Blogs from Lubusz, Poland, Europe

It’s Saturday, AKA parkrun day, and the main reason for the trip; the old man running a parkrun beginning with Z. He booked a hotel right next to the park. Unfortunately, not the correct park – that’s 2 miles away. We get up after a bad night’s sleep. The Qubus Hotel is rather flimsy; you can hear people walking around on other floors, the bed is two flimsy single beds with a double mattress topper. It’s uncomfortable and wobbly – like sleeping on a lilo. The curtains are flimsy, so by 5 am the room is flooded with sunlight and the windows are flimsy, so by 7 am the room is full of the noise of nearby building works. We get ready and I set the satnav for Zielona Gora parkrun. This takes us to the ... read more

Our time with all the family in Kunowice has come to an end. Can’t believe we have been here for three weeks. Our new addition Elliot Adam arrived safely and is thriving. Agata, his mum is also doing well. We can’t thank Ella and Ziebie enough for having us to stay, enjoying Ella’s wonderful cooking often with produce from Ziebie’s garden. Sour cherry cake anyone? The latest crop, as we left was buckets of little cornichons which everyone eats raw before they are pickled for year-round eating. We even took some on the train to eat on the way to Gdansk. The sunflowers, which just pop up somewhere in the garden (there are even renegades on the lake edge) each year, are in full bloom. Lacy hydrangeas, blue, pink and white, wave their pom pom heads ... read more

We have been in Kunowice for a few days now enjoying the hospitality of Agata’s parents Ella and Ziebie. Agata, Sean, Aidan, Nicholas and Alexander are in their new house just along the road. The setting is absolutely beautiful overlooking a tranquil, small lake teaming with birdlife and I understand fish. Alexander likes fishing with Ziebie. When Ella and Ziebie first arrived they never realised the lake was there as it was surrounded with lots of old trees. They cleared the surrounds and replaced the old trees with new ones which by law you have to do. We realised they have already visited NZ as on the wall is a carving of a New Zealand tiki. There is a resident stork which, if you are quiet you can sometimes catch wading in the reeds. It spends ... read more

Close to Trzebiez, 04-07-2001. There is an exodus of german holiday makers overtaking me on the road to the Polish border, European made mobile homes and Volkswagen cars containing whole families with bored children whose days is brightened up by the sight of me on my rusty old lady, tent and sleeping bag tied to the back, bicycle bags with spare parts, some clean clothes and my cherished sketchbook. I see them again at one of the next Rastplätze where the family has set up camping tables and plastic chairs, relaxing themselves like they gonna stay the night, their kids storming over when I disembark painfully from the hard saddle, stiff upper leg muscles giving me a hard time unbuckling them. The family's dog in hot pursuit barking like there is a wild boar in sight. ... read more

Another update from Kaunas Lituanica!! They won the tournament. Here we go: Email from Donatas, Kaunas Lituanica 2B: "I will give you long story of our tournament in Kutno. So relax and have fun reading this e-mail. We went 5 cars different times so we all used GPS system to get there I went with Sigitas, Vytas and Algimantas. The road was not good cuz there was some road fixing and road blocking by the people who are angry about raising gas prices. Also stopping in coffes to eat or drinking coffee. Finaly we reached our goal then Shaq, after half an our Vilnius guys arrived and so on. All the time i was worried how we are going to live there cuz every time i went to Kutno with the team they gave us 1 ... read more