Autor: Ania

Orienteering event in Puszcza Bukowa

My desire to be in the bosom of nature didn’t stop with us coming back to Poland. Sure, this has been a hectic time for us with the move and me starting working full-time, but these are the days like this one that keep me going. Our friends Magda and Michał are frequent contestants of orienteering events and I always wanted to join them on a trail. So yet another „to-do” thing to be crossed out 🙂 Theoretically it was only a 10 km route, however you needed to double it to get to the starting point and came back to the car. So all in all we closed this soggy but rain-free day with ~22 km.

 

The start was at the Lion’s Mouth fire place in Bukowa Forest. I really intend to get to know this forest better. It’s close to us, vast and beautiful. And the names of the places are so funny. I have to say, the organizers did a great job. There was a fire place, maps, 10 orienteering points to be found and lovely prizes for everybody who attended. I was very excited to be taking part in this event.

 

Group photo credit: Arek Arecki

The route was very pleasant and the points were really easy to find. We struggled only once (which actually cost us the place on the podium but I’ll come to this later). I had so much fun on the trail, it was pure pleasure to me. Have a look at the photos from the contest.

Radek and I finished fourth. The first two places were taken by runners and we lost by seconds with a third couple. Radek was pouting a bit because we decided to run the very last part and I slowed him down with my turtle pace. And I didn’t let him leave me 🙂 Well, you decided what’s better – winning a podium place or being a decent husband 🙂

We will sure be back the next year!

Seagulls in Międzyzdroje

I don’t remember having such beautiful autumn in Poland. It’s absolutely outstanding! I guess global warming is getting us faster than we think. Anyway, I can’t complain. I simply love it and it made my return to our home country way easier. We also try to benefit from it as much as we can, so we made our way to the seaside. Many people think Szczecin is at the seaside. It’s not 🙂 But it’s not that far and Baltic sea makes a perfect one-day destination for us.

Międzyzdroje is kind of a celebrities’ resort at our shore line. Of course – polish standards 🙂 Off the season it is reasonably calmer, a bit less tacky but still full of life which is good (especially if you travel with children). So we made a walk around but our obvious destination was the seaside.

The shore was surprisingly calm. We didn’t walk too much, we just laid down on the sand, enjoyed the sunshine, built sand castles and played by the water. Oh, and we watched the seagulls. We finished the day with a stroll on the famous jetty and fish and chips. Kids loved it!

Discovering France and Switzerland in summer

This summer was abundant in adventures. Lovely weather made it possible to go and see many beautiful places. Have a look at compilation of photos from various places we saw in this period.

Arles:

Avignon:

Bories:

 Lausanne:

Gordes:

Montreux:

Pernes Les Fontaines:

Pont du Gard:

Rolle:

St Remy de Provence:

Photo contest

A huge advantage of coming back to Poland is that there are so many events going on around and we can actually take part in them. There is nothing that stops us, no language barriers, no elevated costs, no problem with care for Wojtek. We really enjoy this a lot in our city.
Anyway, we learnt there was a photo contest for amateurs. The theme was: alteration. Radek thought it would be fun to participate and together with our friends he went on location to shoot 🙂

There was a limited time for this challenge. He treated the motif very strictly. Have a look at the photos he made (and I  processed later).

We didn’t win but it was lots of fun trying 🙂

Refuge de Tête Rousse (3167 m)

It’s official, we started preparations to Mont Blanc trip. The idea hatched for a long time but now it materialized and we’re very happy about this. My friend introduced us to Jacek who had the same dream and we started planning it together. So if everything goes well, next year we will set foot on the highest peak of Europe. Meanwhile… We’re doing preparations. We decided to follow the Mont Blanc route as far as possible without any special gear and got as high as  Refuge de Tête Rousse – the refuge we will be staying in during our next year trip. I’m so excited! Also, it’s symbolic. This will be our final hike in the area, we won’t have time for anything else, so we will close the season with  Tête Rousse, and open it the next year with the same route (only extended).

As you can see, we didn’t have inviting conditions, but we decided to give it a try anyway. We’re all experienced in mountains and Jacek is also a runner so we weren’t afraid of the challenges. We continued in a super fast pace (it was Jacek who led and he clearly was fitter than us – I guess running marathons gives you a good deal of stamina – I must try this!). So in nearly no time we reached Barrack Forrestiere from where it was already quite close to the refuge. And where the snow began.

We went past a couple of daredevils willing to claim Mont Blanc. Not the best idea taking into consideration that the Gouter Couloir was closed due to heavy rock falls and there have been a number of deaths recently. I guess some people can’t argue with their call for adventure. But that’s not us. We reached Tête Rousse, warmed up considerbaly there and went down to the base using the same route. Radek got stomach upset yet again so it was a bit of a challenge for him to get down but eventually he made it. We didn’t see Blanc that day, but we will see it next year! Au revoir!

Stats: max elevation: 3127m, Elevation gain: 1370m, Distance: 14,3km, Time: 6h 15min (+45 min break in the refuge).

Goodbye Jura

Finally, the heat is over! Isn’t that great news? Although, I must admit, the change is huge as in Jura it was around 4 dg. C today. Only 30 less than a couple of days ago 🙂 Anyway, not much time left for us so we’re saying farewell to Jura. It’s the chain that we saw every day from our windows, where Radek took his first ski lessons, where I made my first hiking trips back in 2010. We’re taking lots of memories with us. Jura, we will miss you greatly!

Les Via Ferrata du Rochers de la Chaux

Yet another Via Ferrata. We called this one: „A VF on a vertical rock” because indeed, it was vertical 🙂 There were two possible routes to follow, we chose an easier one and I think it was a good decision. Not that the easier route was challenging or anything, but the other one looked super difficult from where we were standing. Or better say: from where we were hanging 🙂

For sure, this one is not for people with vertigo. There is no place to recover, once you’re there, you need to hide your fears, tiredness and continue up. A look back down gives you this nice panorama on a town in mountain valley. Have a look at the movie we made there:

Refuge Albert 1er (2706 m)

We’re really having a proper ending of our stay near the Alps. Each hike brings us to more and more beautiful places. Theoretically, we know them all – we’ve seen Galcier du Tour a couple of times earlier but never in a close up like today.

Although… we were very close to resign from a todays hike and I think it was only a matter of reason that we continued. I don’t know, it never happened to me earlier that I really considered turning back on a trail, but that particular day, in temperatures exceeding 35 dg. C, it felt like a real ordeal to me do these first metres up. But eventually we made it (with lots of stops) and I don’t regret after all.

I love glaciers, I really do! It was worth every doubt, every moment of hesitance to reach it.

I can’t believe it’s over – our last hikes in this area. I have so many mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I understand that our move will bring us lots of good and that we wanted it, but on the other hand we’ll be living in the plains, so far from any mountains… So sad.

Stats: Max altitude: 2706 m, elevation gain: 1240m, duration: 5h 45min, distance: 11km