Gdynia's beach, early in the morning

To Gdynia as the first speaker in a morning seminar. The obvious mode of transport - night train. However, the train arrived at Gdynia at 05:24; the conference started at nine. So after a nutritious breakfast at the Scottish restaurant (an excellent one has just opened in Gdynia's main station), I took the SKM train two stops south to Gdynia-Redłowo, from which I walked to the beach. I was surprised by the weather - it was meant to be foggy and cool. But no - sunshine and warmth. Ideal pre-seminar beach weather.

I was on the sea front some time after six. There was still some low, thin cloud, but this burnt off very quickly. Removing shoes and socks and rolling up suit trouserlegs, I waded into the Baltic - warm and pleasant, the sound of the waves bringing back atavistic memories of Man, the aquatic ape.

Below: take a good look at the horizon. Fata Morgana? A coral atoll sinking under the rising seas? This is Hel, as seen from the beach at Gdynia, just across the bay. (Click to enlarge). Just the tree tops and spires are visible from the peninsula. Quite different from the view from the cliff-top (see left-hand side of horizon on top photo).

Below: heading back from the beach towards the seminar venue, the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park. The Redłowo district of Gdynia reminds me of a cross between Warsaw's Saska Kępa and San Francisco. My guess is that the location of this part of town - between the business area and the beach - will make this a highly sought-after district to live in.

Finally a moan about the railways. On Monday evening my journey home from the office took 135 minutes rather than the usual 50. One train cancelled, the next one 40 minutes late. Yesterday, my night train to Gdynia arrived in Warsaw 40 minutes late, but arrived in Gdynia exactly on time, curtailing the length of my sleep to a less-than-adequate five and half hours. And today my train from Gdynia got me home 105 minutes behind schedule. Nearly four hours of delay in 48 hours. Entirely unacceptable. I note that LOT Polish Airlines is cutting its prices on internal flights to compete with the railways. This will be good for the traveller!

This time last year:
Polish doctors in UK offer new healthcare model

This time two years ago:
Football in Warsaw

This time three years ago:
Era becomes T-Mobile

This time four years ago:
Warsaw-Góra Kalwaria-Pilawa rail link closed

This time five years ago:
Marsh harrier, golden airliner over Jeziorki

This time six years ago:
Bus blaze on way to town

This time sevenyears ago:
A beautiful, stormy twilight