A night on the town & a surprise in Sandomierz

Zagan the motorhome is parked up on lush green grass at the catchily titled Campsite 202, otherwise known as Camping Browarny in Sandomierz, Poland (N50.67984, E21.75398).

First things first, the maps at the top of our posts. You may have noticed that recently the little dot that told you where we were had gone walkabout. Since that was it’s one job in life, it wasn’t a good thing. After much head scratching and internet searching it looks like the thingy (technical term) we used to put the dot there has stopped working, and as we’ve been using it for a years it’s now obsolete so no one could help us fix it. UPDATE – the dot has returned, no idea how, but it’s back – yippee!

Around the same time (and possibly related?) the maps showing our trips stopped working too – grrr! As luck would have it Kev and Liz from The Great Escape posted on Facebook the other day how they were mapping their trip. Jay got to work on it and now we have a lovely new map showing where we have been – has it really been over 600 places? Over the next few weeks, hang on it’s over 600 places, make that months, we’ll add further information so when you click on a place you get details of where we stayed. And if you want to know where we are while you are reading one of our posts, then click on the GPS co-ordinates and they will take you to Google Maps which will show you our location (UPDATE – we’ll continue to do this even though the map marker is back, just in case it wonders off again).

Back to what we have been up to.

We loved our little lakeside free parking spot, it was super quiet at night and in the morning we continued our half marathon training and went for a run around the lake. After we recovered, and Jay did all the magic map stuff mentioned above, we set off for Sandomierz. Looking at the map I realised we’re going south, we should be going north, north, north at the moment to get us to the top of Norway! Had Jay sneakily decided to make a run for Greece, and see how far he could get, before I noticed? Sadly not, but we’d had good reports of Sandomierz and had spied a free parking spot by the river that would enable us to see the town.

Reaching the outskirts of the town we spot a sign for a camping (everyone in Europe seems to call them that, rather than a ‘campsite’ as we do in the UK). Our laundry bag is now too big to share the drinks cupboard, and is taking on a life of its own, so we turned in and pitched up. Within an hour Zagan was transformed from a restful camping spot to a web of clothes lines, as nearly everything got washed.

Also on the site was a German chap on a motorbike. Travel and motorbikes, of course Jay couldn’t resist nipping over to chat to him. Roland joined us in the laundry drying zone as we cracked open a bottle of rather dodgy Croatian wine. Luckily we have a bottle of Cassis in the cupboard for such emergencies and soon the rough white was a sweet pink tipple. It was fascinating talking to Roland who at 55 had given up his job to take long adventures on this bike – he was on his way home from Greece this time. As we discussed the finer details of road conditions in Albania a Swedish registered Land Rover pulled in and set about putting up its roof tent. Jay was now in seventh heaven.

Roland ready for the off on his Moto Guzzi

Bea and Linus were on a short trip around northern Europe. The rig had previously taken Linus to Kazakhstan and several other ‘stans’. Bea was from the UK and Linus from Sweden and they both love adventure, we were in awe as they told us of their trips. Jay kept telling Bea to tell me how great it all is as he is desperate for something a but further out of his comfort zone – the campsite in Poland is lovely, but I know in his heart he’d rather be traversing sub-Saharan Africa in a 4×4.

As the Croatian wine was taking effect we headed into town with Bea and Linus and relied on TripAdvisor to tell us where to eat. The top place was in the cellars under the town hall and served mainly burgers. They were fantastic but I doubt we could say they were typically Polish, so to make amends we went to a bar where Jay and Bea tested out the local vodka – which was surprisingly good they assured me.

Bea, Linus and the local vodka – and yes, I know, I can’t pour a beer!

Chose your weapon – all perfectly chilled and cheap (7zl is about £1.20)!

We said our farewells last night as they were hitting the road early, and we don’t do early. With a banging head and dry mouth it took all of my effort to give Zagan a major clean without being ill. By lunchtime he was feeling and smelling much better, so we wandered into town to see the rest of the sights. Turning the corner into the main square we didn’t quite expect what we saw – hundred of people.

Coachloads of them, tour guides with microphones, electric buggy carts for those not wanting to walk around the town. Ice cream stalls were doing a roaring trade, as were two chaps dressed as knights posing for photos outside the town hall – finally we had found some life in a town. At the very helpful tourist office I bought a map of all the camping sites in Poland and at a local market I bought a pendant made from the local striped flint, sure I have gone spend crazy but as both cost just over £1 (and last night’s meals and drinks for two were less than £15) I’m not too worried about our budget.

Striped flint is the famous stone from here – Jay finds himself in a huge ring of it.

When two tour groups collide it gets busy!

We walked around and even got swept up in a tour group or two, but we’re not complaining, it was nice to see so many people. They also gave us an excuse not to go into any of the churches or museums as there were queues at the doors for them all. I have to admit to feeling slightly smug though, we can walk the five minutes into the town at any time and see it quiet, busy, at sunset or in the dark, we can come and go as we please to our own schedule. I don’t think the tour bus life is for me, I like my freedom too much. Where to next, we’re not sure, but one thing I can be sure of we’ll be going north.

Ju x