April 15,2015

1,276 kilometre in 41world walk days. Current location : Szwecja, Poland.

There were bicycle paths for my first two days walking in Poland. Then shortly after Gorzow Wielkopolski they were gone, and I was walking on the gravel hard shoulder or when traffic permitted it on the road towards vehicles. In countries where drivers are civilised, they are usually considerate too. All it takes is a wave and if there is nothing coming from behind me they usually move out and allow me to continue walking on the road. On wider roads this tends to work well and more relaxing than on narrow, tighter roads.
That day I also saw my first snake of the world walk, it was about a foot long, probably dead, I didn't want to ask! Next day it took me an extraordinary amount of time to get started. Eventually at 2pm I was walking. My walking pace is about 5km per hour, just over 3 mph. That's when there are now stops, as even brief stops to take photos,
toilet, quick snacks, talking to people, checking my location; all this time quickly adds up, real pace can be 4kph, two and a half miles and that's without taking a proper break. So that day I made somewhat of a recovery when I finished at midnight with 39 km pulled out of the proverbial fire for my late start. I wanted to do 40 but didn't look a gift horse in the eye when I came upon a restaurant which had a couple of sheltered picnic tables. As it was closed for the night I just lay my sleeping bag out on one of them, luxury!
Just as I was pulling myself out of
my sleeping bag the staff arrived to open up the restaurant for breakfast. At first I don't think they were too impressed but once inside I was making more friends.
Magdalena Górska was telling me that she would love to go and live in Scotland but the problem is she now has found a ' fantastic man '
I asked would fantastic man not go to Scotland and was told no as fantastic man had a fantastic mechanic business here in Poland.
I had my own fantastic day striding through yet another national park and was content to stop just beyond the marathon mark, it was 9pm when I pitched my tent in the forest. There were definitely some strange animal sounds coming from outside my tent! Once or twice even my tummy rumbling startled me while I lay still in my sleeping bag! I am told that there are no bears in northern Poland where I am, they are further south and in the mountains. This area it's more wild boar!
In the morning I was awoken by what sounded like a woodpecker, I almost expected him to sing his woodpecker song! It was a hot day and my progress was slow. After stopping in Walcz for a big lunch I continued up route 22. I got stopped by a man called Karol who was walking with his son. I am assured that he is at my disposal if I need any help, an amazing country, such friendly people. I continued as far as a small village called Szwecja where I sat down under a bus shelter for a cup of tea from my thermos. No sooner had I poured my tea when a nice middle-aged couple pulled up in their car to welcome me to their village! Wladystaw and his wife Jadwiga Naranowicz invited me to stay in their home and just to firm up the arrangement they phoned their daughter, a fluent English speaker who lives in Barcelona! I tell you, modern day travel is so great! So, Wladyslaw insists on wheeling Karma back a kilometre from the direction I had just come!
Back at their house over dinner we had a great chat! They used a pen and paper and a Polish/English dictionary, I used google translate on my smartphone. Answering their question as to why I wear a whistle on a string around my neck, I said...
" I blow it at the pretty Polish women!" So after they showed me pictures of Marcelina their daughter in Barcelona, I was blowing it so loud that the dog ran away! Then their son Marek, who speaks English came in.
"But why have you really got it Tony?" Wladyslaw persisted.
Well you know the way they say if you come across wild bears to play loud music? Well I don't think they will wait around long enough for me to search for that song called 'Teddy Bear Blues!'
Fogra: Am on the lookout for a major sponsor!
Fogra Eile: Anyone that wants to sponsor a day is more than welcome! Thank you! Please see the 'how to help' page on www.myworldwalk.com
Or if more convenient by PayPal on my old world run website www.theworldjog.com/blog

View more pictures here https://www.facebook.com/tony.mangan.14?fref=ts