2021: Report Cycling and Walking Event NYSA-ODRA

The 10th cycling and walking meeting NYSA-ODRA, organized by the Gorzow Eurojumelage section, took place in Police between the 8th to the12th September 2021. After the meeting had been cancelled in 2020 due to the Corona situation, it was a great pleasure for all participants to meet again and spend a few days walking, cycling and exchanging ideas together. Participants of the meeting included 9 twinners from Germany, 1 from France and 19 from Poland, who met at the Doboz Hotel in Police on 8th September 2021 after a private journey. The meeting was officially opened by Adam Poholski and Tomasz Miedwiediew after dinner at 19:00.

On Thursday, September 9th, as always at 9:00 a.m., 15 walkers and 14 cyclists started their day tours. I belonged to the group of cyclists (all non-electric) and therefore my report is limited to the bike tours and the meetings with the walking group, which were planned and undertaken on all days. The cycle tour from Police first commenced on a cycle path along the road to Trebiez. At the Main Square in Trebiez we stopped for a rest and we had our first encounter with the walking group.
Then we rode for a long time on unpaved, mostly sandy paths along the Szczecin Lagoon towards Nowe Warpno. On the way, we were able to visit a stave church that was worth seeing, at least from the outside, before we reached Nowe Warpno, where the walking group was already waiting for us. From Nowe Warpno in summer there is a ferry connection to Altwarp in Germany; unfortunately there was not enough time for this. After an extended lunch break, during which all participants were provided with drinks and especially delicious pancakes garnished with lots of fruit, everyone was free to see the place according to their own wishes before cycling back to Police again. The way back took us mostly on good and low-traffic side roads through beautiful mixed forest. At the request of all cyclists, no shortcuts were taken on unpaved roads (mainly sand tracks), so that a cycling distance of 90 km was covered on the first day. This was the longest day-ride ever undertaken at the NYSA-ODRA meetings.

Only 12 cyclists took part in the cycling tour on Friday due to the fact that two cyclists switched to the walking group. The cycle tour first proceeded on very well-maintained cycle paths to Tonowo, where the group split into two groups. One group decided to take a slightly shorter route to the meeting point with the walking group in Glebokie, a beautiful recreational area on the outskirts of Szczecin. The other group, to which I also belonged, chose the long variant, which led through the Swidwie bird sanctuary, which is almost on the Polish-German border. The way there led almost exclusively over unpaved sandy farm roads, which were nevertheless mastered by all, sometimes by pushing the bikes. The bird sanctuary - a very large inland lake surrounded by marshland - compensated for the previous efforts. From a lookout tower we had an excellent view over the area, but unfortunately we could only observe a few local birds, all migratory birds had already flown away. From the Swidwie bird sanctuary we continued on dirt roads to Stolec. Its castle is now privately owned and can only be viewed from the outside. After a short rest in front of the castle, we continued on a former military road that had been converted into a cycle path along the Polish-German border to Buk. On the way there, some made a short trip to Blankensee in Germany, a few meters from the border. From Buk, the cycle path led via Dobra to the Glebokie meeting point, where a picnic awaited us together with the walking group.
After a long break, all the cyclists started their way back together again, whereby the direct road bike path to Police was not chosen, but a somewhat more strenuous path that led through the Wielecka Gora forest area with its lake Goslickie in the moorland.

On Saturday the group of cyclists had shrunk to 10 cyclists who set off from Police towards Szczecin. At the Glebokie recreational area, Tomasz took over the leadership of the cycling group and guided us almost exclusively along cycle paths to Szczecin, where an extensive sightseeing programme awaited the participants. The first stop was the Museum of Technology, where, to the surprise of some, the Stöwer automobile collection could be seen, previously based in Mörlenbach in the Odenwald. Other points of interest were the new Szczecin Philharmonic Hall designed by Fabrizio Barozzi and Alberto Veiga from Barcelona and opened in 2014, the building of the Szczecin City Council Administration, the Gravedigger’s House,Wały Chrobrego (observation terrace with a length of 500 meters on a slope along the Oder) with the buildings belonging to the building ensemble, today housing the seat of government of Pomerania and the National Museum of Szczecin, the Jacob's Cathedral, a Gothic brick cathedral rebuilt true to the original after its destruction in World War II and today the main church of Szczecin, the Szczecin Castle where a well-made exhibition on the history of the castle and the history of Pomerania could be seenas well as the National Museum Szczecin. On the way back to Police we visited the rose garden of Szczecin.

After dinner the final meeting began, in which pictures and films from the past 3 days, taken by Slawomir, were shown. After each participant had received a certificate, some recordings of past NYSA-ODRA meetings were shown before the tables were moved aside and dancing began.
NYSA-ODRA 2021 in Police was an all-round successful meeting - excellently organized by our friends from Gorzów! All participants will have fond memories of the meeting and promised to attend NYSA-ODRA 2022, if possible.

Harald Weber
Association of Darmstadt