In the autumn of 2019, after by BIG homecoming I was on a lookout of keeping up contact with the local French community here in Warsaw (that I was a part of before I left to Nice). One obvious way was to attend the Meet&Speak French meet-ups, which was …not that great when you want to establish a connection & do some serious networking. The formula itself was very much ok for fresh students/expats, people who really wanted to meet someone new in the city and were feeling a bit lost in the Polish bureaucracy, or looking for a French date OR a job with French. But, for those who were not into that kind of stuff (which was my case) it would quickly turn into a cheap beer and cheap jokes mid-week party ;).
„Pologne a Velo” and that was a „coup de foudre” - with one the founders, Greg, we’ve meet on a RFE meeting (Réseau Francophone de l’Entreprenauriat) and it clicked instantly. I did a short speech on what I do, (which you can find below) presented the idea of cycling tours for business clients coming to Warsaw and we knew already that we might have a common vision of promoting Poland on 2-wheels. Since we’ve met for the first time we’ve already managed to organise some short, one-day rides for whomever was interested in discovering Warsaw, but last weekend, for the very first time, I organized an escapade to discover Green Velo trail ! And it was a blast - starting with the people - open-minded expats or French of Polish origin or just bilingual, through beautiful rural surroundings of this part of Poland and the weather - we were so lucky to have 25 degrees with solid sunshine instead of rainy 15 in Warsaw.
We’ve stayed at a local guesthouse, recommended via Green Velo website in Janow Podlaski and did altogether two loops, accounting to 100 km+, visiting many orthodox churches and renovated palaces. All itinerary was based on an original Green Velo trail, visited by numerous cycle tourists every year. Located ~ 200 km away from the capital, the landscape differs a lot from what can be seen in Mazovia (as this is already almost the border with Belarus) so it’s definitely worth a summer city-break. Some still fresh pictures from the tour are to be found below-
Those looking to visit Poland and discover it on two wheels, but not knowing where to start or looking for advise / recommendation you are more than welcome to contact me directly or you can search for your perfect accommodation using the handy map widget below :