3. The panorama walk
THE ROUTE IS MARKED IN YELLOW (map no. 3):
PKS Bus Station – ul. W. Korfantego – ul. Kolejowa – ul. Stawowa – ul. H. Przepilińskiego – ul. Pikiety – ul. Wichrowa – Połuchnia Hill – ul. Zamarska – path by the Złocień allotments – rough track between ul. Zamarska and ul. F. Barteczka – Preserówka Hill – ul. F. Barteczka – ul. Stawowa – ul. K. Brodzińskiego – ul. Czarny Chodnik (path by the Bobrówka) – ul. Bobrecka – ul. F. Hajduka – PKP Railway Station.
Length of walk – 8 km
We begin our walk from in front of the PKS Bus Station by the ul. W. Korfantego entrance. We turn left and then left again at the roundabout which marks the junction with ul. Kolejowa, go across the flyover and then turn right into ul. Stawowa at the traffic lights. We pass the side entrance to the open market on our left (market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays), and soon reach ul. H. Przepilińskiego where we turn left into it and immediately begin to walk uphill. Ul. H. Przepilińskiego is a residential district with detached and terraced houses, the oldest buildings dating from the 19th century. After a bend in the road on the left is a black stone wayside ‘Calvary‘ cross with the following inscription, „Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me.” Jeremiah 1.12 (translator’s note: actually Lamentations: book 1 verse 12). On the side of the cross are the words; Becke, Teschen. The road continues to rise. More and more extensive panoramas of the Silesian Beskid and Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains unfold behind us. On our left we pass hill 351 where cell phone network transmitter has been erected and soon go across the road bridge over ul. Graniczna (National Route 1 and International Routes E75 and E462) which leads to the border crossing. The road continues to rise but less steeply. Finally we reach the ridge of Pikiety hill and then turn right into ul. Pikiety. On the left, near house no. 107, is a restored wayside stone ‘Calvary’ cross with an inscription, „We salute the Lord Jesus Christ and bless You, for You redeemed the world through the Cross and Your suffering! Founded by Adam and Ewa Wybraniec, owners of this property. The cross was blessed in August 1906.” (fig. 69). Nearby is the Cieszyn Pikiety PKS coach stop. The name Pikiety is probably linked to the fact that beyond the town between the wayside cross and an inn on the hill stood low, bulky ammunition dumps – no longer in existence – which were guarded by mounted sentries i.e. pickets.
Soon the tarmac road turns left towards Zamarski passing hill 379 from the north. The route goes straight along ul. Pikiety which becomes a track from this point onward. We continue uphill toward two houses painted white and beige. Here there is a view over Zamarski and the Beskid Mountains from Palenica via Klimczok, Skrzyczne, Barania Góra, Mała Czantoria, Wielka Czantoria, Kozubová, Ostrý, Javorový, Velký Lipový, Travný, Lysá hora to Ondřejník. On the left is the Boguniówka valley, and on the right the Sarkandrowiec valley. We continue to the west and slightly downhill along ul. Wichrowa in Zamarski, here a track built of concrete slabs. We stay in ul. Wichrowa, which soon turns right.
After passing an isolated farm we come to a gully on our left. Beyond it we turn right into a grassy track between fields, which runs parallel to electricity pylons and takes us almost to the top of Połuchnia, a hill 376m above sea level. Here we are greeted by a similar panorama to the earlier one. Just over the brow of the hill we turn left into ul. Zamarska and begin to gradually descend. The road is a rough track at first, becoming metalled when the first houses are reached. We come to the road-bridge over ul. Graniczna (fig. 70). There is now a very windy and difficult-to-navigate section so we have to pay close attention to the signposts. After the road-bridge we leave ul. Zamarska and turn right before the fence to the Złocień allotments, after which we soon go to the left, still keeping to the allotments fence. We go diagonally across fields towards an electricity pylon. We turn left again just before the pylon and cross the fields on a wide grass track in a southerly direction. On the right there are two new buildings and in front of us an impressive view of the Silesian Beskid and Silesian-Moravian Beskid Mountains; from Równica, via Czantoria, Tuł, Jasieniowa, Stożek, Girová, Polom, Kozubová, Ostrý, Javorový to Lysá hora, as well as Cieszyn with the Piastowskie and Bobrek Zachód Estates. After around 200 m we reach a rubbish tip (where a new road is being planned) and turn right. The grassy track is scarcely visible here. We soon come to ul. F. Barteczka where we turn left. We are on the Preserówka hill, at the edge of the Sarkandrowiec valley (fig. 71). We can see the valley from when we leave ul. Zamarska. We pass two splendid oaks, an ash and a hornbeam on the right. Here, just before reaching the Bobrek Wschód Estate we once again have a view of Klimczok, Równica, Czantoria, Jasieniowa and Tuł.
We descend along ul. F. Barteczka passing on the left the new housing on the Bobrek Wschód Estate built in the late 1990s. Beyond the estate is the boundary fence of the Elektrometal complex. We reach ul. Stawowa, where we see the Cieszyn Stawowa PKS coach stop and ZGK bus stop opposite the Elektrometal office block. Our route turns right into ul. Stawowa, which we cross, and immediately left into ul. K. Brodzińskiego. Here it joins the green signs for the Water Walk. The two routes run parallel to each other between houses, and join the black signs of the Bobrek Walk at the junction with ul. T. Kościuszki. The green Water Walk finishes at this point. After crossing the bridge over the Bobrówka we turn right into ul. Czarny Chodnik, still sharing the route with the black signs. From this point on we are also joined by the green signs of the Nature Reserves Walk. We walk by a flower nursery between the railway tracks of the Cieszyn – Bielsko-Biała line and the Bobrówka. We soon reach the flyover. Under it, on the right of the path, is a wayside shrine which marked the beginning of the final road for criminals sentenced to death. The place of execution was located on the so-called Deadman’s Hill on the slopes of Mały Jaworowy. Executions were carried out by the Cieszyn executioner, who was often ‘loaned out’ to other towns. The crown of a magnificent oak tree, a nature monument with a girth of 447 cm, can be seen on the right-hand bank of the Bobrówka across from the shrine. After passing under the flyover we turn left into ul. Bobrecka, and, after crossing the railway tracks, right into ul. F. Hajduka from where it is only a 100-metre walk to the PKP railway station and the end of the walk.