We left at around 10 am from the farm campsite Zacsize. 

We stopped for a big shop at Lidl along the way. We then moved on 10 minutes up the road to stop for lunch

We had traffic jams on the way up to Zacopane as the roads weren’t coping with the amount of traffic. 

As we drove into Zacopane we saw a deer minding its own business eating the verge.

When we arrived at Camper Gugu campsite it looked very basic like a car park – and there were no spaces. I found the manager and he told us 2 vans still had to leave so we were put in temporary parking spots. 

We decided to go to the tourist agency to book some things but Sean had to stay so he could move his van to let other vans leave. 

We had a nice chat with the tourist agent and got some plans organised. 

He told us that a heritage festival was on this week so we checked it out. It was just getting set up.

We then walked back to the campsite and checked out 2 nearby campsites. One looked good if our one didn’t get sorted out. However we got 2 spots right on the beer garden with a beautiful outlook up the mountains so we were happy. 

Next day we went for a bike ride and hike up the Tatra Mountains. Unfortunately the supposedly great 8km bike track didn’t turn into much so we locked up the bikes and went walking . We got good views of the town.

First we went up the Dolina Ku Dziurze( the valley towards the hole ) which was a shortish walk up to a limestone formation and a big cave formed by thermal water.

The walking was a bit rough on rocky steps but we made it. 

Walking further along we came to a nice cafe with a coffee machine so we stopped for a coffee- it was good!

We then went up the Dolina Strazyska which was nice and gentle with people taking up prams and wheelchairs. 

At the top we had our lunch of sandwiches. 

We then went to do a joining walk to the top of Dolina Bialego which had been recommended to us by the tourist information guy. It was very hard going up steep, slippery and very roughly shaped rocks. We were climbing for about an hour – it just kept going on and on. 

We were very relieved to get to the top – or the area where people gather before going up another very steep and scrabbling slope to get to the viewpoint.

Glenn and Sean went up but Lisa and I had a rest. When they came back they told us we had made the correct decision as it was very rough and dangerous. 

We then went down the other side which was gentler and steps not quite as bad.

Soon it leveled out alongside the river and it was a more gradual descent on a reasonably good path. 

There were some lovely spots on the river and limestone formations towards the end. 

At last we joined the bottom track and walked along towards the cafe to pick up our bikes. Along the way we saw a flock of sheep with bells and the white sheepdogs that guard them. They were very lovely.  A traditional smoked sheep cheese is made in this area. 

We at last found our bikes and cycled home – Sean along the difficulty gravel track and the rest of us on the easy road home. 

We had rewarding 0% beers on our chairs in the beer garden when we got back to the vans. They tasted good. We then had to get everything back into the vans to avoid a heavy shower. We all had cleansing showers in the van as there are only toilets at this campsite/aire. 

I made a dinner using a spice box from Helen with pork mince, noodles and broccoli that was enjoyed by everyone and all polished off. 

We were all in our beds by 10pm exhausted.