Along The Baltic Coast

---

Stowinski National Park, at Lake Dolgie,
08-07-2001.

I'm cycling through essentially rural land, sparsely polpulated with tiny hamlets that have a centuries old feel to it where small eateries were filled with hard bare breaking working class farmers quickly finish off tasteless looking food and whose hapless and crude clothes and often dull look in sometimes young but already wrinkled faces due to much time outside on the land, tells me all there's to know about their harsh excistence, about their meagre incomes.

I now cycled along the Baltic coast, through a lake area set in massive and age old fine forests. This being a sunday means I get overtaken by old trabants and dented German Volkswagen cars covered in thick layers of dust that make me wonder just how ancient they really are. Big blueish exchaust fumes contaminating an otherwise natural paradise, whole Polish families enjoying a sunny day while daytripping with the parents hoping their Köters will behave for a change.

Where I might collect my garbage early morning before leaving my wild camping place taking it with me untill the next garbage container within sight, my Polish daytripper friends in their old dusty trabant "family cars" have no such qualms throwing their used diapers out of car windows while overtaking poor me on my rusty Iron Lady.

It's mid afternoon when I reach Stowinsky National Park reknowned for its dunes that slowly shift through the pine forested park burrying trees sometimes a hundert years old, forest lakes which seem to be suffering from silting, bogs, beaches and more.

Just after 19.00 h. I have my tent up, my camp fire going, my fishing lines set and myself sitting on my sleeping bag in front of my tent, enjoying a few Kyskie not so cold Polish beer and the quietness and tranquility of the approaching evening in the middle of a splendid natural area. I can hear the sounds of birds preparing for the coming night and the clack clack of the water of Lake Dolgie caused by a moderate wind.

Above my Dutch head I can see the gathering of the rain cloud clan, after the mozzies one more good reason I pitch my tent!!!

---

Photos

Lake Dolgie
In Stowinski National Park

My trip...
so far.