GREEN VELO IN WARMIA AND MAZURY
The tourist bicycle trail called Green Velo runs through five voivodeships from the eastern part of Poland: Warmia and Mazury (Warmińsko-Mazurskie), Podlasie (Podlaskie), Lubus (Lubuskie), Subcarpathia (Podkarpackie) and Holy Cross (Świętokrzyskie). Its total length amounts to 2000 km. The route runs partly along existing roads, partly along bicycle paths. It gives an opportunity to see interesting landscapes and enjoy sights of the regions mentioned above.
In the Warmia and Mazury voivodeship the route reaches 397 km, of which around a half runs along special bicycle paths. The majority of them is located in the middle and eastern parts of the route. You can follow the Green Velo trail from Elbląg, through Frombork, Braniewo, Pieniężno, Górowo Iławeckie, Lidzbark Warmiński, Bartoszyce, Korsze, Węgorzewo till you get to Gołdap and the eastern border of the region, in order to continue your trip in the Suwałki region. The trail is well marked with orange, metal plates with the trail’s logo. Information about the distances between places or the locations of the nearby attractions is provided as well. Moreover, there is information about side routes leading to interesting places or communication junctions. On the trail tourists will find cyclist service areas - roofed places with parking space for bicycles which gives them the opportunity to find shelter from rain or just simply some rest.
www.greenvelo.pl/en
Northern Mazury bicycle kingdom
The name of the Kingdom - Northern Mazury – can be a little misleading, especially to tourists following this section of the Green Velo trail who expect to see lakes and sailing boats all the way through. In fact, cyclists may be surprised by the natural wilderness, secluded areas, and the wide variety of landscapes to encounter on this trail.
East of the Banie Mazurskie village spreads Hilly Masuria, which is also called Wild Masuria. The section between Węgorzewo and the border of the Podlaskie voivodeship consists of uphill and downhill sections reaching over a kilometer, called by the cyclists a “leg killer”. That is why before taking on this trail you should be relatively fit, have good equipment, a food supply, and a good sense of humour. The former railway lines lead cyclists to the second most important place along this part of the trail – the Gołdap Health Resort. It is an interesting town, located near the Russian border. It has a market square with an impressive fountain, an excellent bicycle roads network, as well as numerous historical sites, including the remains of the German World War II experimental missile development centre.
The mysterious Romincka Forest spreads east of Gołdap. This dense forest in its eastern part is full of Scandinavian taiga spruce, which is unique in Poland. The middle part of it is swampy and difficult to access, but the eastern region around the village of Żytkiejmy, consists of vast meadows and is sometimes called the “Polish prairie”. You can encounter here elks, wolves, lynx, wild boars, martens, many bird species and almost all types of Polish forest animals with the exception of bears. The eastern part of the forest also has another amazing site to see – one of the highest rail bridges in Poland, located in the Stańczyki village.
Past Stańczyki, the Green Velo trail takes cyclists along the border to the tripoint of the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Russia, near the village of Bolcie, then it enters the next magical kingdom of the Suwałki Lakeland and the Augustów Plains.
http://greenvelo.pl/en/krolestwo/1425/northen-mazury
