Liswarta: a wild river on the borderland of Silesia and the Wieluń country

Liswarta: a wild river on the borderland of Silesia and the Wieluń country

The Liswarta is reckoned one of the most interesting and cleanest rivers in central Poland. It flows quietly, far from the main trails, through a narrow valley among meadows and pine forests, and in places its banks form almost a ravine. For paddlers it is a river for a calm, intimate trip, without the crowds that fill the more popular routes in summer.

Its charm comes from a blend of clean water, countless meanders and reminders of the past. The ruins of the bastion castle in Danków stand above the Liswarta, and the upper course of the river is protected by the Forests of the Upper Liswarta Landscape Park. The lower section is navigable, so the trip can be done in a single day or spread over a calm weekend.

Where the Liswarta rises and where it flows

The Liswarta begins near the village of Mzyki by Babienica, in the Lubliniec district, at an altitude of about 315 m above sea level. From here it flows north through the wooded borderland of Silesia and the old Wieluń country. For centuries its bed marked boundaries: of the Lubliniec and Kłobuck districts, and between the wars part of its course was the state border between Poland and Germany.

The river is 93 km long, and its basin covers about 1,558 km². Along the way it takes in tributaries such as the Biała and Czarna Oksza, the Pankówka, the Opatówka and the Piskara. By the village of Kule, in the Kłobuck district, the Liswarta gives up its water to the Warta at an altitude of about 186 m above sea level. The upper course is wooded and protected, while the lower one meanders through a broad, calm valley.

The Liswarta route: Starokrzepice, Danków and the mouth at the Warta

Paddling uses the lower section of the river. The waymarked trail does start at Starokrzepice, but the Starokrzepice-Danków stretch is little used and tiresome: the river is channelised here, with numerous portages. That is why most paddlers put in at Danków or Zawady, from where the Liswarta runs all the way to its mouth at the Warta by Kule. Many trips carry on down the Warta, through Wąsosz Górny, towards Działoszyn. The most commonly described, classic variant is the Danków-Wąsosz Górny route, about 30 km long.

The two prettiest day-long stretches are Danków-Zawady and Zawady-Wąsosz Górny, each about 4-6 hours of calm paddling. The first is easier and well suited to a family start, the second can be a little more demanding.

How long the trip takes and how many days to split the Liswarta into

The whole classic Danków-Wąsosz Górny section is comfortably paddled over two days, with a night on the route, for example at the centre in Zawady. Anyone with less time can treat each stretch separately and paddle just one day. A shorter, family outing fits into a few hours on the water.

Is the Liswarta hard? Who is it for

The Liswarta is reckoned an easy, calm river, but it is not without obstacles. It is precisely on the popular Danków-Zawady stretch that the kayak has to be carried in a few places: at the weir in Danków (if you start below the weir, you don't portage it at all), at the former mill - now a hydro plant - in Troniny, where you carry along the right side, and further down, at the fork near Rębielice Szlacheckie: on the left branch you portage at a concrete threshold, beyond which it can be shallow, and on the right branch at a small hydropower plant. Lower still, at Nowa Wieś, there is a stony threshold with vertical piles across the overflow - you pass between the second and third pile, counting from the right, and just beyond the threshold there is a footbridge. At the very mouth to the Warta, extensive shallows await.

Danków on the Liswarta: the ruins of the Warszycki castle

Danków is a small village today, but its history reaches back to the Middle Ages, when it held town rights before 1283. Its greatest relic is the ruins of the bastion castle, which after 1632 was fortified by Stanisław Warszycki, one of the best-known magnates of the 17th-century Commonwealth. Kings stayed within these walls: in 1607, during the Zebrzydowski rokosz, Sigismund III Vasa halted here, and in 1657 John Casimir. In 1767 the castle was almost entirely consumed by a fire from a lightning strike.

The village is also home to the Renaissance church of St Stanisław from 1550, with four stone portals and the tomb of Andrzej Warszycki. Paddling the Liswarta, it is worth stopping and walking up to the castle hill, because from the water you can see the valley across which, before the river was regulated, it once spread wide.

Nature: the Forests of the Upper Liswarta Landscape Park

The upper course of the river is protected by the Forests of the Upper Liswarta Landscape Park, with extensive pine and mixed woodland. In the area, beyond Herby, three forest reserves have been set out: two protect natural stands of yew, one wild-growing rhododendrons. The clean water of the Liswarta favours fish and birds, and the quiet, overgrown banks give a sense of being in a wild, little-altered valley.

Where to rent a kayak and where to put in

There are several rentals along the Liswarta, offering one-, two- and three-seat kayaks and organising trips. Kayaks are most often put in at Danków or Zawady, and the take-out is planned at Zawady or, on a longer route, at Wąsosz Górny. As the trail is linear, the return to the start is easiest to arrange with a rental, which brings the gear and collects paddlers from the finish.

When to paddle? Water level and season

The season on the Liswarta runs from spring to autumn. The river carries the most water in spring, after the thaw, and that is usually the best time for a trip. In summer, at lower water, you have to watch the bottom in the shallower places, and the obstacles become more noticeable. Before you go, it is worth checking the current water level at the gauges.

What else you'll see along the Liswarta

Beyond Danków the route passes Krzepice and Starokrzepice with their historic churches, and Wąsosz Górny, known for the Wąsosz Calvary and the memory of a battle from the January Uprising. This is a borderland river, for centuries dividing lands and states, and so its banks hide plenty of traces of the past, easy to fold into a paddle for one calm expedition.

See the trail on the interactive map Click to load the map with the route drawn in