In the far southeastern corner of Poland, where the country meets Slovakia and Ukraine, the Bieszczady mountains rise in long, rounded ridges covered with beech forest. Above the tree line, the summits are open meadows called połoniny, and Połonina Wetlińska is one of the most beautiful, a long grassy ridge with views over endless forested hills. Smerek, a peak at its western end, rises to over twelve hundred metres. On the ridge, the Chatka Puchatka, Winnie the Pooh's hut, a small mountain refuge, has been a beloved stop for hikers for decades. The walk up from Wetlina or the Przełęcz Wyżna pass takes a couple of hours, and the view from the top, especially at sunset, is unforgettable.
The Bieszczady were once densely populated by the Boykos and Lemkos, Ukrainian-speaking highlanders with their own wooden churches and traditions. After the Second World War, in 1947, the communist authorities forcibly resettled the remaining population in the operation known as Vistula, and many villages disappeared entirely, leaving only orchards, cemeteries and the foundations of churches in the forest. The landscape you see today, wild and empty, is partly the result of that tragedy. The surviving wooden churches, such as Smolnik, are listed by UNESCO among the wooden tserkvas of the Carpathian region.
The forests are now among the wildest in Poland, home to wolves, lynx, brown bears and European bison, reintroduced after their extinction in the wild. You are unlikely to see them from the road, but signs warn of bears, and locals take them seriously.
The riding is excellent. The Great Bieszczady Loop, the Duża Obwodnica Bieszczadzka, links Lesko, Ustrzyki Dolne, Ustrzyki Górne, Wetlina and Cisna, winding through the valleys and over passes with tight bends, good surfaces and views over the forested ridges. The road between Wetlina and Ustrzyki Górne, passing below the połoniny, is particularly beautiful. Traffic is light outside the summer holidays, but watch for logging trucks, wildlife and tourists stopping suddenly.
Fuel is limited in the mountains; Cisna and Ustrzyki Górne have small stations, but fill up in Ustrzyki Dolne or Lesko to be safe. Try the local pierogi, and a bowl of soup in a mountain inn after the ride.