The Wieluń Region

When traveling around Wieluń , you can get the impression that this area is little known to caravanning enthusiasts, which is a pity, because they have a lot to offer and hide a lot of tourism potential, which is just about to develop. After studying a few guides, reading all available forum threads and calculating the route, we decided to choose these areas for the long weekend in June.

At the beginning, positive: Wieluń has one of the best organized interactive maps I have ever seen - I strongly encourage you to explore it (the staff requires a bit of practice, but it's worth it!) And writing down the exact coordinates of all the attractions you want to see (they are detailed there). We did not do it and we regret it, because we did not manage to see half of the planned attractions, but more on that in a moment ...

Packed, well-prepared, tight-knit and ready, we set off towards Wieluń. Our first stop was to be the ZHP hostel in the small town of Kamion . We did not reach the riverside hostel itself, because just behind the bridge, by the river itself, we saw a beautiful area for a stopover and, after catching a tongue at the locals, we decided to spend the night there. Right next to it there is a ranch with a nice restaurant, a beach soccer field and a playground for children. You can ride a horse here, rent water equipment or organize a barbecue. A perfect opportunity, because the Wieluń region is a perfect area for horse tourism - infrastructure has been prepared here and special horse trails have been marked out. Every now and then you can also come across canoeing trips here because the Warta and Liswarta rivers offer many attractions for amateurs of this form of recreation. It is the canoeists that we owe the fact that most of the riverside areas have gentle descents - perfect for parking with a camper. It is worth adding that the area of the Załęczański National Park on the border of which we were located is covered by the Natura 2000 program and it is not possible to get everywhere by car. So Wieluń is a perfect area also for lovers of hiking or cycling.

After a quiet night by the river, we decided to explore the area and here we had our first "surprise". As 100% city atheists, we have completely forgotten that on the feast of Corpus Christi, whole villages live this celebration. Shops, restaurants and bars were closed by three triggers, and the towns themselves were depopulated so that there was not even anyone to ask about what to see and how to get there. Encouraged, however, by the rich descriptions of local natural attractions (found on the map of hiking trails in Kamion), we decided to go to the Granate Springs , see the Chessboard Cave and Mount St. Genowefy - unfortunately, although we came across signposts leading to these places, they soon broke off, leaving us, lost tourists in the field ... We wandered for many hours on quite difficult roads and despite the beautiful landscapes we were not able to see these places or even find any a parking lot or a forest stop - those in the area like a cure. As a consolation I would like to add that even local friends who later offered to show us these Grenade Springs could not hit.


In the end, we decided to take the opportunity to surrender to the festive atmosphere watching the processions that we encountered in practically every town along the way. About 20 km from Kamion there are ruins of the castle in Danków , which we decided to see. The castle itself burned down completely in 1767. and in the 19th century, a local priest ordered the ruined remains of the buildings to be pulled down to the end. However, the layout of the castle ramparts, the remains of huge walls and the tower known as the "castellan's house" have survived to this day. Today , the Sanctuary in Danków , which we saw on this occasion, rises on the ruins of the castle. A very interesting Way of the Cross led us practically through the entire remains of the walls of the former castle and we got to the end of the procession, with the unusual setting of the local fire brigade and ladies dressed in traditional folk costumes. In the town itself, there is a small parking lot suitable for tourists with bike stands and a shelter used by canoeists who come here for rafting. In the area, it is also worth paying attention to the characteristic houses built of local stone - many of them have real ammonites embedded in which the area is said to abound.

The next day brought us to Wie lunia , where we used the local camper park . Although at the beginning we were a bit confused by the location (a large shopping mall complex), we finally managed to find places for campers, where you can drain gray water, empty the toilet, fill the tanks and recharge the batteries for free. Congratulations to the city for this initiative! We parked our vehicle there and went on a sightseeing tour of the city, which boasts interesting monuments and the peaceful atmosphere of a small town. Few people remember that it was Wieluń that was the city where World War II broke out, which is commemorated by a stone built in the park . In September 1939, in the morning, it was bombed by the Nazis without any warning. Despite the enormous damage, fragments of the city walls (including 3 basas and gates) and numerous sacred monuments have survived. On hot summer days, you can also sit by the fountain on the market square or in the nearby "gardens".

Summarizing our trip, although the Wieluń neighborhood still lacks infrastructure (terrible roads, very poor marking of natural attractions and trails, no campgrounds or designated parking spaces in the surrounding forests and villages), it is a perfect area for your own exploration. An accurate map with GPS coordinates, gentle descents to the rivers and an excellent camper park that allows you to regenerate between wild stops make this area a fantastic base for horseback riding, cycling and kayaking adventures.

LINKS:
Interactive tourist map of the Wieluń region
A nature project dedicated to the Szachownica Cave
Website promoting leisure in the saddle (Kamion)
Facebook page dedicated to the castle in Danków