Exploring the Tatra Mountains

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Hello everyone.

We are still in Poland and progress with cycling has been a bit slow this last week. First we stopped in Krakow for a few days, then we came 90 miles here, to Zakopane, and have been here four whole days so far. It is a fairly touristy resort in the Tatra mountains which border Poland and Slovakia. In summer it is inundated with hikers and in winter packed with skiers. So we were hoping we would catch it at a quiet time but that has not been the case...

The day before we left Krakow we visited the famous salt mines near the city. It's quite an interesting place. We were led around the greyish tunnels, hewn from salt (Simon tasted a wall to check). I learnt some unusual things. For example, have you ever thought how dangerous water would be if you were working in a tunnel composed of salt? And imagine the life of a poor horse who laboured turning lift equipment - they were transported into the mine when they were foals and lived underground until they died. But the most fascinating part was the chapel which was carved by some of the miners in their spare time. It was vast, and exquisitely sculpted with scenes from the Bible. Even the chandeliers were made from salt crystals, it was really impressive.

From Krakow to Zakopane was the best cycling we've done yet in Poland - over hills and valleys and through villages with intriguing names. Whenever we caught sight of the Tatra mountains on the horizon, Simon's face would like up like a little boy who has just spotted a toy shop. The Tatra are a bit like the Alps - about 2,500m tall and dotted with chalets and cows with bells around their necks. If someone transported you there you would think you were in Switzerland. But when you look closer you can see that in many ways it is less developed here - the farmers work the land with rickety old tractors, or horses and carts filled with mysterious tools. A haystack here looks like a proper haystack, one that you might search for a needle in. And everything seems cheap to us, if we pay more than two pounds for a main course meal at a restaurant we consider it to be an expensive one. On that note, vegetarianism is proving harder for me - the other night I ordered pierogi, potato dumplings stuffed with cheese. You would think that a safe bet, but it arrived sprinkled with little pieces of bacon. Simon did quite well for meat that meal as he was already tucking into a colossal goulash.

We spent a day hiking here. We climbed high, onto a ridge which forms the border between Poland and Slovakia. The views of the rusty-coloured craggy mountains around us were spectacular. The walking was fairly easy on stony paths which wound their way up rock faces. But coming down I took a nasty tumble and twisted my ankle, which has now swelled up significantly. So I had to hobble painfully most of the way back. Two days on, it is better and I can walk on it, but can't go up stairs very easily. Simon has plans to climb a pretty high mountain called Rysy tomorrow, and I can say with all certainty that I will be found reading a book in a cafe near the bottom.

Today we went on a rafting trip through a gorge. Not white water but beautiful views and scenery. The rafter was quite amusing and regaled the raft with tales at which we non-Polish had to guess at the content. The people behind us were amusingly rude, making us duck down for their photos, whacking the girl next to me over the head with her camera, and chucking bread to the ducks with such bad aim that a lot of it ended up sprinkled over us. Occasionally the man behind me would stand and address the group with what appeared to be a long political speech, or perhaps he was telling a convoluted story. You can rely on Polish people to never bore you.

At any rate, I had best head back to the campsite where I have dispatched Simon to cook our dinner. Thanks for reading, if you are still following us you must be pretty dedicated! Bye for now.

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