Playing with fire (Torun, PL)

 The view to the lake in the morning.

One of the things that makes travelling by bike so interesting is that as you find solutions to some problems and get used to hardships, new ones arise. This morning, I woke up to the sound of distant thunder, but felt reasonably confident that it wouldn't really affect me. After all, the dark clouds were clearly far away, and the almost constant thunder made it seem obvious that the storm would blow itself out before reaching the lakeside where my tent was pitched.

Little did I know. Only half an hour later, and *just* as I had managed to pack up my tent and my bags, the first, heavy droplets started to fall. No matter, I thought, and calmly left my bags under a tree and took cover under the roof of the only building in the campsite, a tiny cottage. And not a minute too soon: For the next half an hour, I was in the middle of the wildest, most violent thunderstorm I have ever experienced. I am not scared of thunder as such, but it did occur to me to remove my cycling shoes hat have the metal bits in their soles, just in case. The other, unprecedented worry was that the raging wind would blow my bags into the lake, and I made a mental note never to leave the bags so exposed in such circumstances.

The same view, 10 minutes later.

The storm safely over, I congratulated myself for perfect timing, and set out on today's cycling. The storm had cooled the air considerably, and for the first couple of hours, I had a most pleasant ride on small winding country roads, completely devoid of trucks, taking me through tiny villages, past duck farms and down gently rolling hills. In short, this stretch made me remember why I loved cycling in Poland on my previous trip 4 years ago:  these little roads are all a cyclist can ask for, with beautiful vistas of agricultural fields, lush forests and frequent village shops selling the most unimaginable things, even the in places terrible state of tarmac does not really deduct from the joy.

However, the temperature that had seemed so lovely in the morning hours soon turned into a simmering heat, and as the thin layer of clouds disappeared, the rows of old trees lining most of my way could only provide some temporary relief. My speed became slower and slower, and the ever-present cramps quickly got worse and worse.

By 2.30, I was positively boiling and feeling really weak, and only the thought of a swim helped me to continue the rest of the way to my planned lunch stop in Wabrzezno. There, with the very last of my energy reserves I wobbled to the public beach, dumped the bike without a backward glance, and threw myself in the water.

The beach that saved me from heat stroke.

Two hours later, the sky was turning dark again and as I had another 45 km to go, I realised I would be racing with another thunderstorm. Stubborn as ever, I decided to go for it anyway, although knowing this was a dangerous attempt. There might not be any place  to take shelter if the storm reached me, and anyway, with most of my spark already used for the day, I was hardly in the shape for any race!

And of course that was exactly what happened. Just as I was in the middle of the deepest forest, with huge trucks passing me on a road with absolutely no shoulder, the storm that had seemed to be keeping a few km's to the west was suddenly right on top of me. I am not ashamed to admit that I was truly scared. What should I do? Take cover under a tree? Take off my shoes? Carry on cycling, trusting that a lightning would not strike me as there were so many tall trees? Fighting back tears, I cycled on as the first raindrops fell on me.

And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the storm decided to go away. I cycled out of the forest helped with a strong tailwind, with barely a drop of water on me or the bike, and the big trucks were gone as well. The rest of the way to Torun was child's play, but my legs still felt electrified as I cycled into the old town some 45 minutes later. Found a hostel right in the middle of the Unesco approved historic centre, and am now ready to go for a stroll. Must say that right now, I am very glad to be indoors!