A Day Without An Adventure Is A Day Lost (Vistula Cycleway: Kamion - Płock - Wyszogród - Kamion)
On one of my last rides, I met Agata (it was due to a series of events having their origin here, at the EBR Forum). Agata is a Warsaw architect and an avid cycling tourist (riding a nice mech bike with 2.2" off-road tyres). She is in a natural way interested with history and places. So we both talked on Messenger and Agata inspired me to ride a very interesting route. She was even sending me several GPS coordinates with places to see!
(When I was in doubt during the ride, we chatted by audio and she was inspiring me even more!)
I knew last Tuesday would be perfect for riding (warm, sunny, dry, light westerly wind). I took a day off and after an hour's drive I could hit the Vistula Cycleway (Mazovia) in a small village of Kamion.
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The Mazovian Vistula Cycleway is by means not the one of Lesser Poland (where the cycleways are made of tarmac). It mostly leads through gravel roads along Vistula flood bank with some occasional blacktop. Still, my Vado turned out to be adequate for the trail. (If I rode an e-MTB, I could even ride the river bank at slower speed).
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The willow, the symbol of Mazovia (Chopin used to play his piano under a willow) is the tree brought here by "Hollanders". I haven't known that until recently!
Let me tell you once and for good about the
Hollanders (Polish:
Olędrzy, singular:
Olęder). The Hollanders were (at first) Dutch settlers of Mennonite faith to reach River Vistula in the 16th-17th c. Poland was the only European superpower to observe religious tolerance at those times. The Dutch were followed by Germans and settlers of other nations but all of them were "Hollanders". Hollanders could understand the river like nobody else and left a great heritage. For instance, willows were grown to stop ice float enter fields during Spring floods. Oh, yes, Hollanders knew the best how to survive the floods...
More information about the Hollanders.
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Agata pointed to that uninhabited Hollander homestead with one set of her GPS coordinates.
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I noticed a small car crossing the river bank and followed it to find a picturesque site: The Suchodół Landing Place. Here, River Vistula approaches the flood bank the most closely.
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Can you see a herd of cows there? That's yet another of Hollander inventions: Since there are numerous islands on the River Vistula overgrown with sweet grass, cows are being transported to the island pastures by river-barges! (The herd here was just being walked towards the barge).
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Cows on a Vistula island!
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There was a couple of senior, experienced foot tourists in the car. The man asked me: "Have you already seen that enormous oak tree? No? You must ride and see that!". And I followed the challenge, adding more kilometres to my trip with pleasure!
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The large oak-tree. It was hard to make a good photo of that.
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"Do I perceive a horse there?" 
At that stop, I discovered I hadn't charged the pocket-camera battery...
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Yet another Hollander house, inhabited.
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You ride in. See this. WAT DO. The Hollander Heritage Park was really something to see. The church and all the houses were saved and carried to Wiączemin Polski and re-assembled here.
Interesting thing: there are many villages in Poland bearing the byname of "Polski" (Polish). Why? Because other villages nearby were Dutch or German... Another history lesson for me!
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Hollander tombstones. The inscriptions are German here. Note: The wife of my brother Jacek is a Hollander! (her maiden name is Graff).
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The Park office and the guide's house. The Heritage Park is beautiful but to get a guided tour (free!), you need to wear a face-mask and I had none. The first (bad) adventure of the day happened there: My pannier lost its attachment point because of the road vibrations! I was in a real jam but the helpful (female) guide helped me with some wire and strong cord. I was saved!
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A wooden trestle bridge in Dobrzyków. Something for you, @David Berry!
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Dobrzyków: A wooden church built in the same year the American War of Independence began (1775).
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Eventually, I managed to reach the city of Płock! Here, the next adventure (good) happened. We had an audio chat with Agata, and she explained to me there existed "a stealth path down to the Vistula". It was a breath-taking riding a narrow path at the side of the railway bridge among the bushes! I was thrilled! See the railway tank-cars travelling to the largest oil refinery of Poland: ORLEN, Płock.
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Płock, one of the most beautiful Polish cities as seen from the left Vistula bank.
A short history lesson. There was a time when Poland was not a kingdom anymore and was split into provinces. Duchy of Mazovia was an important province and it existed between 1138 and 1526 (when it was re-incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland). Płock was the capital city of the large Mazovia, and Warsaw was just a small independent Duchy at that time. Therefore, Płock is full of history. Nowadays, the city is the home of the ORLEN National Oil Company that certainly contributes with its money to make Płock even more beautiful.
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The gem of the Polish architecture: The Romanesque Cathedral of Płock. There was an enormous sculptured bronze gate of the Cathedral known as "The Płock Door", which is presently in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. A copy of the Door is exhibited inside the Płock Cathedral.
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The Pier & Marina in Płock. These are new things in the city. See the magnificent River Vistula. The other bank holds a shipyard and a granary.
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Should you ever be in Płock, I recommend the "Karczma Pod Strzechą" (The Inn Under A Thatched Roof) in the Płock Old Town. It is a Polish restaurant serving delicious food at very nice price. I know it better since I've been to Płock for many times... (And my late wife Sheila was born in Płock). My Vado was parked outside and locked with a U-lock, under alarm!
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Pork meatballs with potato and cooked red-beet is Polish staple meal. The restaurant has also a great choice for the vegetarian.
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Did I already tell you Płock was one of the most beautiful Polish cities?
Meeting the Police, "Speed" E-Bike Laws Discussed!
After the lunch, I set off for the long return trip over the right-hand Vistula bank. I was riding my Class 3 Vado in a quiet street, a dedicated bike path running along all the way, at moderate speed of 28 km/h. I was approached by a Police car.
-- "Mr. Cyclist, are we not riding the bike path?" -- a police sergeant wanted to know -- "We're not riding the bike path, because we're riding a moped, sir" -- was my curt answer -- "Ah, a moped" -- the policeman needed some time to think so I spurted forward. After a minute, the police car approached me again. -- "Mr. Cyclist, pull over. I've a couple of things to discuss with you". I pulled over.
I don't want to bore you with the details of the discussion. The guy was an idiot, and he didn't know the electric moped (
L1e-B class) law. I gave him a lecture on the paragraphs of the Road Code -- in the part pertaining to the electric mopeds first. Then he came on:
-- Do you have a registration paper? Valid insurance?! The MOT? -- he was inquiring -- Of course I do! -- I laughed at him and presented the documents to him. -- "Does your moped have all-day lights?" -- "Day-lighting, low-beam, high-beam, rear light, STOP light, a horn..." -- "Aha! Where are the direction-indicators?!" -- he exclaimed triumphantly -- "The law does not require the direction indicators for a moped" -- and so on.
To make the long story short: The policeman made a fool of himself because the misjudged my e-moped with e-bike and tried to be "always right". I told him I wanted to get a ticket from him; I wouldn't take the ticket, we would meet in court of law and the guy would be proven incompetent. He told me he didn't want to punish me. I told him he had
no right to punish me. And we parted.
The whole story put me in excellent mood. I was somewhat tired, so I tuned the motor to 70% assistance and rode on at higher speed.
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Suddenly, I rode in sands. Almost fell down there. The smartphone camera shot that photo itself!
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But it was worthwhile to be there. There were swans on that small lake in Kępa Polska!
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Kępa Polska (so there are other Kępas on the Vistula, such as the Saxon one in Warsaw because of the Hollanders...)
I was very tired at that point. Soon, I found proper tarmac, went Turbo and ran in the direction of Wyszogród, then Kamion. The smartphone battery died a couple of kilometres before the ride end.
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Ride stats & map. The ride distance and time were taken from the Vado's computer.
