2017-08-14 Znin, Poland to Oelde, Germany
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Znin, Poland to Oelde, Germany
From Znin we take the E261 (and S5) south west and drive 100km towards Poznan. The road is lined by trees decimated by the hurricane and small woods just laid flat by the wind. Huge hay bales are blown across fields, roofs blown off barns and outbuildings collapsed where they stand. The destruction is awful, possibly made worse as the land here is so flat (just like prairies). Near Poznan, we join the A2/E30 for the 180km drive west towards the Poland/German border at Frankfurt an der Oder.
We stop for lunch and then back on the E30, which we know is a toll road and hear our radar box ticking every time we go under a radar box on the gantry. Despite this, we find ourselves having to stop at road toll barriers. We are non-plussed about this, but when the car behind toots his horn, I take a ticket and the barrier opens. We continue on and note that the bleeping from the radar box on the dashboard has stopped (because there are no radars on this section of road). We drive for about half an hour and have to stop at a barrier, using our ticket to pay the road toll of about €6!
About 2.30pm we approach the Polish/German border and look for the Via toll building so that we can drop off the road tax radar box and get our refund. As we approach the border (the border is actually the river Oder) we see the Via toll on the other side of the motorway (for those entering Poland) but nothing on our side, or those leaving Poland. We find ourselves crossing the River Oder into Germany and no sign of the Via toll office!
We stop and consult Mr Google. Swiecko is where we need to be and should have come off the E30 at H.29 (last junction before the German border). Of course, being Poland why would they tell you that? If there are no signs or they do not give you information, they do not have to give you a refund, and… having already got in tax at least four times more than we are ever likely to use, it in their interest not to tell you!
So… back onto the E30 at Frankfurt an der Oder, over the river again and back into Poland. We exit at H.29, the next junction, and follow signs for Swiecko. From here we follow the Sat-Nav another six or so kms to Swiecko. After a bit more searching we find the Via toll office. It is an undistinguished, Soviet-style building (as they all are), without markings, it was not easy to find! We park up and look around, where to go and which one of the myriad entrances to use?
Mr C. asks a truck driver whose truck has GB plates (of course… they would know driving in and out of Poland all the time) who directs him across to the other side of the site to a small and rather scruffy building. We enter through a non-descript door, no signs, and mill around in the central entrance hall with about a hundred truck drivers (I am the only woman). There are corridors radiating outwards off this central hall, so we wander down several and eventually find a tiny office with a tiny sign saying Via Toll… halleluiah!
There are five truck drivers in front of us (and one already in the office making six). Only one person on the desk in the office and each person is taking about 15 minutes to do all the paperwork. We join the queue and wait, there are no chairs anywhere or anywhere to sit. After about an hour and a quarter I am losing the will to live but, finally it is our turn. It has taken us two hours to get to this stage! We deposit the radar box, it is checked and ‘read’ and, guess what? We are due a refund. Of course, we do not know how much because she speaks no English and we speak no Polish.
We give back the paperwork that was given to us on entering Poland and she redoes it all. She calculates what we have used (about €3.90) and what refund is due (just over €60 of the €64 that we paid on Saturday). She calculates the refund from Zlotys to euros and goes to the money exchange and changes them in euros, losing another about another €3 on exchange rate. About three hours of time and a lot of frustration, we decide that we will not come back to Poland again until they change the road toll system. Keep that in mind, if your motorhome is over 3500 kg Poland is a bad place to go.
It is well after 5.00 pm when we finally leave Poland crossing the river for the third time. We are so exhausted by the whole process that we don’t really want to drive much further. Back on the E30, we cross the river Oder again into Germany and H.12. and after about 5km turn south west on H87 towards Spreewalder. It is 70km and further than we intended but a nice Eurocamp site with a section set aside for ‘overnighters’. We stop here, it is €8 per night and this includes a really good toilet and shower block, kitchen and laundry (although we don’t use these as it is about 7-minute walk to the main block), and there is a shop and good cafeteria. It is a lovely sunny evening, so we set up, put the chairs out and drink German wine. We are exhausted!
Znin, Poland to Oelde, Germany photos
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Motorhome return tour from Turku in Finland to the UK via the Baltic States Poland Germany and Eurotunnel
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