Autumn and winter in the mountains of Poland
Once our one-year-long trip aboard s/y Moonshine was over I spent few months in Poland. Previous time I spent so much time at home was over four years ago - before I moved to the Netherlands. After four year I missed not only my family and friends, but also Polish mountains.
When I moved to the Netherlands I knew that this country is known of many beautiful places: old towns of Amsterdam, Leida and Haarlem, windmills located by rivers and lakes, endless beaches on the coast of the North Sea. I knew, however, that it lacks mountains and I knew I am going to miss them. I kept tiring my friends with stories about the Netherlands being flat.
Coming back to Poland I decided to spent some time in the mountains. I always carried my camera the backpack but sometimes there was no reason to take it out. The reason was the autumn and winter weather - volatile, full of rain and fog. But once the sun shines it's easy to fall in love with Tatras, Pieniny, Beskids and Karkonosze. Below I show a collection of photos taken recently.
▲ View from Trzy Korony (Three Crowns) in Pieniny.
▲ Swans at dawn. Brzeszcze, Małopolska.
▲ Lakes in Nazieleńce from a bird's eye view.
▲ Siklawa waterfall (in Western Tatras) lit by the full moon.
▲ Sunrise on Wołowiec: view on the Ridge of Rohacze.
▲ Sea of fog covers Slovak part of Tatras.
▲ Sunrise on Wołowiec: a view towards Western Tatras.
▲ View on Tatras from Sokolica peak in Pieniny.
▲ One of the most popular photo spots in Polish mountains: a pine tree at the top of Sokolica in Pieniny.
▲ Different view at the pine tree on Sokolica with Tatras in the background and river Dunajec in the bottom.
▲ One of the roughest conditions this autumn: wind gusting up to 100km/h at the top of Babia Góra.
▲ Soła River and Beskids in the background. Vertical panorama taken with a drone.
▲ Hiking in Pieniny: where autumn meets winter. Winter came really late this year.
▲ On the way to Turbacz with the best guide in the world
▲ Winter in Karkonosze: frozen trees on the way to Śnieżka.
▲ A view from Śnieżka to Dom Śląski mountain shelter.
▲ Volatile conditions in Karkonosze: in just few minutes sunny weather can become a dense fog.
▲ A metre of snow and wind blowing all the time create wonderful ice sculptures in Karkonosze.
▲ View on Tatry and Gorce from a trail to Turbacz.
▲ Sunset on a trail in Gorce.
▲ Sunset in Gorce.
▲ Mountain shelter on Turbacz after sunset.
During these three months in Poland I managed to go hiking 11 times and walk 160 km. Few of those were just quick trips for a sunrise or sunset while some were a full day long trips. Many of them ended up being miserable and bringing no photos but sometimes it was hard to stop taking photos. Most of all it was a great way to escape locked down cities.
More photos of Polish mountains can be found in my gallery - Poland - Mountains.