Home
Travel StoriesBogger's Et Al's Polish Adventure
Escape From Colditz To Poland
Ride Date - Mid July 2024
By Bogger
Day 5
We’re up at a reasonable hour and are soon on our way into Colditz to refuel. Colditz is only a small town, overlooked by the massive, infamous, castle. The castle is now a music academy, lodging hostel, and Museum, and probably something else besides. High Tech Pete really wanted to go inside and have a look around the place. It is a very
impressive imposing structure.
Where we parked the bikes outside the castle - inside a full orchestra was playing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. We obviously all joined in with the lyrics at the top of our voices some forty feet below the window where the music was coming from. I can only guess what the trainee musicians thought of us.
We wandered through the main gate and into the castle itself. Although you had unrestricted access to the ‘grounds’ the Museum was closed. The only day of the week it’s closed is the day we turn up, Tuesday. FFS. We we’re very disappointed and after half an hour we made our way back to the bikes. Poland beckons.
We head East out of Colditz on the A176/175 towards Dobeln and then Riesa. The landscape has changed again and we're riding along quiet roads with the vast farming plains of Eastern Germany spreading out all around us. At the Town of Kamenz we navigate the centre and pull onto a Lidl car park for supplies. The weather is boiling hot and there’s no shade on the car park so we decide to ride a little further and see if we can find a more comfortable spot to take a break.
Not far up the road right on the outskirts of town we stop again. There’s us lot on the car park, a couple of cars, and a Pizza delivery van. We’d only been there five minutes and in the distance we could hear the unmistakable noise of small two stroke engines being revved hard.
A minute later two old Simson Schwalbe mopeds buzz into the car park. Astride both are two teenage girls. Fair play! Not only was that bizarre, in a good way, but one of the mopeds was pulling a Schwalbe trailer behind it. They’re here to collect some pizzas. They duly paid the delivery guy, put the pizzas in the trailer and went on their merry way. That would just never happen in the UK. In fact we saw many more Simson mopeds later on that day as well.
We set off again. Kamenz is north east of Dresden and only fifty five miles from the Polish border. Onwards and Eastwards.
We had no campsite booked again for this evening, it was just a case of get into Poland and see what the day brought. We had one final stop in Germany to stretch our legs and stock up with a few supplies. Just before the Polish border I did remark to myself at how good the final road surface was. As soon as we crossed into Poland the first section of road was diabolical. It was heavily rutted and pitted with potholes everywhere. Come on Poland you can do better than this surely? Thankfully they could and after five miles of double vision the road smoothed out.
Earlier on I’d mentioned that some of the German populace could be a bit, err frosty. Well the first village we passed through in Poland summed it all up really. There we are riding through this small village and one of the elderly locals spies us coming down the road towards him. He stops, looks up and with a beaming smile on his face starts to wave at us as we sail by. I already like Poland.
Apparently we are near the town of Lesna, but it feels like the middle of nowhere. The sat–navs are consulted and a campsite is chosen. It’s not too far away and the Welsh contingent need to refuel and say they will meet myself and Pete there.
Cue another sat-nav brain fart. Pete and me are trawling up and down a deserted road in the middle of absolutely nowhere trying to find a campsite that just doesn’t exist. Pete keeps stopping and saying the sat-nav says we have arrived. Like **** we’ve arrived. There’s nothing here Pete apart from trees and fields.
After a good half an hour of getting frustrated we consult Google maps on our phone. The campsite is nowhere near here! Really, I’d never have guessed. About turn for the fifth time and head in the opposite direction. Just as we approach a village we spot the Welsh lads heading in our direction. Nige looks at his sat-nav and says we are going in the wrong direction. We explain what’s happened and they follow us for a couple of miles to thankfully the campsite.
We pull into the dusty, rustic campsite entrance and stop. A guy jogs over to us and eyes us up and down. We explain in English that we would like to camp for the night. He holds up a finger and jogs off, another guy jogs over and his English is very good. Of course you can stay - follow me. He sets us up overlooking the lake, lovely.
That night we had a meal at the outdoor bar and the campsite owner and his mates joined us for a drink or two. We had all noticed when we arrived at the site, a rev and go scooter with Irish plates on it. It belonged to the guy who had showed us to our pitch. He now lives in Ireland, hence the plates, but still has a place in Poland. He comes over in the summer for a couple weeks, to help his mate out who owns the campsite.
His twelve year old lad was with him and he had a thick Irish accent. He was actually born in Ireland. We asked him if he considered himself Irish or Polish. He pondered for a second and said - It depends where I am and who’s asking.
Personally I think the lad will do ok in life.
We’d only covered one hundred and sixty miles today but somehow it felt a lot further. Alas we were only spending the one night in Poland. A pity really, we’d only been there a few hours but had all warmed to the place. The beer was cheap as well at only £2.20 a pint.
I wonder if this was clouding our vision, pun intended. Time for beddybyes.
Share your own stories - click here.
Let The Chaos Commence
After the where's and why's it's time for a long ride from The Midlands to Belgium. It doesn't all go according to plan but relative to this lot's usual mayhem - it's a good start.
Not Too Much Chaos
It's all going far too well - I mean losing half your crew is an everyday occurrence ain't it? Well it is for this lot. There's little mention of beer.
Old Men Crossing Rivers
I'm getting rather concerned for Bogger. Not much beer, early to bed, no-one lost, and no mechanical tomfoolery. There's a catch, surely there's a catch
Chaos Towards Colditz
More mayhem from a bunch of blokes old enough to know better. Brits used to try and get out of Colditz, these lads are struggling to get in. Fear not - there is beer.
Escape From Colditz To Poland
The lads take a brief look around Colditz before making a dash for Poland. There's a handful of shenanigans and guess what - beer.
Reader's Comments
nab301 said :-
Great write up as usual , I'm guessing Simson and MZ were linked somehow because back in the late 70's early 80's when Ireland had an MZ importer they marketed a conventional looking 50cc bike under the name MZ/ Simson. I never got to ride one but I believe it was 3 speed and looks like what is described as an S51.
The Polish campsite looks great, and the Irish connection brought a smile to my face having worked with many Polish people over the decades.
Nigel
11/06/2025 10:43:51 UTC
Bogger said :-
It's funny you should mention the Simson Nigel. We had a quick chat with the girls and I said, Hmm nice bikes these MZ's.
She gave me a quizzical look and said, no not MZ, they are Simson Schwalbe. Oops my mistake.
I also thought they were one and the same.
Fourteen years ago when we had previously visited Colditz Castle on the C90's, one of the tour guides said she had a Simson Schwalbe, again with no mention of MZ.
Bogger
11/06/2025 12:44:31 UTC
Upt'North ยน said :-
"Would just never happen in the UK"; if you mean buying Pizza I think you're wrong, they're widely available. I just saw some in Aldi!
But if you mean it'll never be boiling hot I concur.
Thanks Bogger.....you need a better sat nav.
You're welcome.
Upt.
12/06/2025 14:38:32 UTC
CrazyFrog said :-
MZ (DKW) and Simson were separate companies before the war. After the war the were all under state control as part of the IFA group along with Wartburg and Trabant cars. They lost their identities a bit at this point but I can understand locals being insistent on the correct names. The same thing happened in Czechoslovakia with Jawa and CZ. CZ were the equivalent of BSA being primarily an arms manufacturer, whereas Jawa were always bike manufacturers more like Norton. After the war, their motorcycles just badge engineering really.
12/06/2025 16:01:12 UTC
Name
Comment
Add a RELEVANT link (not required)
Upload an image (not required) -
Uploading...
Home
Travel StoriesBogger's Et Al's Polish Adventure