Biking the Trail of the Eagle’s Nests [BCL366 – Episode 8 – Poland]

We’re Traveling by Bike for ONE YEAR.

In this episode we’re cycling the Route Trail of the Eagle’s Nests from Częstochowa to Krakow.

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(The events shown in this video happened during the months of August and September 2022).

Thanks to our trusted review team – you know who you are. And thanks to Adriana and Alain for the French subtitles. And a special thanks YOU – you also know who you are 😉

A Film by Henry Bech. All rights reserved.

Almost two months have passed since we started our journey all the way up in the Arctic Circle. And a lot has changed. Our next route was not on our road map until a couple of days ago. Several bike enthusiasts in Warsaw told us that this is a particularly nice ride.

Having felt nothing but kindness and hospitality since we arrived here in Poland, we saw no reason to doubt their claim. Because we no longer plan to be anywhere at any particular point in time, we simply adjusted our direction and committed to the idea. Travelling without a destination offers a freedom that we have

Rarely felt in our lives before. A privilege that we’re now making sure to take full advantage of. The next four days are going to be just that. Freedom wrapped in castles, trails and forests. Excited to begin the journey, we rush out of the starting gate.

And we make it a full 600 meters before the first break of the day announces itself. Well, let’s make the wait worth the while. We are in central Europe now, and Częstochowa where the trail starts is located in the southern part of Poland. The trail will take us around 200 kilometers further

South to the city of Krakow. Dividing the route into four parts gives us the time we need to go at a moderate pace and still have time to stop and smell the eagle’s nests. For a non-mountainous route, it’s fairly hilly and we will ride around 10 meters of incline per kilometer.

With the train out of the way, we finally reach the trail. And it seems to be well marked. This should be easy enough to navigate. Before we even have time to stop for coffee, the first eagle’s nest reveal itself. It dates back to the 14th century and it’s a tremendous sight.

We can smell the coffee around the corner now. And sure enough, a small village appears. There is a solid number of places to eat here. It is still too early for lunch though. We do a quick check-in with the local wildlife. Dead as well as alive.

We just started riding and already we are submerged in deep forests. We arrive in a cozy little city where we’re gonna spend the night. What’s the city called? Zarki We look like shit. We are so dirty. We suddenly realize that it’s been sunny non-stop for almost two weeks now.

We might get wet tomorrow. Weather is different today. It’s wet and it’s about 18 degrees. It’s good biking weather. We are hoping for more eagle’s nests today, as opposed to yesterday, where we only had one. The gray clouds vanish more or less as soon as we leave Zarki.

A night of downpour has left its mark on the trails low. So we circumnavigate multiple lake-sized puddles. Cobblestones. These are working pretty good. It was so bumpy but I didn’t even feel it. So that was good. So thank you tires. Thank you tires. Thank you hill? Thank you hill.

For being my friend and making me a better driver. Rider. It’s not a car We have arrived in… lige til frokosttid And how hungry are you? The term eagles nests refer to the location where these castles are built. Like the way the eagles built their nests in hard to reach places, these castles

Are situated on top of hills on narrow rocks. They were built to protect Krakow, the capital city in the early days of the Polish state. The eagle is also represented in the Polish national flag. One legend describes a white eagle guarding her nest. Wings majestically spread out against the

Red backdrop of the setting sun. It’s very quiet out here. And it’s day 3 on the trail of the eagles nests. And we have a short day again today. It’s only gonna be 40-ish kilometers. But we’re gonna get some inclines. At least two big ones. So we can always look forward to that.

This is not easy at all. The hardest part of this trail so far. That’s where we are. Tomorrow we’ll be in Krakow. And were are we staying? At a warmshower. On our way to dinner at the American Embassy in Poland. It’s gonna be great. This part has become slightly more

Technical and thereby more fun. The castles and the ruins has become a secondary quality of this ride. I think we should just name it the trail. It’s not because the castles are not incredible. They definitely are. It’s a very good trail. But the forests, the villages and the

Jurassic Highland that the trail passes through is absolutely stunning. We should name it the very good trail. We call this dog’s owner. And apparently it’s just really, really old and lives in the forest here. That was UP! It’s all downhill for the last two kilometers. What is this? What is this? It’s Krakow.

Wow – that tastes good! We ride to our warmshowers host Paulina’s place. She’s going out to meet some friends for the evening. So we hang out in her kitchen. and make a classical Polish discount dinner. In the morning, Paulina makes breakfast and while she’s at work, we go out to explore Krakow.

In the evening we meet up with our dear host again and she takes us out to a sneaky local place with a view. Okay Poland, this is it. You have been great. It’s hard to beat Finland in the supermarket test. For the first time in a long time I’m actually cold.