Not having seen any evidence of the breakfast promised on booking.com I ate food from my own suplies and I shocked myself by successfully using the apartment's posh coffee machine for a morning cup of "kawa". Then, just as I was about to leave, a man appeared with a boxed breakfast. It later became my lunch.
Leaving the village I looked back to see the houses of the settlement folded into the landscape. Like so many of the villages hereabouts it formed a strip down a valley, that itself was trending downhill. Soon after the rain began. Based on the forecast it would be heavy during so I quickly put on my waterproofs. After an easy walk to the first village the first climb of the day began. After a steady but steep ascent I reached a group of rocks outcropping among the trees. A feature I now recognised as typical of the area I had been walking through. There were crude steps cut in the crystalline rock followed by steep metal steps that led to a fenced viewing area. Climbing up I was careful, fearing a slip on the wet, lichen covered stone. My efforts gave me little reward. As I expected rain and clouds meant little beyond a large boulder balanced on the top and the tree tops beyond could be seen.
After the rocks my route was kind to me, with generally good tracks I made fast progress. A chocolate bar I had bought earlier gave me extra energy. I skirted the top of the village of Kopaniec, otherwise it was a day among the trees. Although mainly conifer forest today, occasional beech and birch beside the trail had overnight become tinged with yellow. It reminded me that astronomical Autumn started two days ago. Heavy rain meant I worried it would permeate the dry bags in my rucksack, in the event everything was fine but I was glad crucial items like my passport were double bagged.
Eventually I reached a road where my long enjoyment of the blue route came to end. Now I followed green waymarks to the Czech border. First there was my second steep climb of the day. Rising straight up the mountainside, tree roots formed a natural if irregular staircase. They kept the soil and rubble together that otherwise would be eroded by the passage of feet and the action of water, currently streaming down the hillside the rain continued at a slightly gentler pace. There was a clean smell, reminding me a little of chlorine. Maybe it was from the wet spruce trees.
I briefly explored a few abandoned buildings that might have been the top of a quarry on my map. A little after I was pleased to find a shelter with benches and a tables to enjoy my lunch. Unfortunately the turf roof was completely effective at keeping out the rain but better than sitting eating on the side of the trail.
Signs had given contradictory distances to Jakuszyce, where my hotel is. One said two hours the next two hours forty five minutes. However my feet soon ate the distance on a good road tarmaced in part. I briefly diverted off the road to see a small, back, artificial lake. The sign had said "Water Drawing Point". Trees reflected nicely in the water with pleasing symmetry.
Reaching the hotel I was surprised I had achieved kilometres coming from my accommodation last night at kilometres per hour with a metre elevation gain. As I was tired the previous day despite a shorter distance this was unexpected. The hotel was modern and posher than expected. Bicycles were prominent in the porch area, there were many tracks for mountain bikes in the area and cyclists seem to form a good slice of the hotel's clientele. As I walked down the corridor to my room at the far end, lights progressively came on as if leading me to a time tunnel in a science fiction film.
After the buffer dinner I sampled the Polish vodka as tomorrow I would be in the Czech Republic having completed the Polish part of the E3. The barman gave me a shotglass of glass(?) vodka and a traditional one, which was slightly brown, presumably aged in barrels. The traditional one was my preferred choice, slightly sweet. I hoped my sampling of their merits did not have adverse effects tomorrow.
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