Having enjoyed a trip to southern Poland in late 2015 the Cheeky Boys (myself, Spencer, Roy, Gavin and Kev) had some zloty left in our pocket so it was decided that a second trip be had.

Poland is a great country to visit on a number of levels; 1) it is great value for food, hotels, transport 2) plenty of great food and drink options (a good reason to visit anywhere in my book!) 3) stunning architecture 4) friendly people

Part 1 of the trip took us to the city of Bydgoszcz (said something like Begosh) on a Ryanair flight from Birmingham on a Thursday afternoon. The flights were great value with us paying less than £25 each for the two hour journey from the UK to Poland and after a quick taxi ride into the city we checked into the hotel at around 2100 (local time).

A short work from our hotel on the 'Mill Island' was a great local restaurant offering Polish fare of meat, potatoes and one of my favourites pierogi (stuffed parcels that come filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or maybe a combination of all three) all accompanied with a beer or two.

Breakfast on the Friday morning was taken at the Katryna café in the old town square before we headed off to enjoy the sights. Bydgoszcz is not somewhere that features on many tourist itineraries but there is enough to just about fill a leisurely day if interspersed with a coffee stop, lunch, a beer stop and dinner. I think we ticked all of those off on our less than twenty four hours in the city!

After wandering around the old town square, the riverside and the mill island area we had seen most of the city centre so by late afternoon, after a leisurely lunch, we were headed to the station to catch the Intercity service to Gdansk. The journey of about 90 minutes cost less than £10 each and we had to slum it in first class for that price too - needs must I guess!