New route to Lasopole

A village recently discovered on foot – apparently without direct pedestrian access from Chynów. I checked again on OpenStreetMap. Indeed, no bridge shown over the Czarna river, necessitating a long trek via either the old DK50 or the new DK50 bypass. But I figured that given there is a footpath shown on either side of river – surely there must be a way to cross it? Maybe a ford, as in Hipolitów? 

I went to see for myself. Certainly, there's a track leading down to the Czarna from ulica Parkowa – but it stops at the water's edge. The river's too deep and too wide to cross here, even fording it with a vehicle would be risky. But to the north, I catch sight of a what looks like a concrete post, straddling the river further downstream... but how to get to it? There's a small tributary flowing into the Czarna from the Chynów side (not shown on map)… I have to backtrack, circle around a small wood behind the cemetery, and find a narrow footpath through the wood that leads directly to this (below). Not a perfect crossing, but solid and stable, even if not level. A local, unofficial, improvisation.

It does the job. I get across carefully, and can now proceed to Lasopole – the short way.

Below: looking south from the kładka – the simplest form of bridge, something merely kładzione (placed) across a river – the word can also mean 'footbridge'.

Below: entering Lasopole from the east, I happen upon another Marian shrine, less than 50m from the next one.

Below: a simple metal cross commemorates a road accident victim. A westbound truck rushes past. The number of deaths on Poland's roads is systematically falling, but still (2,300 last year, 2,500 in 2022) too high. 

Below: acoustic screen alongside the DK50, Nowe Grobice. Traffic noise still clearly audible, but homeowners' view ruined. The jury is still out on these. I guess only the affected people have any right to an opinion on these.

This time last year:
The future of the working day

This time two years ago:
Twenty years in Jeziorki

This time four years ago:

Holidays delight me not

This time six years ago: 

Smolna, Tamka, Skarpa in B&W

This time seven years ago:
15 years under one roof

This time nine years ago:
Białystok: Ipswich of the East 

This time ten years ago:
Sadness at the death of Tadeusz Mosz 

This time 11 years ago:
Interpreting vs. translating vs. explaining

This time 12 years ago:
More than just an Iluzjon 

This time 13 years ago:
Oldschool photochallenge

This time 14 years ago:
Warsaw's wonderful nooks and crannies

This time 16 years ago:
Viaduct to the airport at ul. Poleczki almost ready

To Krężel, via Wygodne

I am continually seeking new, untrodden paths around the manor. Today's stroll took me along a sickle-shaped route to Krężel station, along a path between forest and orchard that forms Chynów's southern boundary; and on through the village of Wygodne, which lies between Chynów and Krężel. But first, a well-worn trail takes me parallel the railway line as far as the forest. 

Below: a local Koleje Mazowieckie train to town heads north. I have just under two hours to catch the train-after-next back to Chynów.

Below: the forest at Chynów's southern edge. A young forest, administered by Lasy Państwowe, Poland's state forestry enterprise. This is the first time I've pushed so far south into this forest.

Below: a curious stand of silver birches – not a forest; note the tended lawn at the feet of the trees, devoid of shrubs, bushes or weeds, and the distance separating the trees – too far apart for commercial forestry.

Below: ulica Graniczna (lit. 'Border Street') which demarcates the border between Chynów to the right and Krężel to the left. In the near distance, farm buildings. Reminds me of Kent.

Below: approaching the brow of the hill, ulica Warecka (Warecka – as in the road that leads to Warka). The road was upgraded in 2022; fresh asphalt (the old surface was execrable) and more safety features such as pedestrian crossings and improved signage.

Below: ul.Warecka, approaching the village of Wygodne (which means 'comfortable' as in 'comfortable trousers'*). Orchards dominate the landscape, as they do all the way down to Warka.

Below: wayside shrine, Wygodne. Pod Twoją obroną uciekamy się ('Under your protection we take refuge'), with the date 1989.

Below: wayside shrine, Krężel. Serce Jezusa pobogosław nas ('Heart of Jesus, bless us), with the date 1961. The road to the right separates Krężel (to the left) and Wygodne (to the right). Krężel station lies just behind the wood at the end of the road.

Below: the road running east from Krężel beyond the level crossing onward to Piekut and Henry Cow.

Below: waiting for the San - the Warsaw-Przemyśl InterCity express. A mere three coaches long (the last one being old-school stock, with those crappy doors that require a great deal of heft to open). The train is running to time, but still the stretch between Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Sandomierz is being covered by a replacement bus service as modernisation of that line runs on.

