Another abbreviated post and it’s all Gosia’s fault for managing to squeeze so much into my short visit to the west of Poland! And my fault for not understanding Polish so I have to skip over so much rich details.
We slept a little later than intended (I’ve noticed that’s getting to be a theme on this blog) before catching the bus to Szklarska Poreba for a wander in the hills. During winter, this is popular skiing territory as can be gathered from the shop signs and availability year-round of ski lifts.
Sadly, the weather sucked. Gosia had picked this week to head home as it’s usually such a nice time of year but Poland (and Europe as a whole) was getting the tail end of the torrential rains being thrown down on the UK. Between heavy downpours the sun was lovely and hot, but just not out and about often enough.
We decided between us to go for a shorter walk than planned, so got the chairlift halfway up the hillside instead of to the top. Rain and fast winds would not have been pleasant to deal with. This hill is called Szrenica (“frosted” or “frost covered”) and it is the second-highest peak after Sniezka. We took a break for a hearty lunch of chocolate bars, crisps and soft drinks (yum) and began our hike down.
Around halfway, we paid a few Zloty to stand at the base of a waterfall called Kamienczyk and get all wet again after having just dried off. Hard hats were provided as part of the entry fee – though this didn’t save a woman and her child a 34 years ago when a huge rock worked loose and crushed them as they viewed the heavy falls. After this accident, the waterfall was closed to the public for almost 20 years. I steered clear of the rock faces and took my chances with the heavy spray.
We walked through the forest to the bottom of the hill and said “hello” to some working horses before returning to the town. Gosia did some jewellery shopping and we enjoyed more Polish beer before catching the bus back to base.
Granny Gosia fed us a traditional Polish dinner (delicious) before we struggled zombie-like into our respective chambers.
