To the south of Bytow are the highest elevations of the Bytow Lakeland, largely formed 16 thousand years ago as a terminal moraine of the last glacier. Among the hills covered largely with beautiful beech forests, there are many peat bogs and deeply hidden channel lakes. There is also no shortage of interesting and mysterious attractions here. So let's go to the Rekowo Forests!
From the noble nest to Siemierzyca
Rekowo is the cradle of a very old Kashuby noble family, the Rekowscy. The village, situated on several lakes, is a good starting point for the Siemierzycka Góra (Kas. Szëmrzëca), the highest hill in the Bytow Lakeland (256 m above sea level), where there is a public viewing tower. From here, you can see a large part of the Tuchola Forest in the south, and even the Szymbarskie Hills. A nature trail “Natural attractions of the Rekowo and Plotowo areas” leads to the top, passing Ploczyca Lake, one of the cleanest lakes in Poland, on the way.
Near Rekowo, there are two hidden in the Rekowo Forests: Plotowo and Plotowko. Before the war, these were border areas on the German side. One of the four Polish schools in the Bytow district operated here. Today, it houses the Polish School Museum. The revitalized Styp-Rekowski Farmstead in Plotowek, like the neighbouring school, is a branch of the Western Kashubian Museum in Bytow.
Siemierzycka Góra, observation tower, photo by P. Kowalewski
Natural attractions around Rekowo and Płotów, photo: P. Kowalewski
Floating islands and a foresters' cemetery
To the east of Rekowo is one of the largest reserves in Kashuby – Lisia Kepa. In the mosaic of frontal moraine hills we will discover peat bogs with floating islands here. A nature trail marked with red dots in the form of a loop from Rekowo leads to them. Another reserve, “Bukowa Hill over Pyszne” hides a unique cemetery of German foresters, probably the only such necropolis in the whole of Pomorskie.
Płotowo, Polish School Museum, photo: P. Kowalewski
Płotowo, Polish School Museum, photo: P. Kowalewski
Goths' Village
On the western side of Siemierzycka Hill, in the village of Piaszno, on the Leman family farm we will find a replica of the Goth’s village in a slightly reduced size, and on Leman’s Mountain we will be able to admire the landscape of Bytow moraines and sandy, outwash plains stretching to the south.
Replica of the Goth village, photo by P. Kowalewski
Replica of the Goth village, photo by P. Kowalewski
