Sztolnie Walimskie (the Walim Adits) is three kilometres up the valley from Walim, also named after Rzeczka, a settlement just beyond. It was a smaller-scale version of nearby Włodarz with only around 500 metres of tunnels being completed. There were three entrances, all originally connected underground but rockfalls mean that the third tunnel has to be separately entered. Normal access is on a tour by a Polish Guide – but as he didn’t like our own tour leader’s English translation interrupting his flow, we were let off the leash and given free rein. Only the most northerly entrance has a completed guard room and the cross-passages that cut across the rear of the entrance tunnels tower up to 12 metres or so. Unlike Włodarz there was no evidence of upper and lower tunnels which suggested the large halls had been excavated in one piece.
One of these large halls has partial concrete reinforcement and at the northern edge (beyond a rockfall) a modest ‘sound and vision’ display gives an atmospheric impression of working conditions during construction and names some of the workers known to have died on site. Limited public access has been possible since 1995 and the current museum was established in 2001. As well as a few (rusting) exhibits within the tunnels, there is an excellent set of display panels outside which tell the story of Project Riese and which have many excellent contemporary photographs.
Although the exact purpose of the site has never been determined, a replica V2 rocket stands erect at the roadside to try and attract visitors. It looks particularly incongruous, wearing a paint scheme of black and white quadrants as used in test firings at Peenemünde rather than the camouflage of production rockets.