Apart from the screeching critter last night, we had a nice nights sleep in the Polish forest. We were up fairly early to beat the heat. First stop, the Biebrza national park. We drove around all over the place trying to find the office, but eventually got there.

We did a couple of walks there, but they were pretty boring through forests. We were hoping to see a moose or a wolf, but saw nothing, not even a bird. But, we figured we were getting exercise, so it wasn’t a total waste. While we were out walking , I got a text message on my phone saying they would be implementing border control into Poland from Lithuania and Germany from today. No idea why, but glad we came in yesterday.

There was also a short walk along a boardwalk out over the wetlands, and there was a camera crew out there photographing stuff, but we didn’t see anything. Like I’ve said before, we’re useless tourists.

We stopped at a neat little town called Tykocin. On the way in, we checked out the castle from the outside,  a red brick structure with a round tower, perched beside the river. It had a restaurant inside, but the museum was closed.

Then we headed into the town itself, which had a charming main square. A baroque church stood at one end, its pale yellow and white facade and twin towers giving the place an olde worldy vibe. I wanted to look inside but Mike said I couldn’t because I had a sleeveless top on. Not sure when he became an expert on such things. I peeked inside anyway, and it was very fancy, but similar to other churches we’d seen.

Around the square, a few food trucks and souvenir stalls were set up, clearly geared for visitors. It seemed like we were redeeming ourselves by stumbling on a tourist town. Except there were no tourists here, just us!

There was a street bar with bored-looking staff, but it smelled amazing. We checked out the menu, had no idea what anything was, and just went with the first item: Kartacze. When it arrived, it looked… interesting. A white mound topped with bacon and a gherkin on the side. I sliced into it and found meat inside.

Turned out it was meat wrapped in a potato dumpling, and it was absolutely delicious. The gherkin, marinated in salt, was also really tasty. It was the first food stall we’ve actually come across on this trip. We’ve been pretty hopeless at finding local cuisine, so it was nice for a change.

We then walked along a cobblestoned path that followed the river. It was picturesque, with old buildings, trees, and some benches along the way. There were information placards scattered along the path, though the content was a bit depressing. They described how the Jewish community was rounded up during WWII and taken away. We also passed the synagogue, but it was closed for the day.

By the time we’d finished sightseeing, the other tourists were arriving. Maybe we just time things right.

The rest of the day was spent driving, and trying to keep off the busy main roads. Drivers here are insane. They drive soo fast, and overtake dangerously and I don’t feel very safe on the roads here. The side roads seem better and take us through farmland and little villages, and occasional rutted dirt roads. We got onto a very badly corrugated road today and had to turn around and backtrack, it was that bad!

We eventually found the camping spot I was heading for. It’s a free spot by a river and there were already four other campervans there, so we found a spot in the shade and joined them. We were both so shattered, possibly from the heat, that we just collapsed for an afternoon nap. And it would have been very peaceful if it wasn’t for our neighbours yapping dogs. They were mongrels and didn’t like anyone. I tried to be friendly to them, but they preferred to yap at me than make friends. But we were too tired to care.

It’s actually a really nice spot. There’s a sandy beach and a river you can swim in. We were so hot, we jumped right in. A safety rope was strung across to stop you going too far, and the water only came up to our waists, but it was still great to cool off, even if the water was pretty brown.

I think tomorrow we are heading to the city of Lublin that Kasia recommended. Hope it’s not too busy.