29. Jul 2025

Bakałarzewo - Mazury

Photo 1: St. James the Greater, the patron saint of pilgrims. The St. James Church in Bakałarzewo where today's walk began.

Photo 2: I think I know how this stork feels. Today is one of those days where you just have to get through it. Because I changed my route to have a dry place in Borki to stay the night, I would have to walk an extra 6 km to get there, a total of about 47 km for the day. This would have been a new personal backpacking record for me, but quite honestly I was not keen on breaking any records. I knew I would be walking on the road quite a bit and I knew it would be raining just about the whole day...

Then an unexpected puzzle piece showed up. It was an angel called Josef driving his car to the city of Olecko. First he passed me, then stopped and drove about 200 meters in reverse to where I was walking... in the rain. As I saw him backing up to me, I asked Jesus if this was his doing and if the driver would offer to take me to Olecko, whether I should accept. And so it was. Josef rolled down the window, asked if I was going to Olecko and whether I would like a lift. I am not wanting to set records. I am wanting to survive. I said yes. It saved me 5 km or a little more than an hour of walking. I asked Josef if he loved Jesus. He said yes and showed me a pucture of Jesus that he had in his car. I told him that I had Jesus' image in my heart. I prayed for Josef before he dropped me off at a Kaufland, a German grocery store chain. It was almost noon time. I saw a wonderful spinach tomato quiche and bought it right away. It was just about noon time and there was a bench right by the bakery. So I had a good meal and could sit in a dry place while I ate it. Josef's act of kindness helped ease the pain of the day.

Photo 3: There was a nice walking path along the lake in Olecko.

Photo 4: Definately duck weather today...

Photo 5: This was a St. James path through the woods. Sometimes I take other paths that look more interesting, are less on the road or are shorter in distance. Some of these "other" paths can be quite adventurous, and afterwards I understand why they do not direct the general public these ways. Mostly I like the challenge. In those moments you enter survival modus and loose the sense of timevand of discomfort in the feet and shoulders. It is always a thrill to then meet back up with the St. James path. I had one of those adventurous paths today. Sometimes my "other" paths are quite nice and I see some other things that I would have missed otherwise. I then wonder why they do not direct the pilgrims this way.