Watching the San disappearing down the converging parallel lines towards Michalczew, the lights of my train back to Chynów appear. Also on time. Over 14,000 paces walked today.

Bonus photos: I noticed the cabin (left) on ul. Warecka – it reminded me of the one (right) nearer to home on ul. Wolska in Chynów. Both were once bodywork carried by trucks manufactured by FSC Star during the communist era. Tens of thousands built. These were widely used for a range of applications – as mobile-command posts and radio vehicles for the army, as buses for the Militia, and for the fire services.  I'd guess from the faded red, these were used for the latter. Or army trucks painted over in a rust-proof primer. Whatever their provenance, they now serve as stationary toolsheds. The one on the left is from a six-wheeler, like a Star 266, the one on the right from a four-wheeler, like a Star 27 or Star 28.

* English adjectives come in one form. So: in English you have comfortable shirt (singular), comfortable trousers (plural). But in Polish: comfortable shirt = wygodna koszula (singular feminine); comfortable sweater = wygodny sweter (singular masculine); comfortable overcoat = wygodne palto (singular neuter). But the plurals are all the same: wygodne koszule (plural feminine); wygodne swetry (plural masculine); wygodne palta (plural neuter). So in Wygodne – as in the name of the settlement – is either singular neuter or a plural form.

 

This time two years ago:
Another canonical dream fits the picture

This time four years ago:
Knowing what 'good' looks like

This five years ago:
Sewer system extended up Trombity

This time six years ago:
What Happened at the Railway Inn (Part II)

This time nine years ago:
Demand and inequality in the global economy

This time ten years ago:
Sorry, takie mamy koleje

This time 11 years ago:
Visit to Warsaw's Jewish Cemetery

This time 12 years ago:
Under Rondo Dmowskiego 

This time 13 years ago:
My most favourite bridge

This time 14 years ago:
Street lighting under the snow

This time 15 years ago:
Ul. Poloneza - archival video before the S2 was built

This time 16 years ago:
Aerial juxtaposition over Jeziorki

Late July photo round-up

Gone are the greens, blue skies and dry days of mid-June; summer is hotter, the grass is yellowing, though downpours and humid air deliver moisture that refuses to make the landscape verdant.

Below: one for the record - the village of Dąbrowa Duża saw new asphalt laid; I can only hope that this stretch will continue as there's still no access over a proper road to the village from Machcin to the north. I might be generally anti-car, but mud is no friend of the pedestrian or cyclist either. It looks like another new house is about to be built to the right of the road; lots of house-building going on. As in Jeziorki, while the new houses are individual ones, it's not a problem; it's when developers buy up large plots and lay down dozens of terraced houses that things get bad. It will take decades for Warsaw's exurbs to stretch out to here.

Below: eternal Polish summer with rail infrastructure, between Janów and Michalczew. Ripening wheat under mature oaks and distant thunderclouds.

Left: Marian shrine, Janów, still beribboned at the end of July. This tiny village is blessed with two small grocery stores, and a third around the corner in Michalczew. I hope local folk are grateful for such a rich diversity of retail opportunity - Jakubowizna sorely lacks even one such shop!

Below: the moon - nearly full - rising over Chynów station. August will see two full moons at the beginning and end of the month, the latter being the 'harvest moon', big and bright enough to continue gathering crops long after the sun has set (assuming a clear sky of course).

To town. Until the beginning of September, the transversal line remains closed, so W-wa Ochota, W-wa Śródmieście and W-wa Powiśle cannot be reached by train. Below: massive works ongoing outside W-wa Zachodnia still disrupting rail services into town. My train from Chynów is diverted over the newly built viaduct, to the left of the photo, towards W-wa Gdańska.

As I wrote earlier, the disruptions are forcing me to discover parts of Warsaw I never knew too well before, such as Wola. Below: the modernisation of the tramline along ulica Kasprzaka is proceeding slowly.

Another alternative station, handy for tram services in and out of Śródmieście, Warsaw's downtown, is W-wa Rakowiecka. From here, regular trams whiz along ul. Grójecka into the city centre. 

Just off Grójecka my map app shows me an interesting feature - Skwer Dobrego Maharadży (lit. 'Good Maharaja Square). As squares go, it has a non-square ratio of approximately 20:1, being three-quarters of a kilometre in length and a mere 35m in width at most points. Still, as a green space separating the two sides of ul. Opaczewska, it is a beneficial feature for local people - I observed joggers, dog-walkers, parents with prams, elderly folk and cyclists making use of it. 

