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Załęczański Landscape Park

This is one of the very first landscape parks in Poland.

Have you ever visited the Załęczański Landscape Park? If you have, you probably know that this is an incredibly picturesque and charming park. You will want to re-visit it again and again 🙂
This park, which is located to the south-east from Wieluń and slightly to the west from Działoszyn, was established in 1978, as one of the very first landscape parks in Poland! And it just happens to be exactly my age, so I can’t say that it’s old 😉

The Załęczański Landscape Park protects the picturesque landscape of the Wieluń Upland, which consists of the river bend of Warta and the gorge of the river Warta. This is an idyllic place, which is part of the łódzkie region, although its fragment is located at the area of the śląskie region. This is a perfect place for the so-called slow travel.

The Great Arch of Warta
This breathrough part of the river Warta in the Załęczański Landscape Park, known as the Great Arch of Warta, is considered the most beautiful fragment of this famous Polish river. It is the third longest river in Poland and the second to be fully located within the borders of the country. This river is also associated with the youngest national park in Poland – the „Ujście Warty” National Park.

I highly recommend coming here to admire the bend of the river Warta, because this is what mostly decides of the picturesqueness of this place. Here you can find two breakthrough fragments of hte river Warta – Działoszyński and Krzeczowski, in which Warta flows through the Wieluń Upland. The gorges can usually offer spectacular views, especially if they’re combined with rocks, and that’s exactly what happens here.

The most northern Jurassic rock.
Glowing rocks are very peculiar in this region, in the Załęczański Landscape Park you can encounter the most northern rocks of the entire Wieluń Jurasic System, which is sometimes included in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. These are the rocks at the Mountain of St. Genowefa, which at the same time is one of the pillars of the gate of the river Warta, as well as an excellent observation point, especially when the local flora is not so lush and doesn’t cover up the images with Warta in their centre.

The caves in the Załęczański Landscape Park
And where there’s glowing rocks, there are also caves. One of the most popular caves in the Załęczański Landscape Park is also the largest one – the Szachownica Cave, with abut 1000-meter long corridors. It is part of a geological reserve.

Several smaller caves are also located at Mount Zelce, in the Węże Nature Reserve. These caves include the Za Kratą Cave, the Niespodzianka Cave and the Stalagmitowa Cave. Unfortunately, these caves are not available for tourists, but in the village of Draby you can walk on a ladder leading to the black bottom, if you’re brave enough. It is the Ewa Cave, which is available (2020), but you enter at your own risk. Some people say that its corridors are 40 meters long, but we didn’t have a chance to test them, maybe you will be able to odo it?:)

The trails in the Załęczański Landscape Park
In the Załęczański Landscape Park, tourists can conquer numerous trails. The main trail of this picturesque place is the Wieluń Jurassic System Trail, marked in red, which is the extension of the popular, jurassic Eagle Nest Trail.

It is also worth following the Gorge of Warta Trail, marked in yellow, or walking down the path from under the Stara Wieś Resort, it might not be marked, but it is very picturesque, and it allows to make a loop following to Granatowe Źródła. The Załęczański Landscape Park can also be explored on bicycles, on horseback, or during the kayak trip down the Warta river.

Kayaking down the Warta river
It’s worth rafting down the Warta river! This river can offer rafting trips in many places in Poland, for example in Mirów upon Częstochowa, but the trips that are organized in the Załęczański Landscape Park are especially charming, thanks to the Great Arch of the Warta river, which is strongly twisted here, between the meadows and fields, in an incredibly idyllic scenery.

In this area, rafting trips usually begin in Działoszyn, and while kayaking, you can admire various attractions of the park, for example Żabi Staw, the Mountain of St. Genowefa, the beach in Stara Wieś and the monumental wimdmill in Kępowizna. The rafting trip can end in one of the points,for example in Stara Wieś, Kępowizna and Przywóz.

The rafting trips are organized by various outside companies, including the beautifully situated Stara Wieś Resort & Odnowa, which delivers kayaks to the chosen place.

Oxbow rivers
At the area of the Załęczański Landscape Park, within the border of the Wieluń County, you can follow along the edges of the Warta river to find the interesting oxbow rivers, which are cut off, or nearly cut off fragments of the river, in which the river used to flow. At one of them, a place of ecological use known as Wronia Woda was established, and another one is famous of the so-called Granatowe Źródła, which are the Jurassic System’s only pulsating, terrace karst springs. They are a natural monument.

Another attractive place is Żabi Staw near Bobrowniki, where, as it is easy to figure out, you’ll be able to encounter plenty of amphibians. There are pretty tree frogs here, but also fire-bellied toads. This peculiarity of nature is considered a monument of nature.

Birds and bats
Among the local wildlife, in this area you can find a large diversity of birds, approximately
130 species were counted here. In this area you can also find numerous invertebrates. But the most interesting thing is the fact, that there are plenty of birds living here, which hibernate in the winter in local caves. There are 3 species dominating here – the Natterer’s night, the large night and the moppet.

Forests in the Park
More than half of the park’s area consists of forests. In the Załęczański Landscape Park there are surviving tracts of natural forests, including beech forests, which is protected as part of the „Bukowa Góra”, as well as oakwoods and fir fortests. And in these forests grow several dozens of species of protected plants.

Monuments
The Wieluń Upland, and more exactly, the Załęczański Landscape Park, can also offer monuments of architecture, mostly charming churches, as well as monuments of technology, such as the woden windmill in Kępowizna and lime kilns, where lime is burnt.

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