Węgorzewo dzień czwarty

Time to summarize my routes through Warmia and Masuria in 2021. The first week included several routes near Nała Pasłęka, which was our base. Big kudos to our hosts, the Osiński family, who run room and cottage rentals as well as kayak and yacht rentals. I recommend this place to those planning a stay near the Vistula Lagoon. It is a cozy establishment with an excellent location for excursions around the area. The second week, based in Węgorzewo, was also a very nice spot in the form of a small studio in the attic of a pre-war tenement house on Kopernika Street. Most of the routes somehow followed the Green Velo trail or were close to it. But I didn’t stick rigidly to the map because for me discovering new municipalities also matters a lot. Overall, I rate all the routes I completed positively, with minor drawbacks. Mainly the surface quality of the marked trails. I will probably always associate Pomerania with roads made of concrete slabs, cobblestones, or sett stones. In the second week, routes based on the Green Velo trail were mostly a big misunderstanding. Mainly these are routes on gravel surfaces. Although, of course, there are many excellent sections of asphalt and cobblestones. Unfortunately, the wonderful idea of creating the Green Velo trail has a huge flaw. These gravel sections combined with significant elevation changes definitely exclude road cyclists, touring cyclists, and especially family groups with small children from the route. Because I congratulate any father pulling a trailer with a small child, for example on the route next to Lake Czarne or near Stańczyki. After such an outing, the knees will be shattered. Since from Węgorzewo to Gołdap along road 650 there stretches across most of the route a beautiful asphalt path, why on earth is the Green Velo trail routed parallel on the track of a former narrow-gauge railway? But on terrible gravel roads with stones the size of coconuts and with permitted agricultural traffic. I get the impression that there is a lack of cooperation among decision-makers here and double spending of funds on basically two routes instead of one but perfected to perfection. I understand the argument for separating the trail from car traffic but that is not entirely the case here. And the path along 650 is also separated and probably even safer. I have the same remarks about the sections around the Vistula Lagoon. Riding with small children in a trailer or independently on these slabs or cobblestones is a joke. The idea of Green Velo is great from a scenic and educational perspective but largely unsuitable for a wider group of cyclists. Especially families. This could be changed by improving the surface of the gravel either to asphalt or something similar to the solution on the Borów Tucholskich loop. A sandy-clay surface with fine gravel. A hard and durable base. To stop complaining now. The trip was very nice. I managed to cover 770 km and visit 39 new municipalities. The views were great in various regions. And of course many monuments, interesting places, and wonderful people. And finally, a visit to the Republic of Ściborska near Banie Mazurskie was totally out of this world. It's a family initiative for ‘forest people.’ A real blast for lovers of Indian or Inuit atmospheres. A great place. I recommend it.