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Saturday, 1 May 2021

Poland: Greater Poland Camino

To be honest the Camino route across Poland is not really very exciting. The landscape is dead flat, there is very little forest but endless fields. The trail is often routed over paved roads. There was no protection against the ice cold winds, rain and snow. But there were lovely sections along the river Odra or the many beautiful tree alleys. I discovered lots of interesting village churches and cemeteries, often still with German tombstones. Because of the winter temperatures people weres still heating their houses. Thick black smoke came out of the chimneys which smelled horrible. At least for this reason the Corona face masks were of advantage...

Lubin monastery church
Highlight of this section was the monastery in Lubin. Despite lockdown the monks let me stay in their guesthouse. I had expected a drab dormitory but there were modern single ensuite rooms even with Wifi. The monks even brought me something to eat for dinner. During morning mass it was freezing cold in the huge church ...
The Camino now led me through ChÅ‚apowski landscape park - but if I had not know it is a landscape park I would not have realized it ... ChÅ‚apowski was a pioneer of agriculture and introduced new methods which meant that the entire landscape park consisted mainly of endless flat fields.
Unfortunately the Camino is routed over mostly concrete although better alternatives exist nearby which I used instead.
Still my feet were hurting when I finally reached Poznan (and the end of the Camino walking for me!).
I stayed in an incredibly luxurious holiday apartment in Poznan with even a bath tub to recover from my first 10 days of hiking. And I loved Poznan with its beautifully restored city centre!

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