June Update 1/6/08 Solina, Poland (5,357 km) 
We arrived in Krakow and found the campsite straight away which was a good omen. We settled into a good spot, did some much needed clothes washing and chilled out. The following morning we caught the bus into the centre with a plan to find a book shop which sold maps of the Ukraine! The centre is lovely but very crowded with tourists - it is the second most visited place in Poland and it shows! We wandered about, had coffee and generally relaxed, enjoying the fact that we weren't lost and driving around in circles.
Back at the campsite I was chatting to a Dutchman and commenting on the fact that we hadn't met one fellow British person on the trip so far when four bikes pulled up, two with British plates! They were on a tour and heading off to the Tatras before Slovakia, after a few days in Krakow.
We don't like hanging about in cities much so after three nights took off towards the Tatras Mountains and the town of Zakopane. We were less than 10 Km from Zakopane when we arrived at a bridge and the road workers suddenly closed the road. Someone shouted to us "two" as he cycled past but we didn't know if he meant 2 minutes, hours or days!! It turns out that the road would be closed for 2 hours so after consulting the map we turned round and disappeared along an unmarked road as a way round the bridge. Hmm... not such a good idea as we climbed up steep hills and weaved between horse and carts, old women and cattle. The hills weren't a problem for us but the very low wires crossing overhead in the villages were! We ended up with Oz driving very slowly and me leaning out of the passenger side door, clinging on to the roof rack seeing if we would get under each cable!! People were shouting and pointing but we made it and found a campsite for the night but it was about 9.30pm by this time and dark! We met a lovely Canadian guy, Peter Paraglider, who is travelling up to Estonia from Andora. He gave us a brilliant camping guide (which we did look into buying but didn't manage to get it together in time!). Thanks again Pete and good luck with the paragliding.
The next morning we decided that as we were staying in the town for at least another three nights we would find a better campsite - which we did. We also booked on a very sedate raft trip down the Dunajec River. The trip was by coach and we set off at 9am, stopping at a castle on the way. The raft trip was nothing like anything either of us had experienced before!
The rafts were five wooden box shaped canoes tied together to make one raft. These were punted down the river by a guide at each end holding a long wooden pole (see picture!). We floated at a very sedate pace in the glorious sunshine though the Tatras Mountains for 15 kilometers which took about two hours. At one point the river swings round to the right and we entered Solvakia for a short time!
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Rafting on the Dunajec River and the Archangel Michael's Church at Dębno Podhalańskie (click on the image for a larger version) |
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On the way home from the gorge trip we stopped off at the World Heritage Archangel Michael's Church at Dębno Podhalańskie. This gothic church was built of larch wood in the mid-15 century. The framework of the church is notched and reinforced with pins without the use of nails. Inside the church is ornately decorated with gothic paintings in bright colours with the paint is as fresh today as when they were painted.
As we drove back towards Zakopane the heavens opened and a huge thunderstorm erupted. Hail the size of hazelnuts bounced off the roof of the coach and people were stopping randomly under trees to avoid damage to their cars. Chaos ensued! None of us could really believe that there could be such a violent storm when the day had been so hot and sunny. We were dropped off at the end of the lane leading to the campsite and within seconds were soaked to the skin! Arriving back we remembered that we'd left the roof tent up and a load of washing out! Suffice to say, we decided to sleep in the back that night!
The following morning it was sunny again and we packed up and moved off towards the border with the Ukraine. Before we left, however, we chatted to two lovely couples from our neck of the woods in Scotland - Inverness and Carrbridge. They lent us the disc to go with the camping guide Paragliding Pete gave us so now we have the complete set! Once again guys - a big thank you.
Last night we stayed in Solina just 40 kilometres from the border. We wanted to arrive at the border in the morning rather than the evening as we don't know how long it will take to 'process' us. We hope that by entering the Ukraine by a smaller boarder post we'll avoid having to wait around for ages... this, of course, may well backfire on us as the guards may not know how to process a pair of gringos with a big lorry!!
We'll write and tell you how we got on in the next update!
Kate and Oz... and the Mog!
