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Published: June 12th 2006
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Augustów
Augustow is on the eastern side of the Lake District, about 60 miles north of Białystok. Close to the vast Augustów forest, the lakes and rivers are all connected - you could even paddle to Belarus in theory! Actually, a tour organisation called PTTK in Augustów
do organise trips in Belarus, but I guess it is up to you to get the visas sorted. Large injections of EU cash have smarted up the riverfront, but off-season there is still a dejected air about the town. It's a decent enough centre though and there are places to eat, and hire kyaks on so on.
30 May Augustów
We got up at 5.30 am to get the early bus north to Augustów with Barbara, Kasia’s sister, who had project work with the local council. We arrived in Augustów before 9 a.m. so had a timely visit to the Tourist Information Centre to find out about kayak hire. Late May is still off season, so only a handful of hire places are open. We got a kayak and set off straight away, despite this being only my second time in a kayak.
Rospuda river
it looked heavenly, before the coming storm! So our start down the river was a bit uncertain, and we stuttered off, fortunately with not too many observers along the riverside. After some heavy raindrops, we shortly entered Lake Necko and wandered off to the left with a bit of persuasion from the river current. After a while it seemed a nice idea to head in the other direction to suss out Lake Rospuda, as it was recommended by the hire shop. In season, getting around is much more difficult because of power boats. Our progress seemed pretty reasonable by now, though I was regretting not taking on some water. We parked up by a centre to find out it was shut. So we carried on up the Rospuda lake a found a little island to land on. We poked about and enjoyed the sun for a bit, before deciding to head-on, up to the Rospuda river. We went a mile or two upriver, with the clouds threatening some sort of meteorological action. It looked inevitable that we have some sort of pluvial contact by this time. The river was so beautiful though, the spring shimmer of green as we progressed trough the swampy course or the river,
Augustów
0ld market place an area totally inaccessible by foot. We wanted to get the most of it, but we turned back feeling a bit thirsty.
Not long after the clouds crossed over and thunder announced the likely intensity of drenching we were about to enjoy. In fact, we got the additional bonus of some hail, and my waterproofing proved to be exactly not that. A better description would be more
water pooling. At this point, belatedly, I dipped a plastic bottle in the lake for a drink - though muddy looking, the water, I found out, is of high quality. So after about half an hour or so, I was frozen with a full blown migraine. It was a tough return journey, as the cold wind over Lake Necko caught us full on, and I learnt how to go about getting experience of inducing the early stages of hypothermia. From heaven to, well, misery really. It underlined the mistake of not taking enough water and not being supplied with capes to cover oneself and to attach to the boat. (The only thing that was attached was a bit of green paint on to my trousers).
Thanks to good old Migraleve though,
Plastic Alsatian, Fluvial environment model.
Not just the Rheinland (see my German blog from last year) sports our plastic canine friend. a few hours later I was much better, and we enjoyed a feed a the local Greek restaurant in Augustów.
31 May Augustów
Having given myself enough physical punishment, I suggested that we take a passenger boat for a trip along the Augustów lakes. We boarded the boat next to the kayak place and found that three busloads of kids were already on board. Totally whizzed out on sugar. We retreated to the stern of the boat, but it was no use, on seeing us occupy an empty part of the boat, hoards of kids took it in turns to run around dementedly and noisily. But, pain in the back side though they were, just about none of them dropped any litter, and they were useful income for the boat company off season. (Suggestion: kid free section, please?) And then a sad scene, the kids were running about excitedly on deck as we passed the riverbank, where on a bench were their malicious looking seniors (by 8 or 9 years) slumped on a bench occasionally attacking each other in some alcoholic daze. What a future.
The boat chugged across the Lake, round a short river and Lake Bialy then through a narrow lock. Studzienice was our destination, and thankfully all three coachloads of kids piled off leaving us in peace. At Studzienice was a memorial to the last pope who made a trip by boat here. We had a short stop there before chugging back through the lakes - what a difference. I could get out my binoculars in peace and study the distinct lack of duck activity on the lakes. The music on the PA system was consummately cheesy, so it seemed entirely appropriate to float past a plastic floating Alsatian upon our return into Augustów.
In the afternoon, we took the bus back to Białystok. The trip took much longer, due to numerous roadworks and the huge number of trucks heading to and from Lithuania and Latvia. There has been an assumption that this line of trucks will somehow bring untold wealth (i.e. the Via Baltica motorway project) but really it just brings a lot of trucks to Białystok’s northern ring road and protected countryside, en route to other destinations. An ex-pat, who had lived many years in California, raged against the projected new Via Baltica road, planned to slice through his backyard, and, in so doing, slicing through his restaurant business. As the graffiti by the roadside says: "Tiry na Tory!" - Trucks on Trains! Too right! There's a railway line parallel to the road.
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