Szczebrzeszyn Landscape Park

By a spring on the edge of Szczebrzeszyn stands the world's first monument to a beetle, unveiled in 2002 as a nod to Jan Brzechwa's famous Polish tongue-twister about a beetle buzzing in the reeds of Szczebrzeszyn. Around the town stretches Szczebrzeszyn Landscape Park: the highest and most varied part of Western Roztocze, with a dense network of loess gullies, beech forests and a peat bog where the Gorajec river begins.

Landscape: valleys, gullies and beech forest

The park was created in 1991. It originally covered 20,209 ha and, after a boundary revision in 2017, now covers 19,370 ha. To the south-east it borders Roztocze National Park, and Szczebrzeszyn is the only town within its limits. The largest share lies in the municipality of Radecznica, with parts of several neighbouring municipalities included as well.

The terrain is shaped by two broad north–south depressions known locally as "padoły". The Gorajec flows through one and the Wieprz through the other, and the upland between them is called Szczebrzeszyn Roztocze. The park's highest point is Dąbrowa (344 m). Its trademark is the steep-sided loess gullies, and their densest network – nicknamed "Piekiełko" ("Little Hell") – runs between Szczebrzeszyn and Kawęczynek.

Nature

Fertile Carpathian beech forest and fir woodland dominate. One of the larger continuous forests is Las Cetnar, a classic beech wood with a rich understorey and plenty of fungi, including protected species. In the south of the park lies Bagno Tałandy, a raised bog with dwarf pine and downy birch, where the Gorajec has its source. About 80 bird species live in the park, and traditional farming helps species that are disappearing from fields elsewhere.

The Szczebrzeszyn – Kawęczynek trail

The best introduction is the nature-and-history trail created by the Lublin Landscape Parks authority. It is 12 km long with 15 stops and information boards, marked with white squares with a diagonal red stripe. Along the way you will find:

• a spring yielding about 36 litres per second at around 9°C, next to the beetle monument,
• a mill on the Wieprz built of local limestone in the early 20th century for the estate owner Count Maurycy Zamoyski,
• the site of the Brody stronghold, which guarded a crossing of the Wieprz,
• the Piekiełko gullies and the beech forest of Las Cetnar,
• veteran pedunculate elms with trunk girths of 230 and 320 cm.

Tripto tip

Allow about 3.5 hours to walk the trail, or an hour and a half by bike. The park has no gate, ticket office or opening hours, so Szczebrzeszyn is the easiest place to start; its Catholic churches, Orthodox church and synagogue stand close together. After rain the loess floors of the gullies become very slippery, so wear shoes with good grip. Stay on marked paths and respect the rules of the protected area.