Who's the Good Marahaja then? It is Sir Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja (1895 –1966), Maharaja of Nawanagar.  Why was a (very long) square named after him in Poland in 2012? In 1942, he established the Polish Children's Camp in Jamnagar for refugee Polish children who were brought out of the USSR during World War II. Many ended up after the war in the UK, several of my Polish friends in Ealing's parents went through this camp.

Below: one thing I'm noticing more and more of is electric buses. Battery powered. At the end of the line, the bus terminal on ul. Karola Dickensa at Szczęśliwice is equipped with overhead chargers that transfer current to the batteries via a pantograph raised from the bus. A better solution than the trolleybus with all the clutter of cables stretched above city streets! 

Incidentally, a propos of Warsaw street names - those around before the war would Polonise the name (so Karola, not Charlesa, Dickensa and Ludwika, not Louisa, Pasteura); but more recent ones would leave the first name as is (so ul. Johna Lennona, aleja George'a Harrisona etc.)

"Sometimes you find a yearning for the quiet life/The country air and all of its joys" Yup, I sure as hell do! Below: sun-dappled forest, between Dąbrowa Duża and Machcin.

Below: Orchard Moonrise, Jakubowizna.

Town and country - yes; suburbia, however, has become a paradise lost to sprawl.

This time two years ago:
Stewardship of the Land, Jakubowizna

This time three years ago:
The cost of Covid complacency

This time four years ago:

Uprising commemoration - Day Three

This time five years ago:
Ahead of the Big Day

This time seven years ago:
Once in a blue moon

This time nine years ago:
A return to Snowdon - Wales' highest peak

This time ten years ago:
On the eve of Warsaw's Veturillo revolution

This time 12 years ago:
Getting ready for the 'W'-hour flypast

This time 13 years ago:
A century of Polish scouting

Hurry to the forest

The words of a Polish scouting song, which I'd sing over 50 years ago, come to my mind: Bracia skauci, dosyć kurzu, dosyć kurzu łykać nam. Trzeba spieszyć nam do lasu, by wypocząć trochę tam... ("Brother scouts, enough dust. enough dust for us to swallow. We must hurry to the forest, to rest a little there..." A long walk today. Below: following familiar paths, to my jumping-off point. The goal - to get to Rososz, through deep forest, skirting Dąbrowa Duża.

Below: but first, I must skirt Machcin II. My attention is drawn by this field of poppies - the first ones I've seen in any number this season.

Below: this is what I'm after - if there is a beaten track, it's one that's been beaten by hares and deer; this is not marching along a path, this is bending, stooping, clambering, double-backing, jumping ditches - a much slower pace. Although I covered over 14km, I only managed 16 minutes of medium- to high-intensity walking today. This is the kind of progress made when foraging for mushrooms.

In a little shop. I need bread and lentils; as I'm browsing, in pop Pan Heniek and Pan Ziutek. Amiably brusque, Pan Heniek places his order in the voice of a 40-a-day smoker: "Cztery najtańsze." [Four of the cheapest. (beers, obviously).] The shopkeeper, knowing her clientele, reaches for the required bottles and replies "Coś jeszcze?" [Something else?] "Szampon." [Shampoo.] "Jaki?" [Which kind?] she enquires. "Najtańszy." [The cheapest]. And then in pops a boy, obviously sent round by his mum, to buy a jar of mayonnaise. He, too, chooses the cheapest one of the three brands the shopkeeper offered. 

Left: Marian shrine at the convergence of five roads - the unpaved track to Machcin II in shot, to Zbyszków to the left, Dobiecin to the right and two roads into Rososz behind me.

The four people in the shop were the only humans I saw on my walk. Ah - and two tractor drivers seen from a distance.

Wildlife outnumbered humans: I also saw seven cranes; three walked across my path - cranes are massive birds - at first I thought they were runaway emus, but they were just across the way from the wetlands where I've already observed them, though from a greater distance. Further on, I entered a long, rectangular clearing, looked around, and saw a deer, about 80 meters away. It froze - I froze. Slowly my left hand reached for the telephoto zoom in my trouser cargo-pocket, but before I could change lenses, the deer turned, made a near-vertical bound, and disappeared off into the forest. With the long lens on, I could discern at the far end of the clearing another four cranes.

Below: after lunch (sausage, bread, beer) in this relatively less-dense part of the forest, I get on hands and knees to photograph this oak sapling - one of thousands growing here. Few will make it into maturity, destined to be crowded out or cut down.

Below: carved out of the forest of mature cultivated pine trees, a lane designated for the medium-tension power lines running north towards Machcin.

Almost home - the last bit of forest proper from my działka, before it gives way to orchards.

