Land of Extinct Volcanoes part 6/16 - "Gruszka" Quarry

in travel •  6 years ago 

Wojcieszów is a place of multiple quarries, including active one; one of them is called "Gruszka", placed on the south side of Bielec Mountain. It was once a source of limestone and dolomite. Today it is a nature reserve as well as a place of Speleological Championships.

Main wall of the quarry contains entrance to the cave (several meters above the ground).

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On the ground level people built a strange contraption out of surrounding stones - it is used during competition to imitate narrow cave tunnels.

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The day I visited there, was the only day when it was raining (mostly during night). Large pack of edible snails used the opportunity to crawl out of hiding - it was hard to walk around without stepping on them.

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There was quite a number of nice looking stones, however they started at around 50kg - not something you can just pick up and carry for a kilometer to the car :o)

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Thankfully just outside the quarry there was a colluvium filled with smaller stones where aside of various rock samples I managed to pick some crystals and pieces of calcite dripstone.

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The calcite exhibits distinct zombie-yellow glow when exposed to UV light but I'm yet to discover how to capture it properly on a photo.

Further down, the trail leads to the old limekiln and later to the uranium mine (I didn't go there - something to visit next year maybe? requires cave equipment).

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One more thing. Google Maps lead me astray again. Every road is just fine for Google, even if in practice it would be challenging for a tractor. Approach the quarry from the west, not from the south, you'll spare yourself crossing through muddy fields and wet thickets.

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