151/365: The castle ruins in Besiekiery

151/365: The castle ruins in Besiekiery, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 31st

What a sight. I read about these ruins in a guidebook to castles in the Lodz voivodship, and decided to make them the destination for my first 100+ km bike trip. (yes, it hurt, and yes, it was worth it.)

The village of Besiekiery itself is very small- a few houses, a small school, but it dates back to the 13th century. The name suggests that its original settlers were Scandinavian- viking mercenaries in the service of our first dynasty of kings, the Piasts. 'Besiekr' is a nordic word meaning 'man wearing a bear skin'. But in Polish, 'siekiera' means axe, and so there is also a legend about the devil Boruta (who also dipped his claws in the history of the nearby Royal Castle in Łęczyca) striking a deal with a local noble that would allow him to collect the man's soul if first he built him a castle without the use of an axe- without a siekiera. In Polish: Bez siekiery!

What the poor devil didn't know was that one of the labourers was named Siekierka...

But that's only a legend. The castle is a little younger than the settlement, having been built around the year 1500. It used to have a large tower which held the main gate and a chapel, an open courtyard and a three storey house in the back. It was modified several times over the years, but has been abandoned since the mid-19th century.

Currently, the municipality is gathering funds to revitalise the ruins and make them a safe and welcoming tourist attraction. So far they've strengthened the remainders of the main house and rebuilt the moat. There's a little beach, but swimming isn't a good idea as there is a lot of duckweed and leeches. Yuck!

Oh, another interesting thing about this castle is that it's home to a pair of storks.

They come every year to build their nests on top of the ruins. Storks are very popular in Poland, we consider them to be one of our national symbols.

The stork is a bird that brings luck, and it's very good to have one on your property- they say lightning will not strike where a stork has his nest. And because storks like high places, many landowners will set up a special post or build a platform on top of the barn roof, or in the branches of a dead tree, to encourage storks to make their nest there.

I saw more than one stork on my way to the village. It's the season!

On the map, red is my planned route, blue is the actual path I took. Some of those roads weren't roads at all! Google Maps doesn't know everything ;)

View Łódź - Besiekiery in a larger map

145/365: Red bicycle going to Rogów

145/365: Red bicycle, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 25th

I like cycling.

The problem is finding people who want to cycle with me. I'm in that awkward bracket: not hardcore enough for most enthusiasts, too hardcore for my casually biking friends. So, when I plan a trip somewhere, I usually end up going alone.

But this time, the trip wasn't my idea. "Let's go to Rogów," my friend Kasia (in the picture) said. "Let's go to the Life Sciences Arboretum." Only, of course, the minute I said yes, the planning fell to me. And planning is odd when you can't gauge the endurance of your group. Already, there were complaints. "Eight in the morning? Why do we have to leave that early?"

"Because it will be boiling hot by 11 am, and because it's thirty miles, and I can't see you going faster than eight on average."

And because I only know half of the way there. But, I didn't tell them that.

I plotted a route, strapped my new Android phone to the handlebars for GPS assistance, and hoped for the best.

We got lost, of course. Pro tip: when the opening of a trail is guarded by a headless Jesus statue, don't follow it. It's a very, very bad trail.

The next trip I'm planning will be lonesome. Apparently no one wants to bike sixty miles to see the ruins of a gothic castle.

Things we saw along the way were a WWI cemetery hidden in the forest in Wiączyń: 

...a village called Moscow:



Apparently the local lord took part in Napoleon's failed Moscow Campaign, and when he returned, he named the village Moskwa.

We crossed a terrible slippery log bridge over a swamp:



...then cycled through the Windows XP background...



...until finally, Rogów!



...with beautiful Azaleas:



...a pond full of lilypads, frogs, and fishies:







The woodcut typography used in the arboretum signposts is worth a mention. Look at the 'transparency'!



It was a good day. Here's the map. Orange trail is what I had planned, blue is our actual route.


View Wycieczka do Rogowa in a larger map

137/365: Wreck

137/365: Wreck, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 17th

A random bike trip around the North-Western side of the city.

The route:


View Teofilów 17.05.11 in a larger map

128/365: Brassica Napus

128/365: Brassica Napus, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

May 8th

Or canola, if you prefer, the most common sight in fields at this time of year. We cook mostly on rapeseed oil here.

Makes for a very pretty backdrop when you're out biking in the countryside with no clear purpose or destination.

282/365: Bicycle!

282/365: Bicycle!, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

October 9th

Also...Saturday! My fabulous flatmate ManiaKovalsky and I took our bikes to the outlet store. We stopped briefly in the park for a portrait session. It's a great thing when one person wants to be photographed, and the other is a shutterbug.

We should have stopped for longr, really. The background was just lovely:

...and my subject very graceful.

And I was thinking I had a deja vu when I took this picture:

No wonder. Two years ago:

255/365 Hats

255/365 Hats, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

September 12th

Because it was Sunday, and it had rained a lot, and it is the season for mushrooms, my flatmate and I decided to go to the forest to engage in that well established traditional Slavic pastime, mushroom hunting.

Alas we were too cavalier about the whole enterprise and thus left too late, without any baskets, got lost along the way and finally decided that exploring the lush Rąbień forest was more fun than actually looking for edible funghi. We did see many families with full baskets, though.

But when you go to the woods this autumn, even if you are not harvesting, you should keep your eyes open and look low to the undergrowth.

Because there is so much more to a forest than mushrooms...

Of course, if you do not find any edible mushrooms, you can still admire the less desirable ones.

And then, when you least expect it, you may stumble upon a forest ghost story.

In conclusion, mushroom hunting definitely deserves its high rank among treasured autumn activities.

Even if your harvest is nothing worth bragging about.

163/365: The last bike trip

163/365: The last bike trip, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 12th

The twins had mentioned something about leaving, but no one took them seriously until they started packing. This was their last weekend at my place, and so we decided to take One Last Bike Trip. Basia was missing as she is in the USA studying and doing research for her new film, but everyone else was there: the twins, Asia (whom I have no pictures of), ManiaKovalsky, Maciek, and me.

We got horribly lost along the way and never made it to the forest or the pond we'd expected to find, but it was wonderful at 55 km total.

154/365: Jan in the forest

154/365: Jan in the forest, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

June 3rd

Remember Łowicz? I went there three years ago to take pictures of the Corpus Christi procession. Since I am working with quite a few foreigners this year, I managed to convince a few of them to a half-bike trip that Thursday; meaning we would take a train to Skierniewice, bike to Łowicz through the Bolimowska primeval forest, then return the same way. 

We ended up with about 60 km total, riding easy and stopping where and when we pleased. It was a wonderful break from the daily heat and turmoil of our workplace.

The procession and holiday itself is a Catholic thing and I will direct you to the Wikipedia entry for more information (one of my photos illustrates it), but interesting for the non-religious types too because of the traditional folk costumes the people of the region wear. I'm not even sure any of my group were into religion and they all enjoyed themselves. 

I think they liked how quaint it all was- the ragged train ride, the deep forest, the pastoral countryside and finally the colourful display of folklore. Poland may not be the most modern country in the world, but I see that as one of its great assets.