All the way to Gdansk...

Couple of days to update on i think? Losing track cus it feels such a long time already but only been 2 weeks ! If its been more than that please someone call us otherwise we'll miss the eurotunnel back :-)
We left czaplinek having spent 3 nights at the lake. On the last day there was a break in the scorching weather with a 5 minute storm..the lifeboat could be seen leaving the marina to rescue someone sailing who'd forgotten their hat. That evening we went up to the marina having asked some advice on where to get a better meal (poland so far had been either pasta a la cook, or eating out - a choice of fryti (fries) or zapiekanka (frozen pizza) - 'bigos' a tantelising polish stew was on the menu, but never available...so microwaved frozen pizza or chips it was!).
At the marina (which turned out to be drawtur camping site), the choice on the menu did extend but only to cheese burger (frytki and zapiekanka being the other options of course). So, the burger (frozen then micro-zapped) was good..along with a tyskie beer which is definitely a good substitute for stella. The kids had their usual microwaved hotdog and bev had an unusual cheese toasty (unusual in that it wasn't microwaved) - so no real evidence of good food out yet! After a game of table football with jem, both jem and charlotte went skinny dipping in the lake...that was their bathtime done !
We said goodbye to sonia, hello to zoe's new tooth and headed off towards the coast in search of peaceful sand dunes so bev...i meant the kids, could get their fill of sea air before heading inland and picked a small looking coastal spot into trusty tomtom. A few hours later down twisty narrow roads, another 14 wee stops for charlotte and a driver swap to avoid the pressure of narrow roads and other vehicles daring to use them causing a marital event, and we arrived at the twilight zone. This episode is about a family arriving at a sleepy fishing village called 'rowy' (somewhere north of slupsk) and it turning out to be some sort of holiday village for the polish middle classes..fully equipped with fair ground, amusement arcades, henna tatooists and pirate boats...the road angels were obviously overjoyed ! I was overjoyed by the drastic reduction in football t-shirts which clearly meant safe parking and good food.
Bemused about where we had ended up (i suspect 50 years ago, some mind altering substance was put into the water system so that all the local residents agreed to sell their properties to some tyrant) we parked up in a temporary car park and headed for the beech. 20 minutes later having negotiated our way past the inflateables, popcorn, amusements, go-kart rentals, ice creams etc we planted ourselves amidst the entire population of poland and joined the human BBQ. Bev bravely took the kids into the baltic..jem and charlotte loving to leap under the waves and zoe even had a jump in the wash...until a big wave came and soaked everyone ! Daddy sat guarding the valuables worrying about where we'd actually camp assuming the van was still there when we got back. Jem and charlotte finished off the beech fun with the usual argument about whether to dig or fill, with charlotte filling as jem dug :-) on the way back we succumbed to an inflatable kick board after much negotiation (jem wanted a boat, bev still wants an inflatable dingy, daddy refuses to blow one up..so kick board it was luckily)
The return to the van was a pleasant surprise.. i.e it was still there yet again ! What luck :-) even after stopping at a 'ryby' (fish bar) for some expensive food for which daddy had to check the bill...25 quid for a meal for 4 with drinks..ridiculous, where's the manager ! Turned out the prices where per 100g hence the confusion :-) jem had eel and liked it..even the crispy skin !
We checked into a little friendly campsite and returned to the beech the next day for more baking then after a nice milkshake (and an iced coffee for bev after a slight mixup over which bar was the milkshake bar) we pegged it back to the van as a huge storm came over..luckily getting in before torrential rain and lightning. Jem and daddy laughed from the safety of the van at the fellow campers rushing to get their awings up and failing miserably! Waiting for it to pass over so we could leave for gdansk we contemplated how daddy hates the beech as much as jeremy hates sleeping, Charlotte hates clothes and zoe hates eating and had a laugh together :-)
We then set off at break neck speed to gdansk. The road between slupsk and gdansk is paved with speed traps of all types..luckily the poles like to flash their lights to warn oncoming vehicles of speed traps being moved about by fat policemen.
Having caught up with the storm, fueled up, and cunningly bought a gdansk map at the same time which showed the campsites in gdansk bev took the helm and tried to apply the starboard tack rule to a lorry as we joined a roundabout..luckily we stopped before sinking it ! Jem finally woke up from his slumber to ask where his leapster game was to which daddy responded 'probably in zoe's lap' as pretty much everything else in the van was now 5 meters forward of where it was when we set off.
Tomtom finally alerted us to our arrival at the campsite having had to drive up and down the road looking for it..only to find the helpfull map didnt differentiate between scout huts and actual campsites..the former being daddys chosen destination. After re-'punching' the route in, we arrived at the 'other campsite in gdansk', the crappiest most jam packed campsite ever, drove round twice to get our eye in before pulling up. Bev wasn't happy one bit, so time for a beer and bed.
We took the tram into gdansk the next day and the center was quite amazing in contrast to the suburbs outside. Stopping as usual for lunch (we're finding on the cities, by the time we're up, sorted, out, and in town...its gone midday !) we had the best meal so far (some restaurant called euro i think).. Zoe was asleep, jem and charlotte ate everything and behaved so well the waiter brought bev and i some 'goldwaser' which we let them both dip their fingers in (bit like sweet sambuka with gold flakes suspended it) that was a perfect end to a perfect meal (did i mention jem getting even more adventurous with his food and opting for pigs trotters baked in beer? )
Having seen gdansk and its amber stalls and painted buildings we headed back to the campsite from hell which by now didnt seem so bad after all (maybe that was the goldwaser) and bev and the kids dragged daddy to the beach,which despite our suspicions that it was all a con and wouldn't be there, actually was...and what a beech it was ! Long stretch of white sand for a few miles...of course the kids immediately started digging 10 meters from the entrance and that's where we stayed for an hour before the gates between the beech and the campsite would be shutting. Jem and Charlotte had candyfloss which charlotte promptly dropped...
Next morning (this morning in fact ! Finally up to date !) we drove the 3 hours (6-7 hours) to get us half way to briebrzia national park via the polish lake district and have stopped at a beautiful lake.... Which we'll tell you about later !