London to Krakov

May 2009

An interesting and thought provoking trip....

We made quick progress from Calais, through Belgium and the Netherlands, to the Harz Mountains In Germany. We stopped at Colditz Castle which was great. We stayed in the castle itself – the barracks used by the German guards have been converted into a hostel. The prison areas have been left as they were after the war. It was fascinating to hear all the stories of how ingenious the POW’s were and to retrace their escape routes.

We then went to Stalag Luft III which is located in the middle of a forest in Poland, some off-road tracks take you to the site of the prison camp – it takes a bit of effort to find them, they are not on the regular tourist trail I guess. The escape tunnels have been marked above ground. “Harry” is 110m long and was the one used for the mass escape.

We stayed in Krakow for a few days and went to Auschwitz. Not sure what I was expecting, but I have never been to a more sombre or harrowing place. Everyone has seen pictures and knows what happened there, but when you actually see the huge piles of suitcases, clothes, old spectacles, childrens shoes and even human hair, it is truly horrific.

We made a quick stop at Schindlers Factory and also made a tour of the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Poland seems to be a mixture of brand new shopping centres and crumbling buildings that will probably never be repaired. The roads are often poor and pot-holed. Definitely worth a visit, but I am not sure if I will rush back.

We did 2,300 miles in 9 days – but an awful lot of motorways. On the last day we rode from Berlin to London in 13 hours, more than 620 miles and of course a train ride under the English Channel!