Day 12, Tour09 Pritzhagen, Germany to Lubin, Poland via Jary, Poland

Coming into Lubin

This is a different ride report since it includes the days Wednesday through Sunday when I visited rode and took trains to visit Robert Mink in Poland. This period starts with my ride to Frankfurt (Oder) from Printzhagen and ends with my ride from Jary, Poland to Lubin Poland, both of which were really half day rides. From Frankfurt (Oder) I took a train to Poznan, Poland where I met Robert for coffee and then wandered around town a bit. Later in that day I took a train to Oborniki Slaskie and rode from there to Roberts house.

Riding to Frankfurt (Oder)

I left Printzhagen intending to ride to Strausberg and get a train to Frankfurt (Oder). I had pushed too hard the day before and I figured my body needed a day off. However the weather was good, the riding was easier than it had been the day before, so my body decided it could ride to Frankfurt. I turned south at L35 and rode to Müncheberg - pretty ride - and then rode B5 to Frankfurt. There were some hills and there was a pretty good sidewind for much of the ride, but I took it easy and enjoyed riding.

In Frankfurt, after riding over to Poland to check out what was on that side of the river, I rode to the main train station - Frankfurt is hilly! - and got my tickets for the next day. Then I had lunch and tried to find out the best hotel to stay in before my, 7:30 AM, train to Poznan. That wasn't easy, but I did find a hotel that had an easy. 2 km, ride to the train station.

Poznan

The train ride to Poznan was on the Berlin-Warsaw Express which has a regular bike car. The ride from Poznan to near Roberts house was on a regional train that had no provision for bikes. It is neat that, in Poland, you can put a bike on any train, but, in order to make sure my bike didn't fall over and wasn't in the way for other passengers, I ended up standing for the entire trip on the second train. Getting a loaded bike in and out of trains with no bike car and very steep access stairs was also a challenge.

My bike on the second train

Milena, Howard, and Robert on Sunday

On Friday, Robert and I rode and took a train to 'pick up' another tourist, Howard, and then rode with him back to Jary. On Saturday we rode and took trains to Wroclaw for a day of sight seeing. Since Robert and Howard are both educated as historians, I learned a lot about the history of Wroclaw. On Sunday we, which now included Roberts wife Marta and three year old daughter Milena, rode 10 km to a small port on the Oder river where we had a late lunch. Then Howard and I rode west along the Oder to Lubiaz and I rode north-west, heading for Germany, and Howard rode south-west, heading for Prague.

Wroclaw

Part of Wroclaw's Old Jewish section

Church steeples above the river in Wroclaw

A gnome held captive at the old jail in Wroclaw

On our visit to Wroclaw, the weather was turning bad. Getting home, Howard, Robert, and I got caught by a thunderstorm when we were on our bikes in Oborniki Slaskie. That was good luck since we were able to take cover during the storm and ride home after the worst of it had passed. When we were at the small port on the Oder on Sunday, we were having lunch when another storm hit and got ourselves and our bikes into shelter. Riding west, Howard and I were not so lucky. We both got caught in a strong storm that developed near Lubiaz. It dumped a lot of water very quickly and had very strong winds.

Howard and I parted company for the last time at Kawice. I headed up the 'red' road towards Lubin. That road was marked as 94 and 36, and I got it in my head that 94 was the road I should follow. At Prochowice, 94 exited 36. I rode on on 94 and, a few km later in Golanka Dolna, realized I was heading southwest, not northwest. I turned around and, for the first time that day, had a tail wind instead of a head wind ;-}. A km later, I had to bail out - get completely off the road - when some idiot passed into at me on that narrow road. That was the only time I've had to bail out on this tour.

Once I got back on the right road, getting to Lubin was straight forward. I had thought of going on to Polkowice, but it was getting late - this day had a very late start - and Lubin had hotels, so I decided to stop there. Finding the hotel took about 45 minutes of riding!

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