Poland cycle tour. Krakow to Gdansk?

[KeithLackie]

I've got a 7 - 10 days leave coming up in September and looking to do a cycle tour in Poland. My wife is Polish and I'd like to get to know the country and see more of it, rather than our often short trips to family (Wroclaw, Szczecin mainly).

One of my ideas is a ride from Krakow to Gdanks, for no other reason than it's almost an end to end and I like the idea of fish and chips at the end.

Anyone done something similar or can recommend another route of around 6-700km?

Anyone have any experience of cycling in Poland?

My Polish language skills are not great, and I'm hoping that I can do some touring there and improve them.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

[IaninSheffield]

No personal experience I can help you with, but have you tried CrazyGuyonABike journals site? A few people have cycled that way and their accounts might help: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/locales/?locale_id=171&doctype=journal
YouTube can also sometimes help: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cycle+touring+poland

 

[HobbesOnTour]

CGOAB is always a good starting point but closer to home @Ripple did write this;
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tour-de-europe-july-2019.269038/#post-6202666

That's a great way to get to know your wife's country! Is she going with you? How's your Polish?
Edit: Sorry, I see you described them as not great.
I can attest to Duolingo as a handy app which is good as a base for learning.

Good luck!

 

[Iorek]

Well, the obvious choice would be to go along the Vistula. There is an ultramarathon event along the river, their website is in English and they publish the gpx https://wisla1200.pl and https://kolarstwoprzygodowe.pl/en/wisla-1200/ . There is also a "civilian" version, but as far as I can see it is mostly "planned", although the bits near Kraków and in the central part are ready (https://mapa.wirtualneszlaki.pl/wtr/#7/52.194/19.133/OSM_Klasyczna-Punkty-Wislana_Trasa_Rowerowa, the ready bits are in green).

However, in general, there are few long-distance routes in Poland (and I don't have a lot of cycling experience in Poland); sometimes they are not well marked (we are not Germany...). But I would suggest two things:

- from my limited experience in cycling in the north-east, cycle.travel does a good job in route creation in Poland; existing cycling routes are marked on the map, even though cycle.travel does not adhere to them by default, but you can always drag the track onto them;

- write in English on one of the Polish cycling fora; I recommend https://www.podrozerowerowe.info/index.php?board=22.0 (board "Porady wyprawowe" if the direct link doesn't work); you should get some tips from people who've done something similar.

HTH
IO

 

[KeithLackie]

CGOAB is always a good starting point but closer to home @Ripple did write this;
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tour-de-europe-july-2019.269038/#post-6202666

That's a great way to get to know your wife's country! Is she going with you? How's your Polish?
Edit: Sorry, I see you described them as not great.
I can attest to Duolingo as a handy app which is good as a base for learning.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing some useful CGOAB links. My Polish is good 'holiday Polish' but I would like to improve. It's difficult with full time work, a young son and currently studying myself to find time so hoping this gives me a bit more inspiration. Our son Ewan goes to Polish classes and this has helped me as he teaches me what he's learnt which is a nice thing to do together. My wife will be at home with our son. I'm very fortunate that I get a week off a year to do a trip by myself. My wife is truly wonderful (who also has a free pass for a week a year.)

Good tip on Duolingo!

Well, the obvious choice would be to go along the Vistula. There is an ultramarathon event along the river, their website is in English and they publish the gpx https://wisla1200.pl and https://kolarstwoprzygodowe.pl/en/wisla-1200/ . There is also a "civilian" version, but as far as I can see it is mostly "planned", although the bits near Kraków and in the central part are ready (https://mapa.wirtualneszlaki.pl/wtr/#7/52.194/19.133/OSM_Klasyczna-Punkty-Wislana_Trasa_Rowerowa, the ready bits are in green).

However, in general, there are few long-distance routes in Poland (and I don't have a lot of cycling experience in Poland); sometimes they are not well marked (we are not Germany...). But I would suggest two things:

- from my limited experience in cycling in the north-east, cycle.travel does a good job in route creation in Poland; existing cycling routes are marked on the map, even though cycle.travel does not adhere to them by default, but you can always drag the track onto them;

- write in English on one of the Polish cycling fora; I recommend https://www.podrozerowerowe.info/index.php?board=22.0 (board "Porady wyprawowe" if the direct link doesn't work); you should get some tips from people who've done something similar.

HTH
IO

Thanks for the tips. Cycle.Travel is one of my go to tools (as well as Komoot). I like that you can set a route and then easily use streetview to check the route out.


