Too Many Adventures During The Inowłódz Ride!
Tommy is hungry of long rides! I explained to him he needed a riding mate but my medical condition as well as the batteries' charge prevented me from riding
too far. He agreed to a supposedly 132 km Sunday ride.
Despite the headwind and constant climbing, we covered the first 30 km to Głuchów (in the Land of Łódź) in a very good time. We were strong, and it was not too hot yet. Głuchów is a very pro-EU village; we stopped at Żabka to replenish our water and snacks. Seen in the picture is one of the Avenues of Old Trees. Such avenues are protected by law and maintained.
The former railway station building in Głuchów. The building is now just a regular home, beautifully painted in a folk motif. However, the narrow-gauge railroad is fully operable! There is a touring narrow-gauge railway organising regular trips in the summertime.
Ah, that was good! You can see a pretty new Folk House in Bukowiec (EU financing). The two straw figures and the banner: "As you have just harvested your field, it's time for some vacation for you, boor!" 
Here, an alternate word for a "farmer" (more like Bauer or Boer) was used to give the local people (and us) more laugh!
Indeed, the fields have been harvested! The tape at the left is for a temporary public car park. These days, farming areas across Poland get their Harvest Holiday, which are local festivals with live music and a lot of beer and food. I presume it was a big feast on Saturday in the village!
Now, we entered Spała Forests. See the raw cobblestone (I prefer cobblestone to the sand!)
Lost Off Course!
Whenever the Wahoo ACE "Helga" barks "ROUTE!" at you then you better stop and think! My mistake was an attempt to find a detour. A big, big mistake! While the maps claimed all fireroads were passable, none of them were! I lost the situational awareness totally. I simply didn't connect the dots: If we passed a little bridge then there would a little river. If there is a river, there is no passage but a lot of scrub instead...
As we stopped at the end of the next unpassable road, and Tommy was ready to explode, I looked around and found a freshly grown boletus! Yes, it rained the day before, and fungi can only grow in the wet (but grow very fast). Turned out we were surrounded by boleti, no worm inside them, just waiting to be picked up! Forest fungi picking is very well known in many European countries; we know our wild mushroom! The boletus is the most noble and expensive of the fungi found in Poland. Well... we had no appropriate storage. I picked three beautiful boleti into my pannier: I pan-fried them this morning and used with scrambled eggs; a delicacy!
Tommy forced me to retrace our steps and we could find a beautiful gravel road, so we could continue the trip. We lost an hour in the forest!
The Sheriff Point
As I was exploring the area on my Vado several years ago, I stopped for a cigarette at a service road by the S8. I was approached by a Police Sergeant, acting similarly to U.S. State Troopers. He gave me a little interrogation: my whereabouts, the route plan, etc. He was a very nice but professional acting person; he even gave me the directions towards Spała! The American readers might shrug at this point: "Why was that so special?" You see, the Police in Poland
never interact with the citizen unless they need to intervene. That guy was very different: he wanted to know everything to happen in his jurisdiction! I was impressed with his policing! He was alert well before the "interesting times" of today!
Later, a Rest Area for people enjoying the Nature was built. I named that place the Sheriff Point in the honour of that good police person!
The Spała Disaster
Spała is a spa on the Pilica. As we rode through the town in the hope of a good meal and ice-cream, the disaster struck: my rear tyre got punctured by a thorn. Tommy helped a lot; he could replace the inner tube and the tyre in minutes (my electronic mini pump helped, too). However... I managed blocking my rear brake without noticing! It took next long minutes to realise what was wrong and fixing the thing. I was frustrated; it became very warm, too. No chance for the lunch: Spała was crowded! We had ice-cream and headed to Inowłódz, also on the Pilica, 6.5 km away.
The Duchy of Mazovia and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
The old Duchy of Mazovia (populated by Poles) was a separate entity, and it used to be huge, a way bigger than it is now. The Crown bordered its northern ally Mazovia from the south, generally on the line of River Pilica. Only in 1525, Mazovia was incorporated in the Crown of Poland.
King Casimir III The Great was indeed one of the greatest rulers of our country. As a proverb says "Casimir found Poland wooden and left it in brick". He was known for building a big number of fortified castles along the border of the Crown. Inowłódz was a border town of the Crown in 1356–1366 when that castle was built.
I had enough on the 80th kilometre!
Cafe Bona was a disappointment. A Polish restaurant unable to make good "pierogi ruskie" cannot be recommended! (Tommy said his Meat Pierogi were good).
Hitting the wall in Rawa
The hours had passed. Tommy needed to get home possibly early but it was still 60 km to go. Assisted by the tailwind and gradually lowering elevation, we rode very fast to Rawa (an ancient Mazovian ducal city), where I crashed. I told Tommy to chase the opportunity to catch an earlier train while I gave myself a half an hour rest. Then I increased my Vado assistance and rode as strong as I could northwards.
Hel(l)enków
I had told Tommy: "Avoid Helenków at any cost!" and he made it. While I...
Saw a tempting asphalt road and then...
...found myself right in the middle of Hellenków sands!
I was late for that return train just
FOUR MINUTES! The next one would be there in an hour...
I rode up the Ice Land in Rawka seven minutes before closing, got me some ice-cream and coffee (it was still 19 C) and finished in the outside garden
149 km (92.6 mi) for the day. Two Vado batteries were more than adequate!
