Mouth of the Piaśnica in Dębki

At the western end of the beach in Dębki the Piaśnica river cuts through the sand and flows into the Baltic. A wooden footbridge and cycle bridge crosses the river mouth, and all around there is nothing but dunes, forest and a wide beach. Between 1921 and 1939 the Polish-German border ran here, and Dębki was the westernmost village on the Polish coast.

A border river

The Piaśnica rises in the Darżlubska Forest, flows through Lake Żarnowieckie and ends here, within the Coastal Landscape Park. For centuries it was a border river: it separated Prussia from the lands of the Kingdom of Poland, and between the wars its western arm, the Stara Piaśnica, marked the border with Germany. The mouth itself lay entirely on the Polish side, and the first border post, marked A001, stood on the beach west of the river.

What to see

• The river mouth on the beach, where the darker water of the Piaśnica runs into the sea between the dunes.
• The wooden foot and cycle bridge over the Piaśnica near the mouth, rebuilt by the Krokowa municipality.
• The reconstructed border post no. 1, known as the Versailles stone, by the small bridge on the Dębki – Białogóra road. It stands about 150 metres closer to the river than the old border.
• The Piaśnickie Łąki nature reserve, about 1.5 km south-east of Dębki, with wet meadows where Siberian iris and bog myrtle grow.

Interesting facts

On 27 September 1785 the British merchant ship General Carleton sank in a storm off the Piaśnica mouth. Its wreck was not found until 1989. In 2002 scenes for Marek Koterski's cult Polish film "Day of the Wacko" (Dzień świra) were shot in Dębki.

Tripto tip

You can walk to the river mouth along the beach from the centre of Dębki, heading west. A kayak trail runs along the lower river from the hydroelectric plant in Żarnowiec, so in season the mouth is the finishing point of many paddling trips. Outside the summer season the beach beyond the last access paths in Dębki is much quieter. Allow about an hour for the walk there and back.