[Borek]

I have already posted these pictures on other forum, so could be some of you have seen them already - but if not...

Comfortable place in the country - village Cieplice Dolne, far from city noise, city smells and traffic.





No traffic, but farm sounds and animals around. Smells happen as well, that's what agritourism is about.





Picturesque views, villages, roads and forests.





Rich and abundant nature all around.





Log cabin anyone? House we lived in is a log cabin as well, although it was refurbished 2 years ago and to some extent lost its original nature.



But we are here to bike!



Shortest summary: we did 700 km on bikes in 11 days, 86.08 km on the last day (and it wasn't the longest trip). Honestly, on the last day and through the last 15 kilometers I was going in circles, just to get past 700  We've been to Krzeszów (NW corner of the map), then clockwise: Tarnogród, Cewków (barely readable, left to Stary Dzików), Sieniawa, Jarosław, Przeworsk and Leżajsk and many places between.



This is historically rich area - Przeworsk was granted town charter in 1393, almost exactly 100 years before Columb sailed to America. Leżajsk in 1397. Jarosław - in 1375 or earlier. Poles, Ukrainians and Jews - all left their marks. This is view from the town square in Leżajsk.



Sieniawa became a city in 1676. Sieniawa Palace was built around 1700, it took current form in 1881/3.



For obvious reasons two of these pictures were not taken by me...

[enahs]

I thought you were planning a trip to the US soon, or am I thinking of somebody else?

[Borek]

I am thinking about US, but it won't happen soon But as you see - I don't have to drive far to have a great vacations That was slightly over 300 km from Warsaw.

[enahs]

Was the entire trip on bikes, or did you first drive/train someplace to visit and then did all the biking?

[Borek]

We get to Cieplice by car, then we were biking around. But two years ago we started by train just to get to Działdowo, then we did 900 kilometers biking from place to place, spending each night somewhere else. Both ways are great, they just give different opportunities. I won't take my camera with lenses, flash and tripod on bike, besides, it is difficult to find time for taking pictures if you have to find a bed (we don't plan the trip, so we don't book everything in advance). On the other hand, biking two weeks around the same place can be boring:



no matter how you try, you have to pass through the same roads now and again. Two years ago I didn't have GPS logger, so I have no exact route, only marked places where we slept:



The difference is that white line on the first picture is 10 km, while the white line on the second is 100 km

(just in case: these are Google Earth screenshots)

[enahs]

Looks like fun!
My bike looks nice, but it is a cheap $55 bike from Wal-Mart.

I only use it for having my dogs chase me. We do 5 miles of either jogging or them chasing me on a bike virtually every day (even in the rain). I do the biking when I am tried or not feeling too into it, as around here it is totally flat so that it is not real work then.

The biking that long is not hard to imagine....the sitting on a bike seat that long is!

[Borek]

The biking that long is not hard to imagine....the sitting on a bike seat that long is!

No idea about US prices, but comparing things on the exchange basis, if you spend $55 just on the seat...

My bike was about $600-$700 (22% of the price being VAT). Most of the cheap bikes I have seen will not survive the long trip. OTOH going for a $5k bike doesn't make sense, it just increases chances it will be stolen, but it doesn't change quality of the ride, at least as long as you don't try extreme sports approach.

[enahs]

Bikes over here for real riders are easily that expensive and much more. I just wanted a bike with "shocks" that looked decent.