After yesterday's long walk, a somewhat shorter one was in order today. Train assisted. So off I set to the station, to catch whichever train would come first – northbound or southbound. The timetable said it would be the southbound service to Radom, so I decided to take it down to Warka and spend some time down by the river. And so, 45 minutes after leaving home, I'm on the banks of the Pilica river, which demarcates the southern boundary of the Grójec apple-growing district.
Below: the Pilica has become a centre for canoeing, with several centres along this stretch of river. In season, flotillas of boats would be paddling along with the stream.
The banks of the Pilica witnessed the ebb and flow of war several times during the course of history. In April 1656 the Polish army defeated the Swedes at the Battle of Warka. Below: the fording of the Pilica by the Polish army, by Franciszek Smuglewicz (1745-1807). This would have been somewhere between where the road and rail bridges cross the river today.
Below: statue of
Stefan Czarniecki,
hetman of the victorious Polish army, in Warka's town square (the town hall in the background).
Below: tourist flights are quite the thing on days like today. The sky is not as pure as it was yesterday, with wispy clouds taking the brightness out of the light, but even so, from 1,000ft up, the Pilica valley must look gorgeous in its autumnal colours.
Left: looking across the escarpment on the north bank of the Pilica, with the rail bridge in the distance. Photo taken from the steps leading down from the town square to the river.
Below: Sunday siesta time in southern Spain? This is Ulica Lotników in Warka which links the town square to the recently opened Warka Miasto railway station. The neat row of trees and the yellow ochre facade of the single-story house across the road, plus total lack of people in the street give that sleepy-time-down-south vibe.
Below: my train home approaching the Pilica river.
Below: (click to expand) map of my part of the world from the Polish government geoportal site, showing land use. Green is forestry; yellow is orchard. Mazovia's orchardland is centred around the town of Grójec, the Pilica being the southern boundary, the Vistula to the east, extending slightly beyond to the DW801, the road to Puławy. To the north, orchardland is bounded by the Skierniewice-Łuków railway line, and to the west, the S8 expressway.
A mere 13,000 paces walked today!
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