To celebrate, I dragged a reluctant Eddie out on his bike for a spin around the Las Kabacki forest, then to the edge of the airport for a spot of spotting.
Above: The railway line that connects Warsaw's metro to the outside world. Rust suggests it's not been used for a while. The only traffic that comes this way is the occasional drezyna (technical railcar). But worth remembering that every single piece of rolling stock that runs daily between Kabaty and Młociny once came down this track.
We rode west from the forest towards ul. Puławska. Eddie waits, bored, while I adjust the circular polarising filter, set the correct exposure and get the pic. This path, from the forest to ul. Żolny, is particularly atmospheric and is one of my 'spirit of place' locations.
On to the airport. The large earthworks screening the S2-S79 expressway junction (Węzeł Lotnisko) are an excellent place for watching planes land. Below: An Austrian Arrows Dash-8 flies overhead, taken with lens at 55mm, uncropped, so you can see how close it was.
Below: Eddie making his descent from the man-made plateau. There was quite a crowd up here, plane spotters and mountain bikers. Neither of us rode down - you need a full suspension bike to do it comfortably, it is steep. But we saw other guys doing it - hair-raising!
On the way back to Jeziorki, we rode along the untarmacked stretch of ul. Wirażowa. Work on the new expressways starts next month; so we are witnessing the last moments of semi-rural tranquility here (currenly interrupted only by frequent landings and occasional trains). 
Below: Back in Jeziorki. Still parallel to the railway tracks. Still rural. Close to home now.
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2 comments:
I tried a spot of late-evening plane spotting outside Gatwick's perimeter fence a few years back—there were 3 squad cars full of very nervous bobbies there within minutes. Can't imagine what would happen if I tried it now, presumably I'd be picked off by snipers within seconds.
When wandering around with a camera, I must say I feel freer in Poland than I do in the UK. And to think that 30 years ago I was arrested at Olsztyn station for photographing a steam locomotive!
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