Spending four hours amid the trees, surrounded by nature, by birdsong, away from the traffic and noise and stress of civilisation is supremely good for the old samopoczucie.

Left: bonus shot - yesterday evening; Airbus A320 neo over Jakubowizna, turning into final approach to Okęcie. Play is an Icelandic airline, flying from Keflavik. The red of the plane against the blue and white caught my eye. Today marks the second month of flights of the airline to Warsaw.

This time last year:
Stills from Katowice

This time two years ago:
Prepare to have your horizons broadened

This time 12 years ago:
Szmulowizna

This time 13 years ago:
Jeziorki's Storm of Storms

This time 15 years ago:
How to tell you're flying over Poland

This time 16 years ago:
Poppy fields

Under azure

The optimal public holiday configuration: Monday 1 May off work, Tuesday 2 May a bridge day, Wednesday 3 May another public holiday. Optimal weather - like yesterday, a crystalline azure sky, cloudless from horizon to horizon. And - due to a stiff westerly breeze - not too hot. Join me for a stroll round the neighbourhood.

Below: the western end of my street is Chynów, rather than Jakubowizna, and is officially named ulica Owocowa ('fruity street'). Apple tree saplings surround the house; the mobile-telephony relay tower on the horizon.

Below: Chynów's ul. Szkolna has a lovely and well-kept Marian shrine - note the flags (white and red for Poland, white and yellow for the Vatican, and blue and white for the Blessed Virgin Mary. May is the Marian month, hence the flags are out.

Below: entering Chynów from the south-west; crossing the bridge over the river Czarna. In the distance the white building is the town hall. This is the old DK50, bypassed in 2007, and as it's a public holiday - the traffic's mercifully light. Turn right for ul. Mostowa.

Below: here's ul. Mostowa linking the bridge to ul. Wolska that runs west to Widok, crossing the railway line on the way. 

Below: ul. Słoneczna rising modestly. The road to the left is on maps as ul. Działkowa, but the street sign says ul. Działowa (click to enlarge).

Below: across the tracks; water tank on the edge of an apple orchard - fringed by a pair of cherry trees. Let's go under one and look up towards the sky through the blossom…

Below: …and here it is - sublime cherry blossom at its finest.

Below: turn left for my part of Jakubowizna. Larks will sing.

Below: a well-invested orchard on the corner of my road - young trees, readily deployable protective netting, sensors, irrigation. One of about 20 orchards that line either side of the street.

Left: the wood next door to my działka; birches and pines. I love looking at it from my kitchen table, on which I work, facing this scenery.

Below: back on the działka - my own private paradise, my own acre. The wood is to the right of the fence. [Not too happy about the darker splodge of sky - looks like a Photoshopped burn-in - it's not; the polarising filter does that.]

13K paces walked today - a relaxing 1st of May. Rain tomorrow - good - the land is getting dry; the fruit trees and bushes need water.

This time last year: 
Łady roadworks
(similar weather!)

This time two years:
S7 extension works

This time three years ago:

Back to the działka after eight weeks locked down

This time four years ago:

Vol 2. of Bevis's Betjeman biography

This time five years ago:
New roads and rails

This time six years ago:
The Gold Train shoot - lessons learned

This time seven years ago:
The Network vs The Hierarchy in politics

This time eight years ago:
45 years under one roof

This time nine years ago:
Digbeth, Birmingham 5

This time ten years ago:
Still months away from the opening of the S2/S79 

This time 11 years ago: 
Looking at progress along the S79  

This time 13 years ago:
Two Polands

This time 14 years ago:
A delightful weekend in the country

This time 15 years ago:
The dismantling of the Rampa

This time 16 years ago:
Flag day

Wayside shrines - Lent 2023: Day 43

Easter Sunday is approaching rapidly, the weather is chilly for the time of year, but walking is a must. And walking around Gmina Chynów, I come across a large number of local wayside shrines, at least one per village. Not being affiliated to any parish, I don't know about their history - in particular whether the local church directed their erection, or whether local folk just decided to put one up, to what extent these were community initiatives or just the whim of individual householders or families. The inscriptions on the shrines generally have one common thread - they are supplications to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking for good fortune, and to be spared misfortune.

Below: One of three shrines in the village of Staniszewice (pop. 81).

Below: the other two shrines in Staniszewice. Clearly, people have an urge to build these. 

On my walk today (11,900 paces), I passed five shrines - one in Jakubowizna, three in Widok (plus one large wooden cross) and one in Dąbrowa Duża. None particularly awe-inspiring (especially not on a cold and cloudy evening), but providing some comfort, some local frame of reference. A touchpoint to the Eternal? Or just a familiar element of everyday life?

