8th of September, 2021.
Mathias seems like a nice guy and I like him since the beginning. He is going to Dresden, for a quick inspection in a construction site (his job) and then back to Berlin. When I tell him where I am heading to, he is surprised! He has plans of visiting the Devil´s bridge for a long time. When I tell him I haven’t visited Dresden at all, he suggests that I come with him there, quickly visit the old town while he is busy, then after he will pick me up and drop me on the way to Kromlauer Park. I say yes!
In the way to Dresden, Mathias tells me about his backpacking trips around Asia, mainly Nepal. So amazing! He gave me some ideas also! Dresden old town is gorgeous! I wish I had known all the names and history of the buildings I was passing by. And I wish I had more time also. So I totally recommend you to go over there and spend one whole nice day visiting the city. But study about it first!
The place where I am hitchhiking is not the best but it is OK. I ask for a cardboard in the coffee shop across (where I am not very welcome by the owner) and write down the name of a small town just before Kromlauer Park. I do have my lunch first before I start.
It does not take long until an elderly couple stop for me. They are very cute! Ramona and Jeirjen are not going exactly to this small town but they drive quite a lot out of their route just to drop me there! So lovely! So they drop me in Gablenz, with the promise that I will be fine and find my way to the park. I do! With a little help from a lady.
The walk is not far and I get all prepared to get in there. It is a quite hot day. I arrive to the bridge quite soon. It is so nice! Really wonderful! For me, it totally worth it all the trouble and time I had to get in here. So I spend quite a long time admiring and taking photographs. The light is perfect! As I would figure next morning, for sure the best time for photos (at least in September) is definitely on the late afternoon.
Because I still don’t have a place to volunteer in Poland, I decide to walk to the next village, and ask for wi-fi in one of the guest-houses in there. But I don’t need to! At the parking lot, there is a Tourist Info Centre where they have free wi-fi and plugs! Great! I do have enough time to reply the people from a guest house, somewhere a bit North from the centre of Poland, saying that I am on my way before the lady responsible for the Centre come to close. Those people had said I could come.
After a lot of consideration, I decide to camp in the forest not too far from the bridge. At first I thought it could be illegal, and maybe even it is, but first of all there are no signs saying camping is forbidden, second of all, who the hell would come to check for campers here in the middle of the night? And third, but not least, I could come back to see my bridge early in the morning, and check how it looks during sunrise. Well, now you already know that the light is not the best during the morning.
Anyway, after spending more time admiring the bridge and being almost eaten by the mosquitoes, I find a place slightly hidden on the woods and make my camping. It is a wonderful and peaceful place and I am happy to be here. The peace is a little bit disturbed by two squirrels fighting. But it is also funny to hear them.
Next morning I walk back to the village, to try that wi-fi I supposed to yesterday, because the Tourist Info Centre is closed and I need plugs. It is eight in the morning, how it could be closed? I find another Tourist Centre in the village and a very patient lady, who cannot speak much English, wait for my quite slow computer to work so I can get some answers and leave so she can leave too. For what the people answered me, I understand I can come. Plus, the other people, from the South, in a nice guest house in the nice Tatras Mountains area, who I had declined to come before, mysteriously say that now I cannot come. Uhum…
In Gablenz, a town which by the way is only about 5 Km from the border, a nice man offers me a lift to only after the border. He is going to fill up his car with gas there. I accept, of course! In a few minutes I am in Poland.
P.S.: I cannot tell how thrill I feel now when I see that the photograph on my computer background it is one I have seen it displayed by Microsoft before, when I turn on the laptop. He-he.
