The ridge called Łysa Góra, the Bald Mountain, has been climbed for a thousand years, and what the pilgrims are climbing to is the abbey of Święty Krzyż, the Holy Cross. The hill rises to roughly six hundred metres, which sounds modest until you see how it stands above the plain, with the dark fir and beech forest of the Świętokrzyskie National Park covering its flanks. The old Poles gave these hills a supernatural reputation: popular legend placed a witches' gathering on the bare summit, and some of the same folklore turns up in Polish literature, which is why you will find the name in unlikely places.
The abbey itself is Benedictine, and the tradition says it holds fragments of the wood of the Cross, brought here in the Middle Ages and venerated ever since. Kings and princes made the climb, and for centuries the monks were among the most powerful landowners in the region. The buildings have been burnt, rebuilt, plundered and put to strange uses: in the nineteenth century they served as a prison, and during the Second World War as a camp. Today the monks are back, and the courtyard is quiet and a little austere, with a view over forest in every direction.
What most visitors remember is the stone. Below the summit lies the gołoborze, a vast river of angular quartzite blocks that tumbles down the slope without a single tree growing on it. It was shaped in the cold of the last Ice Age, when frost split the rock, and the blocks have lain there ever since, covered in lichen and silent. A marked path crosses the field, and walking on it is oddly satisfying, though it is slippery after rain and not a place for riding boots with smooth soles.
The road up is a forest road, sometimes narrow and shaded, with bends that tighten as the gradient steepens, and a surface that is mostly good but can hold damp leaf litter and gravel. Parking close to the summit is limited, and you may find that the last stretch is done on foot, so check what is open on the day. Autumn is superb, with beeches the colour of copper, though weekends are crowded with school groups.