Day Sixteen - Węgorzewo to Wiżajny
It’s Sunday in Poland, and things really slow down here. Many convenience stores are closed. Same with restaurants. If you’re not in a city, forget about shopping for anything outside of essentials. Żabka is a national chain of convenience stores in Poland, much like 7-Eleven in Asia. Żabka is also the word for frog in Polish, so these frog stores are all over the place. I found one open in Węgorzewo this morning and stocked up on things, as the road ahead looked slim. I didn’t want to be out of luck for any food.
It ended up being mostly true that places were closed. I did find a restaurant in Gołdap that was open, and stopped for lunch. After that, things got really sparse.
Overall, the ride was very straightforward today. I will share what I found to be the most entertaining things. First, I stopped at the rest area meant for cyclists outside of Banie Mazurskie and found someone’s thrown away English language homework, and in the garbage can next to it was full of empty beer bottles. This rest stop built by the national government in Warsaw probably isn’t aware of how this one is actually being used.
My bike was perched on the back of the shelter as I drank some water and pecked away at a sandwich.
Second, I saw two horses today. One was big and standing in a field, all stoic and unbothered.
The other horse was a little one right off the bike trail. It was such a friendly little bud, it kept trying to get closer to me. It wanted some affection.
The further east I got, the more rolling the terrain became. It actually become quite hilly, slowing me down, but it was scenic.
This was the day that I would surpass 1000 miles on the trip too. That happened in Dubeninki. I stopped to take a selfie with my camera, and I’m not sure it really turned out. I activate the shutter with my phone. Can you tell?
700 miles to go from here. Whew! The next stop on today’s ride was the tri-border with Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. There was nobody around. I was the only person checking out the landmark, and no sign of anyone around for a few miles. Pretty crazy.
In the end I made it to camp and got all settled in, ready for Lithuania tomorrow!
