2018-04-14 49 19

Location

A tavern(?) at Międzybrodzkie Lake.

According to Google Maps, today's coordinates fall in the grassy yard of a private-owned guesthouse/tavern/mooring at the shore of Międzybrodzkie Lake within the limits of Międzybrodzie Bialskie village. It looks like a nice place.

Participants

Malgond
his family.

Plans

Go there by car, have a nice afternoon at the lake and maybe a snack at the tavern (if it turns out any good).

Expedition

Sadly, this expedition was marked by failures and disappointments. Nevertheless, no failure prevents a dedicated geohasher from having a nice adventure even if it goes not quite as planned.

Since it was Saturday, I originally planned to arrive there by hash o'clock to boost my pathetic centurion achievement just a little bit. I intended to set out at 2 p.m. to get there before 4 p.m. - but you know how it goes with kids. In the end we set out at a quarter to four. The weather was wonderful - sunny with a clear light-blue early-spring sky. Our planned route led us south along the dual-carriage road towards Zakopane, then west along route 52 towards Bielsko-Biała, the "capital" of the graticule. We've passed the towns of Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Wadowice and Andrychów and turned south towards Porąbka and Międzybrodzie Bialskie, our destination.

On the route 7 near Mogilany.
The road through the hills.
Approaching Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. Bernardines Monastery on the hill.
The hills turned into mountains.
Crossing Soła river on a narrow one-lane bridge.
The dam of the Międzybrodzkie Lake.
The dam close-up.
High-voltage pylons on the side of the Żar Mountain...
...leading to the pumped-storage hydroelectric plant.
Our destination.

I have turned on a narrow driveway of the guesthouse and parked on a lawn before the gate. Unfortunately, the venue was closed. Nobody responded to the doorbell. The grassy space and the tree under which the hashpoint was located was clearly visible, but unaccessible. At first I though we may be able to get close enough by going along the fence, but the neighbouring lot was guarded by a yellow gate with a 'no tresspassing sign'.

The guesthouse and the tavern are closed.
The grassy courtyard with the hashpoint.
The hashtree.
A fence along the yard.
A closed gate.

I had to officially declare a failure. That was the first disappointment of the day. But it wasn't the end of the expedition! I would not be myself if I hadn't a backup plan. The hash was located in a really picturesque and interesting area. A nice artificial lake surrounded by high mountains, one of which houses in its bowels the second largest hydroelectric plant in Poland - 500 megawatts of power from a water flowing down inside a mountain. The water, that had been pumped up to the top by the same plant.

The power plant can be seen on the other shore.
Pylons on the mountainside.
Pylons close-up.

The Żar Mountain

We got back to the car and I drove towards my secondary destination - the top of the Żar mountain with the upper reservoir of the hydro plant. I haven't been there for years. While planning the expedition I have surveyed on Google Maps that there's a parking lot just 250 meters shy from the top and checked Street View that it is accessible; the 'no traffic' roadsign blocked the access only to the very top section of the road. And there was a pizza house at the top. We drove along a sunny countryside marveling at beautiful sights of the mountains covered in just-budding forests and observed paragliders and gliders launching from the Żar airfield (ICAO: EPZR).

I was eager to drive the windy road towards the mountaintop. However, just after the third hairpin, to my (second this day) great disappointment, there appeared a 'no traffic' sign - and just before it there was a patch of terrain serving as a private parking lot guarded by a somewhat drunk highlander. He demanded ten zlotys, but I was able to bargain it down to five. All in all, it was already a way past 5 p.m. and the lot was almost empty.

That unpleasant experience did not spoil my mood. I have grabbed the backpack I had prepared for the expedition and declared to my family that we're going to walk to the top. The younger boy grabbed the walking stick I carved for him last Sunday he insisted to take on this trip (like he knew what was awaiting him!) I haven't checked how far is it from this place to the top (I theoretically could do it using our car's navigation system) but I have estimated in my mind it should be two-three kilometers (but did not tell it to anybody). It turned out to be five as I later measured.

When I walked up to the roadsign I was able to read the plate that was posted below it. It stated that the traffic prohibition does not apply to land owners and residents above and that it is valid from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. This is a sorry state of affairs in Poland - sometimes local residents are able to pressure local authorities to post such 'no traffic for anybody but us' signs on a public road arguing that the traffic disturbs their peace or whatever. If it were a private road I would not complain at all, but this is evidently a public road leading to a nation-critical facility built on public expense! Why tourists can't enjoy riding to the top of that mountain? The hours restriction was ridiculous as well - what sense it makes to drive up there after sunset? Wouldn't it disturb the residents' peace much more in late hours? Or maybe the sign was posted to secure business for state-owned cable-railway that operates from where the parking lot is to the top of the mountain? Of course the railway was all closed up at this hour and season.

Anyway we embarked on our uphill march. Some cars passed by us driving up, not all having local plates. Some people evidently ignored that sign. On our way we met two crazy men riding down on skateboards and braking sideways when a car was driving up, a stray dog that suddenly decided to accompany us quite a long way and two roe deers that slowly retreated into a thicket when they saw us. The signs of upcoming spring were everywhere: marsh-marigolds at a ditch, violets at a hillside and a lot of budding leaves on tree-branches. We've encountered an old wooden chapel with a bell on top (which is quite unusual) and a strange image of Holy Mary. A lane leading down from the chapel was named 'Under the Bell' indeed.

View from above the parking lot to cable-railway station.
Crazy skateboarders.
Walking uphill.
A stray dog.
Roe deer's butt.
Roe deer looking back at us.
Mountains in the lowering sun.
Marsh-marigolds at the roadside ditch.
An old chapel with a bell on top.
A strangely-looking icon.

It was getting dark slowly and I pressed on in hope we reach the top before sunset. The older boy started to complain that it is unfair: his brother has a walking stick and he hasn't. I told him to find a suitable fallen branch at the roadside and used my trusty Victorinox to cut and carve a stick for him. We walked along some homes, then along a dark forest and finally we've seen the high banks of the mountaintop reservoir. They look really impressive. There was no time to take photos and the light was unfavourable for my compact camera, but you can view them on Google Maps here.

In the end we've got to the top just before the sunset. An armed guard at the facility and his German shepherd dog gave us a stern look over the fence but they did not protest when I took a photo of the reservoir for you. We've enjoyed the magnificent views as long as the light lasted. The pizza house was closed (that was the third disappointment this day) - it's opening hours were apparently synchronized with the railway's. Kids started complaining they are hungry but their dad was well-prepared. I produced military food rations out of my backpack only to conclude that I had forgot to take plastic utensils from our car (a fourth disappointment). I proposed to carve spoons out of the walking sticks, but the boys protested. The girls protested as well saying it is cold and windy up there and we'd better walk down to the car and eat there. It was quarter past seven.

Sunset at the Żar mountain.
The mountaintop reservoir.
View to the northwest.
View to the southwest.
It's almost dark.

So we walked back down in the falling darkness. Soon the stars appeared in the sky, but I was not able to observe them because I left my regular glasses in the car and had to walk with the tinted glasses on all the way down. While we were walking along an unlit section of the road, two crazy cyclist whizzed by us with great speed without any headlights! Finally we got to the car. Luckily, the parking lot was lit quite well, so I did not have much trouble heating our food with special flameless heaters. Everyone had some of delicious military baked beans in tomato sauce with sausage, delicious military chicken with rice and veggies and delicious military bigos, with some bread and spring water (bottled). We've got back home just before midnight. It was a really nice adventure!


Sat 14 Apr 2018 in 49,19: 49.7832175, 19.1991100 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox