Skrwa Prawa: a forest tunnel of meanders near Płock

Skrwa Prawa - a forest river of western Mazovia

The Skrwa Prawa is one of the most interesting - and at the same time more demanding - kayaking rivers in Mazovia. The whole river is 114 km long and is a right-bank tributary of the Vistula, but paddlers most often take its lower course, from around Sierpc to the mouth near Płock. That is about 65 km, depending on where you put in. Most people cover this stretch in 3-4 days, though it can easily be split into shorter, weekend stretches.

In terms of difficulty this is a completely different river from the Narew. The Skrwa is narrower, more winding and far more wooded, and it can also give you a hard time. The current is sometimes calm, but the many bends, fallen trees and narrows demand attention, and in the lower course - especially at the gorge in Brudzeń Landscape Park - there are drops, weirs and portages. This is a trail rather for people who already have their first trips behind them and are not afraid of a moment's effort - though the PTTK classifies the water itself as easy (ZWB-ZWC), and the burdensome parts are above all the portages at mills and power plants and the fallen trees. The PTTK rates the trail as scenic, and the gorge in the Sikórz reserve as very scenic. Before setting off it is worth checking the current water level.

For places to stay, it is most convenient to use the campsites, landings and bivouac spots prepared for paddlers. A large part of the Skrwa valley lies within nature-protection areas, so not every convenient spot for a tent is legal - before camping it is worth checking local restrictions and using the designated sites.

Nature - a green tunnel over the water

The Skrwa's greatest treasure is its nature. The river flows through forests, peat bogs and wet meadows, and in many places the tree crowns almost close over the water, forming a green tunnel. The banks are lined with alders, ash, willows and riverside carr, and in the calmer stretches there are yellow water-lilies, pondweeds and bulrushes.

The Skrwa valley is an important place for birds. Look out for the kingfisher, grey heron, black stork and woodpeckers, and among the birds of prey the common buzzard and honey buzzard. On the wet meadows the corncrake calls, and the little bittern and penduline tit hide in the reeds. Beavers and otters keep house on the water, and with a little luck elk come out onto the wet meadows. The river holds pike, perch, roach, chub and ide, and in the cleaner, upper stretches also brown trout - the best proof of the water's quality.

Sierpc - a town where Mazovia meets the Dobrzyń Land

It is worth starting the trip around Sierpc, one of the oldest towns in this part of Mazovia - it was granted town rights under Środa law as early as 1322. The town itself lies on the Sierpienica, at its confluence with the Skrwa. In the upper course, above Sierpc, there is sometimes too little water: low footbridges can force you to drag the kayak across four times, which is why most trips only start here. Today Sierpc is associated above all with the Museum of the Mazovian Countryside, one of the larger open-air museums in Poland. Created in the 1970s, the museum recreates a whole Mazovian village: a row of peasant farmsteads, a manor with a park, an inn, a smithy and a wooden church with a bell tower. The wooden cottages and windmills show what rural life looked like a hundred years ago - it is no accident that scenes for many Polish historical films and series were shot here.

Brudzeń Landscape Park - a kingdom of meanders

In its lower course the Skrwa enters Brudzeń Landscape Park, the most naturally valuable part of the whole route. The park was created in 1988; it covers the river's mouth section together with the forests of Brwilno, Brudzeń and Sikórz, and the glacial trough with the Józefowskie Lakes.

Here the river cuts deep into a glacial valley and forms a picturesque gorge with numerous bends. The high scarps are covered with deciduous and mixed forests, and the landscape resembles the northern lake districts more than the stereotypical flat Mazovia - not without reason the area is sometimes called Mazovian Switzerland. It is also an important bird refuge: nesting here are the black stork, kingfisher, honey buzzard and corncrake, and beavers, otters and numerous amphibians live in the valley.

Nearby - the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park

The Skrwa itself mainly crosses Brudzeń Park, but it is worth knowing that nearby, on the left bank of the Vistula, stretches the Gostynin-Włocławek Landscape Park - a land of several dozen glacial lakes surrounded by pine forests, a legacy of the last glaciation. It is one of those corners of central Poland that surprise anyone who imagines the region as nothing but a plain.

Stretches of the Skrwa trip: from Skrwilno to the Vistula

The Skrwa Prawa is best explored in stages. The upper stretch, from Skrwilno to Sierpc, is a narrow, forest river of western Mazovia. The most interesting and the most difficult is the middle stretch Sierpc-Brudzeń, with mills and power plants: about 13 km below Sierpc, at Chocheń, the river spreads into a reservoir several kilometres long ending in a head of water with a working power plant - portage on the left side, along an embankment used as a road. Only the Brudzeń-mouth stretch forms the axis of Brudzeń Landscape Park. At Sikórz, by the ruined mill weirs, rows of stakes sit just below the water surface downstream of the drop - you can paddle through, but you must avoid them carefully; right after them begins the loveliest part of the Skrwa, flowing through a gorge across the Sikórz reserve. You can see all the stretches on the map below - in "Take it easy" mode, with facilities and water levels along the way. And if you'd rather plan the trip your own way, you can draw your own route in "Your own way" mode.

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

Płock - the capital of Poland before Warsaw

The trip ends at Murzynowo, by the bridge at the Skrwa's mouth into the Vistula, a dozen or so kilometres below Płock - one of the oldest and most important towns in Poland's history. At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, in 1079-1138, under Władysław Herman and Bolesław Krzywousty, Płock was the country's de facto capital - it gained town rights earlier than Kraków, Poznań or Wrocław.

The heart of the town is Tumskie Hill. On it stands a 12th-century Romanesque cathedral, one of the oldest in Poland, where Władysław Herman and Bolesław Krzywousty are buried. It is one of the most precious historic complexes in the country. Płock makes a particular impression from the water - the high Vistula scarp rises about 50 metres above the river. After a few days in the shade of the Skrwa's forests and meanders, the sight of the broad Vistula and the town's historic skyline is a spectacular end to the trip.

The Skrwa Prawa offers one of the most wooded and natural landscapes in central Poland. Deep valleys, gorges, meanders and rich fauna mean that - despite its demanding character, or perhaps because of it - it has for years remained a favourite trail for paddlers seeking real contact with nature.