Bike Trail by the River Bug (Nadbużański Szlak Rowerowy) is 420 km long and runs through Mazovian, Podlaskie and Lublin Voivodeship, between Wyszków and Hrubieszów. Recently, I traveled the Mazovian part of the trail. Read how it was!
I started the trip by train to Tłuszcz, from where I set off a little after 10 am. Normally I start such long routes earlier, but on this day I planned only to follow this route a bit, then go to Minsk and finish after 100, maybe 130 km. However, I had such a good ride that in the meantime I decided to ride to the end of the province and finished at 175 km.
The pleasant area starts several kilometers after Tłuszcz. Riding on peaceful roads I reached Niegów, then 2 km through the forest and fields and to the bridge over the Fiszor River.
Here begins the Bicycle Trail of the Primate of the Millennium (Szlak Prymasa Tysiąclecia), which leads to Wyszków over a diverse area – some asphalt, some gravel, forest and dirt roads.
After about 3 km you will reach such a nice place to rest. It was too early to rest, but since it was such a nice place, I took advantage of it :)
A bit further, between Ślubów and Deskurów, another place that can be an attraction for some – the adventure park (that time it was closed due to epidemic).
Going further along the trail you will reach Drogoszew and another place to rest ;)
Then the trail continues on asphalt, but you can also go closer to nature along the embankment along the Bug.
Looking left, you’ll come across a path that you can take to a small beach. It’s a pity it’s so cluttered…
2 km further you will enter the main road, ride a bit bike path and then turn right after the Orlen station. Here, 25 km from the start, the Bug River Bike Trail begins. The trail is marked with blue signs, but don’t think that you will ride it based only on signs in the terrain. They appear only here and there and often are not placed where they should be. I used the Mapy.cz app as a support.
Initially, you ride on asphalt, but after about 1 km the trail enters the forest and heads over the river Bug.
A pleasant dirt road soon becomes a meadow, and following the application turns into a wilderness …
It is good that I didn’t think of turning back, because after approx. 300 m you reach a beautiful path along the river.
Riding on, the trail sign finally appears!
Approx. 200 m further the signpost directs correctly to the right and another 200 m further … right again, onto road 62, back towards Wyszków …
Do not follow the sign here, but take the left dirt road. It will lead you through a tunnel under the S8 road and then you will ride about 3 km through the forest and gravel with a washboard. But not so terrible, it can be worse ;)
Next stop: Kamieńczyk…
… and another nice place to relax by the water.
Kamieńczyk is also probably a good place for a lunch because I saw dumplings bar and home-cooked meals along the way. I don’t know, however, whether tasty, because they were closed (again probably because of coronavirus. I was there in the middle of May).
Without stopping, I rode on, through the Liwiec river and into the forest.
The forest, in places sandy, will accompany you for about 10 km.
The trail leads a few hundred meters from the Bug River, but in several places there are paths that seem to lead to the river itself. So you can probably find another pleasant places to rest in the bosom of nature. I didn’t check, however, because 4 hours had passed since the start and I had only 40 km on my bicycle computer, because still either difficult terrain or nice landscapes that required photographing did not allow me to go faster. I had to speed up to make this hundred at least…
Fortunately, asphalt starts soon. Just one more little river to photograph …
…and you can speed up.
Exceptionally I came across three cyclists, generally all day I met almost nobody.
From this moment, until the end of the route, almost all the time there will be asphalt, although of different quality. In places so bad that some forest paths are better.
So you ride along this asphalt, passing next villages, storks, nice small rivers among fields, horses …
If you are lucky, you may also encounter some grass snake. Unfortunately, I saw only the ones killed by cars :(
Behind Treblinka, pleasant asphalt turns into not very pleasant concrete slabs, which you have to ride few kilometers until Kosów Lacki.
…It passed quickly, it’s already 85 km.
From Kosów, the shortest route would be about 55 km to Siedlce. I was wondering if I better go to Siedlce for the train or ride to Frankopol, where the Mazovian part of the Bug River Bike Trail ends and I decided to go further. It was nice to go with a light wind in the back, and if I headed straight to Siedlce, I would go with a side wind, probably along a rather busy road. It is true that from Frankopol to Siedlce the road leads the other way than it does now, but I expected that it would be after sunset, the wind would probably calm down, so even though it would not help me, it should not interrupt.
So I kept going, and the light of the sun slowly approaching the horizon made it even more beautiful.
An ordinary country road, fields of rapeseed and something else, like I’ve seen in many other places and just as pretty as everywhere. In addition, brand new asphalt, which made riding to Sterdyń really nice.
Effortlessly 30 km / h, because slightly downhill and with the wind, but when I saw a crane by the road, I had to stop :) I’ve seen several cranes in my life, but I don’t have any in the photo ;) Unfortunately, when it saw me, it decided to fly away a little further, so I have only such …
And those rapeseed fields, for which I also had to stop several times :)
Behind Sterdyń, the trail leads for several kilometers along route 63. At least, this is how it leads in the Mapy.cz application, because I haven’t seen signs in the field for a long time. The road is not very busy, but still, looking at the map, it seems to me that you could lead the trail sideways, as well as on asphalt.
I also mentioned the hill … I was surprised, but climbs and descents start around Sterdyń. Admittedly they are delicate, but it is not completely flat anymore, so it gets a bit more interesting and harder.
And in general we are following the “Bicycle Trail by the River Bug”, so there should be the Bug by the road … Recently, I saw it 80 km earlier in Kamieńczyk and another opportunity is only in Frankopol, where the trail goes to the other side of the river. Looking at the map, it seems to me that one could lead the trail so that it leads more along the Bug, but certainly there would be less asphalt. Maybe I’ll check it out sometime.
Now I was going to Frankopol, hoping that maybe I could meet the sunset just over the Bug, but it happened a few kilometers earlier. But anyway there was something to look at :) Recently, I was on a bicycle at sunrise twice and was disappointed because it was covered with clouds. This time nature did a great job! Several layers of clouds, light shining through them, rain trail in the distance … such views I like!
After reaching Frankopol it was still bright, I even spotted a path that probably led to the river itself, but I didn’t decide to ride, because I didn’t want to risk to be late for the last train to Warsaw. 3 hours for 40 km should be plenty of time bur from experience I know that it’s really worth to have a margin ;)
As expected, at sunset the wind died down so I didn’t have to go against the wind. It was very pleasant to ride, not counting the swarms of large beetles that attacked me along the way. Probably maybugs. A few bounced off me, another wanted to ride on my sweatshirt, and after one hit me on the nose, I began to consider whether to put on an anti-coronavirus mask, in case one was to fly into the mouth … However, I decided that I was too tired to ride in a mask, and besides, I didn’t feel like stopping there, so I kept going, hoping that the beetles would end soon and not only in Siedlce. Fortunately, they ended after a few kilometers.
And the margin of time came in handy, because I went wrong in one place and had to turn back, plus two breaks for the purchase of drinking and I arrived at the station only 15 minutes before departure. Now only 1.5 hours on the train and then 20 minutes on the subway. And all without any e-book, Facebook or even music, because the powerbank broke down and the battery in my phone was low. However, I was so tired that the thoughtless staring at the floor and outside the window was cool too ;)
If you need gpx, you can download it here: www.strava.com/activities/3428800052
Thank you :)
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