enjoyed riding it two years ago. My big disappointment for the day happened when I stopped for lunch at the 'Chicken' bar where I had lunch two years ago. This is small place - a converted bus, which specialized in broiled chicken. I had an excellent lunch there and was looking forward to a repeat of that meal. I even knew which number I wanted on the menu. I got there, went in and ordered #3. The woman said you want kielabasa? I said no, I want broiled chicken and looked at the menu. It was totally different. The only chicken they have now is chicken 'kotletts.' My lunch was OK, but not up my expectations.

Just a really nice ride through forests

Truck filter - railroad underpass

Roughly in the middle of 214, there is a 2.8 m high railroad underpass. Big trucks are a lot higher than 2.8 M. so they can't use that part of 214. A 'truck filter' is a rally nice feature for a bicycling road! This one means about 25 km of big truck free riding. Big trucks were not a problem today, nor was traffic in general, but it is always nice to have less of both.

The long straight road

The last 25 km of 214 go straight south-southeast though forests to Warlubie which is on highway 1. Highway 1 is high traffic but with good shoulders. I rode it for about 10 km to get to the zajazd I stayed two years ago and am staying again tonight. Tomorrow, I'll ride 1 for a few more km and then cross the Wisla to Grudgiadz and take 55 which later merges with 1 to become the main route into Torun from the north. I should now be about 60 km from Torun and the riding should be fast, so I hope to get to Torun for a late lunch and have time do internet stuff tomorrow afternoon.

I crossed the Wisla two days ago early in my I ride to Gdansk and I'll cross it again when I leave Torun heading south. It goes from near Gdansk south to Torun and the east through Warsaw and almost to Lublin before curving back west to run through Krakow. It runs through most of the major cities in Poland.

[morning] Last night I ate too much for supper, so I suffered a bit of indigestion during the night. Some day (?) I'll learn never to eat a big supper while touring unless I can ride for an hour or two after supper! A big breakfast is good - I just had one and a big lunch is good. I don't have any trouble riding after a big meal unless the riding involves climbing long steep hills right after eating.

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