Whitsuntide, big public holiday so going to have a look at Ustka.

Ustka, founded in the 14th century as a harbour for the Hanseatic City of Stolp (Slupsk) 18km further inland.  For various reasons it went into decline; redevelopment didn't begin until 1831 when the harbour was deepened and the town became a bathing resort.  WW2 put a stop to further improvements but since Poland regained its independence the town has become the largest resort in the area with wide fine sandy beaches.

The Stolpe river mouth the harbour is to the right.

There is still a small fishing fleet and the vast development now taking place will encompass a large marina and the ancillary businesses  required to service it.

The swing footbridge at the river mouth.

 



Bridge open to let the pirates in!!

And out again!

Still plenty of war time relics around, many of the larger bunker complexes have been developed as tourist attractions.

An anit aircraft gun lurking among the trees.

The beach fairly busy even though there is still a cool breeze off the sea.

All the panels are pertaining to seafaring.

Now for something lighter!  The fruit on top must be healthy!?!

I wasn't sure if I'd manage to eat it or would finish up wearing it!!

Forgot, still had yesterday (Sat 23rd) to do.

A good breakfast and off for another XC extravaganza!  Firstly 6km of very quiet road to Smoldzinski Las, saw two cars and a van!  Then onto a paved road like yesterday only I knew I was going the right way. 

One of the bird watching / interpretive sites on Dolgie-Wilkie Lake.

A simple but effective bike rack.

A picnic shelter; how long would it last in the UK??

A murky sky promising wet stuff later.  A grey view over the reed beds of the huge Jezioro Gardno Lake. 

Looking t'other way towards Rowy where I was heading.  Riding through the forest I heard cuckoos and lots of woodpeckers and from these piers into the lakes there was a variety of water fowl, the only ones I could recognise were swans, grebes and mallards.

From Rowy there was another short section of road followed by 12km of good track following the route of a disused railway into Ustka.

From the outskirts of Ustka looking east.

And west towards town.

Now to find somewhere cheap to stay!

Four days to catch up on, bit short on Wi-Fi out in the sticks!

Away from Jastarnia (I keep thinking there should be a wardrobe and a lion around with a name like that).  Great cycle track all the way to Wladyslawowo then a mixture of road and track.

A bit of cycle track on Hel.  The dark line on left skyline is the mainland, the main road is just behind the trees on right then a railway line and a couple of hundred metres of trees and dunes then the Baltic.

I was riding along the long skinny bit on the right.

There were school parties everywhere!  This lighthouse is on Cape Rozawie, the most northern location in Poland.

Riding through Karwia and spotted this!

The place was closed or I would have gone in to see what the connection was!!

My goal for the night was Debki, it involved a bit of a ride on a forest trail.

Nice track, unfortunately a grader had been through in the last few hours leaving a few hundred metres of nice soft sand!!

You couldn't even ride along the tyre tracks it was still too soft!  Ah well, keep pushing!

Eventually able to ride again and made it to Debki.  Aiming for Leba tomorrow, more forest trails!!

More sandy trail but able to ride a lot of the pine needle covered trail edge.

After three evenings of cup-a-soup and noodles I needed a bit of proper food, and a spot of something to wash it down with!

Anyway, I deserved a decent meal trying to ride some of this stuff!!

Leba came and went, more soup and noodles.  Next stop Kluki.

What a place to be stationed on forest fire watch!!

A bit of road riding came next but on very quiet country lanes.  My guide book said "After the bridge turn left on paved road to Kluki".  I still had about 8km to go and the paved road was two lines of slabs disappearing into the distance.  Not certain I was on the right road I was pedalling along in the middle of nowhere much.

I was more than pleased to find this sign, particularly as there was only 1.5km to go.

That's the "Paved road" I'd been following for the past 7km, not far now!

What's happened to my "Paved road"?

Well other bikes have gone this way!  Check the route description.  Ah, "After the wooden bridge the route into Kluki becomes a little indistinct and muddy in places".

Well you don't say!!!

Sense of humour wearing a bit thin by now!!!

Richly deserved!!

Typical of the old houses of the area.  The indigenous folk are Kasubian.

Coffee and cake, and they did Bed & Breakfast!

Ah well, time for bed.

A one way ticket to Hel please!

It was all looking sort of familiar as I rolled up to the ferry ticket office this morning, overcast and hardly anyone about.  My man in the office had an apologetic look on his face "You must wait until ten o'clock to see if there are more people, there is only you".

Within two minutes another six folk had turned up and they were all return tickets, then another couple arrived!  My ticket office guy had a beaming smile on his face, "The boat will go".

The catamaran Agat was the one that the nine passengers and a bike were to board; time for a quick photo before off.

Ten o'clock almost to the minute the crew had cast off and we were away.

I couldn't resist another tall ships shot as we slowly moved away from the quay.

Into open water the Agat picked up speed for the hour long crossing.

Hel harbour; the thin cloud was already burning away and the day was quickly warming up.

Hel is roughly a tear drop shape with the 35km tail attached to the mainland at Wladyslawowo. 
Prior to the Second World War it was a heavily armoured area and was one of the last outposts to be taken by the German military machine.

The quiet end of Hel High Street; the rest of it is souvenir shops and eateries, your typical seaside spot and a favourite holiday venue for many Poles.

The eastern most end of Hel and there's the Baltic.  There appears to be a big reinstatement job going on, the dunes are fenced off with a few access points to get onto the beach.  The walkway is part funded by the EU and has many interpretive boards showing what is being done to re-colonise the dune area.

Relics from past conflict.

Just about room for one man and his rifle!!

The road back to the mainland with a great cycle track through the trees.

Shower and bed time, lets see what tomorrow brings?