It's not rich countries that build good roads...

... It's good roads that build rich countries. JFK's adage is as true today as it's ever been. Warsaw to Bydgoszcz is the same distance as London to Manchester, a journey I'd often do in under three hours. But Warsaw-Bydgoszcz took me five hours. Average speed: 38 mph. Why so slow? Well, the first bit, from Warsaw to Płońsk, is fine. Dual carriageway. The last bit (Toruń to Bydgoszcz) is reasonable. It's the bit in the middle that's awful. This is Krajowa Dziesiątka (DK10), which was being dug up four years ago and is still being dug up. It's not as if nothing's happening - even on a snowy day like today, the gangs were out, widening, profiling, building bridges (in the UK, Health & Safety would have everyone off site in case someone slipped on a bit of ice). It's the pace of the work. It's dreadfully slow.

The worst bit is between Sierpc (unemployment: 16.5%) and Lipno (21.6%). Bad roads = bad local economies. This 36km stretch took over an hour. Main reason: contraflows. "When red light shows wait here", as the sign reads in the UK. Except here, when it turns to green, you can't go, because there's still a stream of traffic coming the other way that has blatantly ignored its light turning red and keeps going on the basis that 'what are you going to do about it".

Above: crawling along at 41 kmh (26 mph). Speed limits of 40 kmh were much in evidence on the entire stretch. Below: Yet another "when red light shows, wait here" moment approaches. (Note the misletoe on tree on the left.)

Below: One beneficiary of Poland's infrastructure works is JC Bamford, British manufacturer of construction equipment (world's no.3 in fact). Last year's sales of JCB excavators to Poland totalled over 80 million quid. Rocester's finest at work in Lipno.

My tip for anyone driving to Bydgoszcz from Warsaw: Go via Płock and Włocławek. They're not national roads, and in theory slower, but there's none of the endless roadworks. Or take the train: 3hrs 43mins (from Warszawa Centralna).

This time last year:
Snow that was doomed to melt