Augustow

Our last stop in Poland was in a very lovely part, the town of Augustow which is surrounded and infiltrated by lakes connected by a series of locks which are the resort of pleasure boats and pleasure and leisure seekers. The campsite was still closed (for the winter?, for ever?). In the next door hotel car park were a couple of campervans. We were told that for a fee we could park overnight and use the hotel loo. No water or electricity of course. We stayed and went for a long walk along the very beautiful lake shore in search of pubs and canal locks. We found a pub – not actually very difficult in Poland. (I have a piece of advice for thrifty and thirsty visitors to Poland and it is that beer is much cheaper than coffee! It is a tip which has saved us significant amounts of money.) John has evidence of the paucity of vowels in Poland (and this is it – an adjectival use of the town name, Augustow – “Augustowszczyzny”, a run of 9 consecutive consonants. I’ve looked at my phrase book and although I know how to pronounce the letters I can’t actually do it – my attempt ends in spittle and mental confusion. It’s a bit like the little girl who said she knew how to spell “banana”, but didn’t know when to stop).

For supper we decided to have a ‘braai’ (barbecue) on a beach making first use of our pink bucket – a very upmarket and expensive version of a Zambian Mbaula or charcoal stove. It was cold on the beach but the sausage was delicious and the sunset pearlescent perfection. An inquisitive great swan stormed towards us on a tsunami bow wave. Evidently fatty sausage was not on its preferred menu and it sailed disdainfully away.