Autumnal lockdown walk

Today's my sixth day in a row in Jakubowizna, far from infectious crowds of Warsaw. Today's figure for new infections - 16,300 - would have been an utter shocker a month ago; now we're shrugging our shoulders. At this spread-rate, we'll have one million new cases between now and 14 November - which means another nine million infections below the radar. A quarter of the population infected. The hospitals will be at breaking point by then, unless people don't sharply change their behaviour. And a government irresponsibly stoking culture wars at a time like this.

Other than two visits to the shops and showing my ticket to the train conductor last Thursday, I've avoided live human contact. Plenty of phone calls and Zoom meetings and Skype chats though - technology makes isolation entirely bearable. Plus, I tend to be OK with solitude.

So - today's walk.

Below: between Grobice and Adamów Rososki, a network of farm tracks cut round the backs of the orchards. Plenty of new ones to discover. Lack of asphalt at this time of year is made manifest by the number of apples by the side of such tracks - going over bumps, the apples fall out of the crates on the trailers. Provided they've not been there long, they are better to eat than ones you find under trees.

In Adamów Rososki, I come across this wayside shrine; at its foot, a stone tablet on which are engraved the words: "Marjo pocieszaj serca nasze - ofiara Franciszka Wichowskiego, 1868" (Maria, console our hearts - the offering of Franciszek Wichowski 1868). The shrine looks newer, the tablet maybe a remnant of an earlier monument.

The weather these past few days has been less sunny than I had hoped for, but at least it's not been raining. The autumnal colours are coming up nicely, but they need strong sunlight and the backdrop of a brilliantly blue sky for the sublime aesthetic to kick in.  

One of the joys of country living is exploration, finding new paths and connections. This path (below) running east-west connects the unasphalted track leading to my part of Jakubowizna with the path above (you can see the junction) that connects Machcin II with Adamów Rososki.

 

Plenty of mushrooms about. And a few mushroom pickers too - except they weren't looking for this. Muchomor - fly agaric - classic toadstool. From my semi-trained eye, lots of fungi on the forest floor, but none worth eating. But then the only one I'd pick is prawdziwek - boletus. The one my parents would hunt for back in the old country; Oxshott Common, near Esher, in Surrey. 

Below: looking towards Jakubowizna from Machcin II. There's also a Machcin I and of course a Machcin, on the other side of Adamów Rososki. Very confusing.

Heading back home through the forest. I'm sure that many of these local farm tracks will be asphalted over in the near future; life will be easier, shoes drier, but a certain charm will be lost.

Below: the wood next to my działka. Neglected by its owners, nature is taking its own course. Trees grow, and fall, and rot; new saplings emerge to take their place.

This time last year:

End of a warm and sunny part of autumn 

This time two years ago:
Remont of Metro bridge over Puławska

This time three years ago:
We are what we read, what we watch, what we listen to

This time seven years ago:
Extraordinarily warm autumn

This time eight years ago:
On behalf of the work-shy community

This time nine years ago:
Classic truck cavalcade

This time ten years ago
Suburban back-roads clogged with commuters

This time 11 years ago:
Autumn gold, Łazienkowski Park

This time 12 years ago:
Quintessential autumnal Jeziorki

This time 13 years ago:
Google Earth updates its map of Jeziorki