I finished my time at Elk witha very nice steak with pink peppercorn sauce and a couple of beers for about £10.00 then it was time for bed and hopefully a good nights sleep. I was rewarded, never heard a thing all night and certainly no jet skis blasting across the lake at 5am.

Woke, had breakfast and packed and it was off on the 200 mile ride to Warsaw, via Treblinka. The roads today were, in the main, great, long undulating straights and sweeping bends with loads of great overtaking opportunities, superb riding, although with a bit of a breeze, quite cold at times. Had to stop at a grage to re-fuel and I took the opportunity to put on my EDZ windblocker top under my jacket. It may be tissue paper thin but it certainly cuts out the wind, fantastic bit of kit, every motorcyclist should have one.
After about an hour and a half I came to the village of Treblinka only to find no signs at all the site of the extermination site. After trying to speak to a couple of people, an old farmer type shouted "Camp, 10km, gravel road, right", so on I went along a concrete road that had seen better days, in 10k I did come to a large boulder marked Treblinka and a 100yds further, a cobbled path off to the right which led to the car park.
From the car park the Treblinka camp was a further 400 mt walk, with the penal labour camp and execution site a further 2km walk. By now it was very warm and I was glad that I had taken my gore-tex liners out of my motorcycle trousers.
The Treblinka camp only operated between 1942 and the end of 1943, the first shipment of Jews for extermination only took place on 23rd July 1942, and ther was a prisoner rebellion on 2nd August 1943, however in that 13 months an astonishing 800,000 Jews and Roma were exterminated in gas chambers in the camp.
Following the rebellion the camp was destroyed by the Nazi's so everything that is on voew today is symbolic. These concrete sleepers have been laid along the line of the original train track that bought the prisoners to the camp. The station platform is actually as it was in the day.
It has been claimed that the Nazi's "boasted" that it took only 7hrs from the arrival of a train load of prisoners for them to be seperated, stripped of all possesions, gassed and the bodies burnt on speacial grids and the remains reduced to ash.
What a very, very sad place.

On the site of Treblinka II extermination site have been placed thousands of symbolic standing stones off all sizes, they represent towns and villages, all across Europe and Russia, from where the Jews were transported to the site. Many bear names of cities, towns and villages but the majority are plain.
Only one stone bears a name.

The stone for Januscz Korczak. This man was an author, Dr and Paediatrician who worked at an orphanage in the Warsaw Ghetto. The Nazi's demanded that 168 children from the orphanage together with 20 staff were to be shipped to Treblinka to what was certain death. Korczak was, on many occasions, given the opportunity to save himself, however, he refused each time and insisted that he accompany the children, knowing what his end would be. Even on the station at Warsaw he was given a further chance, but again he refused and boarded the train. He was never heard of again.

When I eventually returned to my bike there was a group from a motorcycle club in Hungary parked up, including 2 Blackbirds, 1 Blue and 1 Silver. I did sort of converse with one of the group and he told me they had ridden 900km over 2 days to get here. I'm afraid as he had little English and I no Hungarian it was pretty tough going but he did ask where I had been, when I told him he seemed impressed, especially when I said I had a 5 week trip.

Continued onto Warsaw and was taken aback to see a fair number of ladies of the night standing at intervals along the main road next to dirt tracks into the forest. I assume they were of that proffesion from what they were wearing and how they were standing, of course they could have just been waiting to catch an early bus into Warsaw for the nights clubs, but I think not.

I have seen this before when travelling along forrested roads in Poland nearer to the German border but that was a few years ago. It obviously has not been stamped out.

Arrived at my camp site for the night, Camping Wok, just outside the City centre, and what a revalation it is, it is how camp sites all should be. It is spotless and obviously very well kept. I am sure that you could eat your dinner from the floors of the toilet and shower block, they are that nice, it also has a club, kitchen and laundry, and a bus at the end of the road into Warsaw. It will be a pleasure to spend a couple of nights here I am sure.

Will get up tomorrow and bus it into Warsaw and see what the big city has to offer to a foot weary torist. I am sure it will have plenty.