S7 expressway – section between Lesznowola and Tarczyn opened

Each time when a new section of an expressway was opened for traffic in the vicinity of Warsaw, I celebrated it by driving the car to a newly opened piece of infrastructure. With the section B of S7 expressway, since 27 April 2023 accessible to motorists as “passable” with a delay of some 18 months (finishing works will continue for a year or so), I refrained from such indulgence. Sooner or later I am going to use it, but I will not take any trouble to accelerate that moment.

If I avoid unnecessary journeys by car, that one definitely ranks among them. I take pleasure in driving a vehicle (unless it comes with automatic transmission or no gearbox at all), but I realise this is not an environmentally acceptable activity, hence I hold my horses, falling back on public transport, my bicycle and my feet whenever possible. Such approach benefits not only the planet, but also my fitness and my wallet.

While spending over a week in Wisła recently, the car was parked for this entire period in the garage. We moved about to shops, to the town centre or took trips by bicycle and got on with it, despite the undulating terrain. You could say to do this we had to drive almost 400 kilometres by car and then cover the same distance on our way back to Warsaw. I refute the argument by saying if you take a dog, two bicycles, suitcases, food stocks and computers, it is a bit of nuisance to travel by train (or actually to the station, by train to Bielsko-Biała and then to Wisła).

My girlfriend thought we would need a bigger car to carry all stuff. In fact, with smart packing my Megane hatchback can carry two adults, two bicycles, two suitcases, a few smaller bags and a dog which has 1 sqm area it the boot for itself. Now try to convince me there is any practicable justification to buy a hefty SUV, if a compact car is so capacious (if you need even more space, buy an estate compact car). With respect to the environmental impact, I set tempomat at 100 kmph and my excellently reliable, 12-year-old car consumes mere six and a half litres of petrol per 100 kilometres. Not little, but given its age and kilograms on board, I believe the fuel consumption is superb anyway.

Off to London for the first time in my life next weekend. Expect a coverage in two weeks!