Day 33 - 56 km
Sieroszowice - Legnica
We are up early this morning and leave before nine o’clock for the tree bike which is twenty minutes away in Sieroszowice. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining and there is little wind, still a little chilly though. The route is beautiful, a lot through the woods and occasionally a quiet village. In the middle of the forest we have to wait half an hour because a truck is being loaded with wood, and of course that comes first. The cuckoo seems to fly with us, time and again we hear him with his familiar call. Sanne cycles along and Daan follows with the car. We have left the bus and trailer in Polkowice, we will pick them up tomorrow, as we will stay in Legnica for two days. We drink coffee in the village of Brunów, I didn’t know it existed, where we also hand out a few little trees. And we have lunch in a beautiful pine forest with blueberries as carpeting. A magical image. There, after lunch, through my hotspot, I check the press release, which Theo sends out today. Again today it’s just under sixty kilometers. And so at the end of the afternoon, after buying some vegetables along the road, we enter Legnica. A big city it seems. People’s reactions are immediately very positive. Nice, cycling through the center tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Daan has already found our accommodation. A nice place on the third floor, which is a bit of a drag. We immediately decide to pick up the bus and trailer from Polkowice, as there is plenty of parking space behind our house and the trees will certainly need water tomorrow. When we get back around seven o’clock Sanne has dinner ready. Great. We are ready for that. Meanwhile, we are preparing the locations we will be visiting in Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria with friends and acquaintances of friends. I am curious. Very nice that they want to put energy into helping us.
Wed May 14 - day 34
Together with Daan, we walk through the classical center of Legnica to the stately town hall. Legnica is about the same size as Leeuwarden. Through redirects we soon get to the second floor where the mayor sits. That is very easy. We speak to Agnieszka Lakomska, who does foreign relations, and Aleksandra Kneszewska, the deputy mayor. They respond enthusiastically to our project and suggest organizing a press event tomorrow morning, when the trees will be officially handed over. Absolutely great! We drink coffee on the otherwise empty square and walk back to meet Piotr, who lives an hour away, around noon. I know him as an artist who participated in the Wind Nomads project in 2009. We walk downtown for an interview he plans to offer to Polish radio in Amsterdam. He has questions lined up and it turns into a fun interview, a podcast conversation really, where he also tells us, for example, that the word ecology has taken on a negative connotation here in Poland, it is associated with even more restrictive rules from Brussels. Still good to know. Sanne and Daan also supplement the conversation with their experiences. Very nice. We walk back together and say goodbye to Piotr. While Sanne prepares a pasta for lunch, Daan and I start the watering job. It seems good to water all the trees one by one. That does mean carrying many buckets of water down from the third floor. A big job. Sanne also helps after lunch to finish it. Then the police show up and tell us in Polish to leave. We don’t understand why and give the Polish version of the flyer. We also tell, in all the languages we know, that we have been to the municipality and that a press event is scheduled for tomorrow. He turns and leaves again. We take a rest and then go back into the center with the tree bike loaded with small trees to hand out trees. We also take the large card to put on the floor. It goes on steadily and within an hour we hand out about thirty little trees. All happy faces and enthusiastic reactions. Great. We treat ourselves to a beer and eat a small snack of traditional Polish cuisine. We talk about how and what we can do even better on our Tour. We have plenty of ideas, the limitation remains financial space. I am curious to see what tomorrow’s press event will bring. First a little sleep.
do 15 may - day 35
At a quarter to ten we stand in front of the stately town hall as Mayor Maciej Kupaj and Deputy Mayor Aleksandra Krzeszewska come out. We walk together to the park around the corner where we plant two birthday trees together. The tree bike is there, of course. I explain what the project is all about and that we would like to invite the municipality of Legnica to become a partner municipality. They are very positive. The trees are planted by the mayor and the deputy mayor, and photos are taken of them and forwarded to the press. Great. We talk some more with Agnieszka (foreign relations) and cycle with the tree bike to the square behind the red cathedral to hand out birthday trees again today. And we succeed until the wind increases and the card blows up a few times. We pack up and go home for lunch. This afternoon at the computer, answering emails. And a video conversation with Alec from Vienna about activities when we arrive there May 28 and 29. Outside it is raining. By five it is dry and we walk into Legnica for one last time. We have a drink in the theater cafe where time seems to stand quite still. Comforting too. Back home we prepare for tomorrow, about 70 km and 300 altimeters. I wonder what the tree bike will think of that. We will see.