Rural Mazowsze is full of such shrines, often on private land but facing the road, testament to the enduring power of faith among a population that still sows and reaps in time with the seasons. The supernatural determines droughts and late frosts, hail storms and pests. 

[If you are interested, have a look at this website which seeks to catalogue wayside shrines across Poland - only Małopolska province has more than Mazowsze]

O Traveller that passes by - spare but a thought for Providence; express gratitude for the bounties it may have conferred upon you.

We live our lives as pilgrims through space and time, relentlessly moving on; some of us just borne along by the stream, some of us fighting vainly against it, and some of us aware of what's going on and willing an optimal outcome. For me, these wayside shrines, largely lacking in aesthetic or metaphysical values (I find standing stones more powerful!) are reminders that we all live on the edge of chaos. Conscious supplications help steer that unthinking wave of misfortune - disease, tragic accidents, hunger, violence, as long as they are delivered in advance, with sincerity, and that gratitude be expressed when all ends well.

Lent 2022: Day 43

Spirit of Place and Metaphysics

Lent 2021: Day 43

Doubt and Curiosity

Lent 2020: Day 43

Quartodecimalism, or the fixing of the date of Easter

Horizons

Good photography weather - brisk wind moves scattered clouds across the sky, dappling the landscape with patches of sun that will either illuminate the foreground or the horizon, or neither, or both, the sky itself capable of turning in some drama. Photos from three recent walks, all three being at least 16,000 paces (12km+). Of late, I've been catching a bus, buying a 20-minute ticket (3.40zł/ 60p)and walking home, extending my range and opening new vistas.

Below: lit by strong sunshine, the chimneys of Siekierki, 13km to the north-east. In the foreground farm buildings along ulica Złota, Nowy Podolszyn.

Below: Looking north-east from Podolszyn, sunlit blocks of flats in Ursynów; on the horizon, the chimneys of the Siekierki power station.

Below: looking at Zamienie from the west; four cranes suggest more high-rise developments on the edge of town. Nearest to the camera, Osiedle wśród pól, ('the estate among the fields') which will soon be engulfed by other estates. Note the distant airliner - it's approaching the airport from over Ursynów on RWY 29 as the usual RWY 33 (flying in over Jeziorki) is closed for maintenance.

Below: looking at Nowa Wola from the ulica Polna, which runs from Lesznowola through the fields of Podolszyn to Nowy Podolszyn.

Below: looking north from the fields between Nowa Wola and Podolszyn towards Warsaw, a LOT Embraer ERJ 175 departs from RWY 11, Okęcie airport. Note the shimmering heat haze - which surprised me, because there was a cold wind blowing in from the north.

Below: looking south from the new viaduct that connects Nowa Wola and Zgorzała; the S7 extension, flanked by service roads runs on the next junction, Węzeł Lesznowola.

Below: looking east from the new viaduct towards Piaseczno, housing estates of Nowa Wola and Nowa Iwiczna in between.

Below: sunset in the fields between Dawidy Bankowe, Zamienie and Łady

Below: ploughed field between Podolszyn and the Novisa Modern estate, under construction at the northern end of Nowa Wola, in the English style.

 

Below: Warsaw's skyline stretches out along the horizon - looking north along ulica Polna as it makes its way from Lesznowola via Podolszyn to Nowy Podolszyn. Asphalted at either end, there's still an 850m gap; this stretch at least is hardened, the next bit is little more than a muddy track.

Below: ulica Gryczna (lit. 'Buckwheat Street'), s dirt-track road leading from Podolszyn towards Zamienie 

For some topical perspective - wayside shrine, Nowy Podolszyn, a banner in Ukrainian colours, and on it the supplication from the Trisagion - 'From air [ie tempests], hunger, fire and wars, rescue us, O Lord'. On the notice board there's a leaflet in Ukrainian with information for refugees; next to in, in Polish, a leaflet explaining how local people can help.

Below: bonus horizon in the snow, taken on 2 April. A train of empty coal wagons heads back south along the electrified main line, between W-wa Dawidy and W-wa Jeziorki. Unusually heavy snowfall for April.

This time three years ago:
Helping others? Couldn't hurt

This time five years ago:
Local ornithology

This time nine years ago:
A hare in Wyczółki

This time ten years ago:
Warsaw by night

This time 11 years ago:

Tales of the Riverbank

This time 12 years ago:
Okęcie before the funerals

This time 13 years ago:
At the General's house