Wed20Jul16: Augustow – Lomza, Poland (122.0km, 1,543.1km YTD)

Relaxing and restful night, everything normal for once, and sharing a bathroom between two rooms with four guys is interesting but do-able.  Up at 6am, easily packed when there’s no camping gear involved, another substantial meal for breakfast, and the weather looks great – cool 17C, calm, and not a cloud in the sky.  John (USA), who is an ER doctor, slips on the stairs while carrying his day bag downstairs and slices his elbow open - Barb (USA) is a 'nurse practitioner' and Peter (USA) is an ER doctor, so he's being treated by the best.

Heading through the city of Augustow, then southwest into the countryside, and off leaving Highway #8 on a sideroad.  Wonderful smooth and lightly travelled rural road, tall trees on both sides, then open farmland with tobacco harvesting,

and crossing the Augustow Canal at 30km. 

Then the route continues on dirt road through the marshlands bordering the canal, lots of grassland and wild flowers, then a bridge back into pavement and civilisation at 38km.

Pavement in this part of Europe can be ‘smooth’ on the major highways or ‘rough’ in rural areas because it’s made with large aggregate, then there’s ‘oil surface’ which is smooth when new but can be rough as dirt roads after it’s repeatedly patched.

Lunch is in the forest along Road #668 at 65km, another lovely setting in the pines, Shirley & Dan are relaxing there, Chris and Peter have already departed.

Continuation of the rough oiled surface in the forest, but gradually improving as we pass through good farmland and approach Lomza.  Traffic is backed up in this town, the highways just can’t handle the vehicle flow, but it’s great for a cyclist – I’m tired enough to just get in line between a van and a semi and poke along with the flow. 

Big roundabout at the edge of town and 5^th exit takes me right to the "Hotel Gromada" on a hill overlooking the valley.  Park the bike in the garage and register to find out that I’ve been granted a SINGLE room for the night.  Yahoo!  Now I can just relax and do those little personal things that make this a REAL rest.

Knees and legs are a bit wobbly but I putter over into town, find a Bedronka ('ladybird' in Polish) supermarket, and liberate a box of Mr. Magic wipes.  Back to the room for some blog time and get ready for the bicycle shop at 4pm.  Later, after cleaning the chain with more than a dozen disposable wipes and re-oiling, Peter I (Slovakia, our mechanic), runs through the gears and says that it's "Perfect".  Good!  Now I can really relax.