Granatowe Źródła (Navy Blue Springs)

Here some of the water flows out of a rock fissure on the bank, while the rest wells up from the bottom of a pool – an old oxbow of the River Warta. Granatowe Źródła ("Navy Blue Springs"), between Troniny and Stara Wieś, are the only example of pulsating, terraced karst springs in the Polish Jura. They are protected as a natural monument and can be reached on the red Wieluń Jura Trail.

Karst springs by the Warta

Załęczański Landscape Park protects a landscape of Jurassic limestone hills in which water has carved many karst features. Rainwater soaks into the fissured limestone, flows underground and returns to the surface at springs like these. At Granatowe Źródła this is unusually easy to see: water emerges both from a crack by the bank and from beneath the surface of the pool, which is a former bed of the Warta. The river crosses the park in an arc of about 40 km, and its channel here has remained entirely natural. Granatowe Źródła are one of 13 natural monuments in the Łódź-region part of the park and its buffer zone.

The trail and the surroundings

The red Wieluń Jura Trail passes the springs – a route of about 113 km from Częstochowa to Wieluń, designed in 1956–1957 by Janusz Brandys. The spring near Troniny lies at kilometre 86, with Stara Wieś two kilometres further on. Nearby runs the yellow "Nadwarciańskie Krajobrazy" cycle route (31.9 km, a loop from Załęcze Wielkie), which passes other natural monuments of the park: Góra Świętej Genowefy, Żabi Staw and Góra Wapiennik.

Tripto tip

The springs are a few hundred metres from Stara Wieś. This is an outdoor site with no facilities – do not step into the water, damage the banks or leave litter, as it is a protected natural monument. After rain the path can be muddy, so wear comfortable shoes. The spot itself takes 15–20 minutes; it works best as a stop on a longer walk or bike ride through Załęczański Landscape Park, for example combined with the "Węże" geological reserve.