A walk down Gogolińska

Inspired by the previous post, I set off for a walk along ul. Gogolińska, a Warsaw street with purely rural charm. Once past W-wa Jeziorki station, this thoroughfare takes you to somewhere with a quiet enchantment, a spirit of place, that's quite specific.

So then - here they are - this afternoon's haul of rus in suburbe.

Below: just south of the platform's end. A southbound train is departing for Piaseczno, Czachówek and Góra Kalwaria. The colours of Koleje Mazowieckie's livery are ideally matched to late May in our beloved province.

The area between Gogolińska and the village of Zgorzała beyond has an air of abandonment; large tracts of land that seem to belong to no one and yet evidently do, neglected, uncared for - and here, Zone-like, is the charm. Below: who built these gates? Are they no longer needed to keep the intruder out? Whatever lies beyond, impenetrable nature now guards the way.

Below: I can't tell if this was a junction box for electricity or telephone; it's been ransacked for its cables; the flora is swallowing it up. Infrastructure from the Zone.

According to the map, ul. Kurantów is an 'L' shaped road that runs parallel to Gogolińska from Karczunkowska before swinging sharp left to join Gogolińska. But there are no road signs to that effect. Below: ul. Kurantów, looking towards Gogolińska and the railway line beyond. Cobblestones peer out through the dirt track.

Below: Are we in KwaZulu? Is this Natal? No - this is still Jeziorki. Just before asphalt runs out on ul. Gogolińska, signalling the south-westerly border of Poland's capital, we come across an abandoned building by the railway line.

Below: A quarter of a kilometre further south of the road that the maps claim is ul. Kurantów, there is another road leading off Gogolińska, which proclaims itself with a sign to be the street in question. At the end of this thoroughfare is a patisserie, Olsza - address, ul. Kurantów 1. It seems that Warsaw's comprehensive street-naming system, MSI, does not extend to these far-flung outposts. Two parallel streets, 250m apart, both claiming the same name.


Left: the sign says "MUD 300m -> Tractor 50 złotys - no VAT". We are now outside Warsaw, in Gmina Lesznowola. The dirt track becomes treacherous in autumn and spring, and the temptation for residents of the new housing estate (below) to use this track as a short-cut - saving 3km of bunged-up roads through Nowa Wola, Zgorzała and Dawidy Bankowe - must be irresistible. The field between Gogolińska and the new estate is still being farmed. How long before it too fills up with houses?

Below: the tree stumps mark the unofficial level crossing between Zgorzała and Mysiadło; a Koleje Mazowieckie train rumbles south towards Radom. Gogolińska zig-zags on southwards to Nowa Iwiczna; I head east across the tracks and then back to Jeziorki.

A worthy Sunday afternoon walk. I feel Kurantów beckoning for some further exploration.