Wdzydzki Landscape Park (Wdzydzki Park Krajobrazowy)
Forest complexes around “Kashubian Sea”, that is a complex of Wdzydze lakes, are on one hand an unusually valued by tourists place for recreation, sport and rest, and on the other – a quiet and cosy space of greatly maintained habitats of wild nature. Four trails marked out in Wdzydzki Park Krajobrazowy cover also magical places, as well as historic attractions – also those that go back to dim and distant past.
Because here, in the area of Wdzydze, its part has a green “Kręgi Kamienne” trail also called “Partyzancki”, that stretches from Sierakowice to Czarna Woda village. On the terrain of the Park, the route runs on a distance of 21 kilometres, and the majority of that are forests. The hike covers numerous hill forts from various historic periods, as well as popular among esotericism and parapsychology enthusiasts burial grounds of Goths and Gepids in Węsiory and Odry, commonly called the stone henges. Another interesting point of the route is Diabelski Kamień [Devil Rock], that is a 2-metres high and almost 5-metres wide glacial erratic. According to the legend, the devil wanted to destroy the local chapel with a giant rock. Approaching its aim, the devil got hit by a bright lightning and dropped the rock to the ground. When he tried to lift it again, the sun shined and the devil had to hide from it in the rock. In the rock’s creak an iron cross was stuck, which to this day keeps the devil inside.
A red “Kaszubski” trail amounts to 135 kilometres and starts in Sierakowice village; it shows versatile assets of Kashubia region. Across the terrain of the Park, the route runs on a distance of 18 kilometres, entering it in Grzybowski Młyn. We will follow the course of rivers Trzebiocha and Wda, to reach Wdzydze Kiszewskie where awaits us Muzeum Kaszubskiego Parku Etnograficznego [Museum of Kashubian Ethnographic Park] which is worth paying a visit.
A patron of a blue trail is Izydor Gulgowski, a teacher, poet and publicist, a co-creator of Kaszubskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze [Ethnographic Kashubian Society]. Not a long (7.5 kilometres) trail has its start in Wdzydze Kiszewskie, from where we will go through pine forests to Gołuń settlement where there is a meeting point of all trails marked out on the terrain of the Park. On our way, we will also find small lakes Wałachy, Stryjek and Kotel, by which it is planned to create nature reserves. The trail ends on the periphery of Olpuch village in the area of PKS bus station.
A black “Wdzydzki” trail with a length of 19 kilometres, almost wholly lays on the terrain of the Park, and starts its course in Olpuch village. A forest route that links with blue and red trails runs on the eastern shore of Wdzydze lake across a forest included in the complex of Bory Tucholskie. The last point of the trail is a well-known Wiele, a Kashubian village, in the area of which there was built a cluster of 23 sacred objects, called Kalwaria Wielewska. In the village, there are organised Turnieje Gawędziarzy Ludowych Kaszub i Kociewia [Competitions of Folk Stroytellers of Kashubia and Kociewie].