THANKS all for the tips so far, any more would be appreciated.

 

[Gillstay]

Hi.
A few years ago a chum and I cycled a route around the mountains starting from Krakow which we loved. I am limited in languages, but my chum had some French, German and Spanish so that was of very little use. We had very little problems with bad drivers, bar one chap in a big Merc who almost killed us. We had a lot of problems with food as we found the menu's hard to follow, so we would order stuff and then divide up what we got to make a reasonable meal for us both. The best day was when Jim was presented with a whole roast chicken and I got a huge salad. So we always had Borsch as a starter/ insurance. Some of the mountain passes were very tough. We had a tire problem and it kept tearing out valves so when we ran out of spares we got a taxi to a town nearby and they sorted us out easily. The hardest thing was explaining to the taxi driver that we wanted to go to a bike shop. We took the bikes in bags. Left them at the first hotel near the airport, collected on the way back and the owner very kindly would not even accept a drink. Stopping for tea and stickies was hard as few places existed where we were.
Seeing the damage from the Nazis was very sad and would be very much more so at this time. I left even more grateful to the Polish who fought so well for us in WW2.

 

[Peter Salt]

I wouldn't worry about the language barrier. Having visited a few times yourself I'm sure you already realise how many Poles are fluent in English and quite a few also in German.

Traditional cuisine is somewhat fatty so be careful not to overeat.

I double the advice to follow the Vistula.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thanks for sharing some useful CGOAB links.

In fairness, it was Ian that linked CGOAB, I only mentioned it

It's difficult with full time work, a young son and currently studying myself to find time so hoping this gives me a bit more inspiration.

Short 5 or 10 minute bursts can really add up over a few weeks. Play "I spy" with your son - in Polish!
I always have trouble with above, below, behind etc. and numbers.... As I walked around I would tell myself the blue car is behind the red one and read out the reg numbers. Not taxing, but fun and useful.

as well as Komoot

Away from home Komoot has the tendency to take "riskier" routes that don't always work out so well.
Osmand is a great app to bail you out of trouble as it is easily personalised and works offline. Can't stress enough the importance of offline planning on tour.

Good luck!

 

[easyaspie]

In fairness, it was Ian that linked CGOAB, I only mentioned it

Short 5 or 10 minute bursts can really add up over a few weeks. Play "I spy" with your son - in Polish!
I always have trouble with above, below, behind etc. and numbers.... As I walked around I would tell myself the blue car is behind the red one and read out the reg numbers. Not taxing, but fun and useful.


Away from home Komoot has the tendency to take "riskier" routes that don't always work out so well.
Osmand is a great app to bail you out of trouble as it is easily personalised and works offline. Can't stress enough the importance of offline planning on tour.

Good luck!

I've got a 7 - 10 days leave coming up in September and looking to do a cycle tour in Poland. My wife is Polish and I'd like to get to know the country and see more of it, rather than our often short trips to family (Wroclaw, Szczecin mainly).

One of my ideas is a ride from Krakow to Gdanks, for no other reason than it's almost an end to end and I like the idea of fish and chips at the end.

Anyone done something similar or can recommend another route of around 6-700km?

Anyone have any experience of cycling in Poland?

My Polish language skills are not great, and I'm hoping that I can do some touring there and improve them.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hi, did you cycle the route eventually? I am thinking of doing the route when my wife takes holiday

 

[Jameshow]

In fairness, it was Ian that linked CGOAB, I only mentioned it

Short 5 or 10 minute bursts can really add up over a few weeks. Play "I spy" with your son - in Polish!
I always have trouble with above, below, behind etc. and numbers.... As I walked around I would tell myself the blue car is behind the red one and read out the reg numbers. Not taxing, but fun and useful.


Away from home Komoot has the tendency to take "riskier" routes that don't always work out so well.
Osmand is a great app to bail you out of trouble as it is easily personalised and works offline. Can't stress enough the importance of offline planning on tour.

Good luck!

Even just taking a screenshot before you leave is helpful.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Even just taking a screenshot before you leave is helpful.

A screenshot of a 600-700 km route? You'll need a bigger phone!

But yes, the theory is sound. Screenshot of sections, photos of maps, photos of map boards, even just a list of towns (or road numbers in France) are all helpful.
However, what none of those will do is show us where we are.

The Cycle travel app is up and running, free to use (although I'd strongly urge becoming a supporter) and works in large parts of the world. If I was carrying a phone I'd find it a no-brainer to have it and be familiar with it.