Mrągowo is the biggest town in the heart of Masuria, a district in north-eastern Poland where glaciers left a maze of lakes, forests and low hills that Poles call the land of a thousand lakes. Until 1945 this was East Prussia, and the town was known as Sensburg; its Polish name and its present population came after the Second World War, when borders were redrawn and people moved. You can still find German-built brick churches and old villas in the older streets, and the layers of history are part of the town's character.
It sits on the shore of Lake Czos, with a pleasant promenade and a park, and it has become a holiday centre with an annual country music festival, the Piknik Country, which draws crowds from across Poland every summer. Outside the festival it is a calm, practical lake town of about twenty-two thousand people, with supermarkets, petrol stations and restaurants, and it makes a sensible base for exploring the surrounding area. The lakes are warm enough to swim in by July, and the forests hold mushroom pickers in autumn.
The roads of Masuria are gentle rather than dramatic, and that is their charm. They run through avenues of old lime and maple trees, past farms, lakes and small villages, with long straight sections broken by bends around the water. Surfaces are generally good, though patched in places, and the main hazards are tractors, slow-moving holiday traffic and, in summer, cyclists. Deer and wild boar cross at dusk, and storks nest on the village rooftops from spring to late summer. The old tree-lined roads can be dappled in sun and shade, which makes it hard to see the surface clearly, so ride a little slower than you might think.
Mrągowo has fuel, plenty of it, and it is the place to fill up before running the smaller villages and lake roads to the north and east. If you want a meal, the town has both quick cafes and more serious Polish kitchens, serving pierogi, grilled fish from the lakes and the heavy soups that suit a cold day. The best months are late spring and early autumn, when the weather is mild and the lakes are quiet.