How could we in Poland travel down a mountain river to the Baltic Sea? We need to try a canoeing trail on the Slupia River. This interesting route has one great advantage; its 38-kilometre section from Suleczyn to Galaznia Mala is listed in the Rules of GOK (the Mountain Canoeing Mark) of PTTK (the Polish Tourist & Touring Association) as a mountain canoeing route. Slupia emerges at the height of about 178 m above sea level in peat bogs near Sierakowska Huta and ends in Ustka where in the port it flows down into the Baltic Sea. Another thing that could attract fans of technical historic objects is a unique trail of water power plants of the Slupia basin. It includes 5 hydroelectric facilities from 1896 ÷ 1926 and related technical infrastructure: reservoirs, canals and damming constructions. Although that sometimes makes a canoeist carry the canoe in hands in some river sections, this inconvenience is greatly made up for by a possibility of watching a unique in Europe historic river power system.

Slupia in its upper reaches flows through many lakes and the track is difficult and tiring, especially in the section of the lake Wegorzyno. In Suleczyno, we can expect rapids bristled with rocks and further down the river there wait for us the famous Suleczyno glacial trough. There are also some river bars to deal with. In short sections, the river has a gorge character, so less experienced canoeists should give up the first 2 stages given in this guide and start their adventure with Slupia in Soszyca, down the barrage of the water power plant Struga. In sections near the Bytow Lake District and the Polanow Plateau, between the lake Zukowskie and the lake Glębokie, Slupia is a wild, forest river.

A large part of the journey runs through forest areas of the Slupia Valley Landscape Park that are under protection. The park covers an area of the middle reaches of the river and its catchment – from Soszyca to the road from Krepa to Losino. While paddling down this dynamic and landscape-varied river we should remember that in the park it is possible to camp only in jetties specially prepared for canoeists. Moreover, the park’s board asks to keep a number of canoeing tours as little as possible in June and at the beginning of July due to the brooding period of rare bird species. Because of diversity and abundance of birds, the park’s area was recognised as one from 118 bird refuges in Poland. The interesting trail parts include a section with long and winding reservoirs and the Slupsk Plains where the river cuts through the west borders of the Damnica Plateau. On the other hand, ahead of Slupsk, a range of elevations called the Wlynkowo Mountains appears.