Lithuania

Crossing the border

There we were crossing the bridge into Lithuania and Calvin hadn't even realised until Kate yelled out to ask if he wanted a photo crossing the border. Calvin looked up and in clear white writing that we couldn't pronounce, "Lietuvos Respublika". We had arrived in Lithuania?

Why don't we call countries by their correct local name? Especially english spelt ones. Then we would all understand each other and know if we had arrived somewhere. Maybe we should learn more than one language to become better educated? Everyone in Europe seems to speak at least 3 languages. Okay, a little off track and getting pretty deep (we get a lot of thinking time on the bike), we'll continue on.

We wheeled into Lithuania's border town of Skuodas expecting to find it bustling with people but found the streets empty and most shops closed. Not being too sure where a good campsite may be Kate approached some locals who pointed us in the direction of a lake just outside of town to try. After setting up camp just beside the track that circumnavigates the lake, Calvin set to work cleaning our extremely gritty chains. (Note to anybody cycle touring or cycling in general: do not use Muc-Off wet lube. It is so sticky, wet or dry, that even on sealed road it manages to collect gunk - better to be named Muc-On). At that moment a Lithuanian woman and her tiny dog named Puppe ('Bean' in Lithuanian) wandered passed trying to find her husband who was fishing. She gave us an insight into the current economic condition of Lithuanian. She was struggling to find work as there were apparently no jobs, Latvians who head to Lithuania to find work (as their economic situation isn't any better) turn around once they realise there is nothing, and on top of that, the average monthly income is around €300 - thats $470 NZD! We were both shocked at this as we had assumed that being in Europe and part of the EU would mean living was relatively comfortable.

Finding a campsite in Skuodas 

She also informed us that we had arrived on a public holiday, the celebration of the old King's birthday or death, we couldn't get a clear answer, and we spent the evening listening to the celebratory concert across the lake.

From here we beelined our way towards the coast. We were enjoying a beautiful sunny day and we stopped relatively early (4pm) beside a lake just north of the city of Klaipeda to get some much needed laundry done and rest in the sun. Around 6pm a man turned up on his bicycle with his fishing gear, and although we couldn't speak he excitedly announced "fish" to us after every successful catch.

The following morning we headed to Klaipeda and caught a four mintue ferry across the lagoon to the Coronian Spit. This spit is pretty special as the southern end that is joint to the mainland is Russian, but the rest of it is Lithuanian. It means Lithuanians can only access the spit by ferry. Our plan was to cycle the length of the Lithuanian section, enjoying the sunshine on the beach, maybe a swim in the Baltic Sea and stopping to look at the sights along the way. As per usual our plan didn't go accordingly and at around 1pm the sky opened up and released heavy rain. We were adamant not to let it stop us seeing some of the sights on the spit. The Hill of Witches was a highlight of the day. It consists of pathways through a forested hillside, with wooden carvings along the way. Some depict traditional stories from the spit, others show witches and devils making trouble. Afterwards we spent the rest of the afternoon cycling in the persistent rain to the only campground at the end of the spit.

Playing cards with the devil and a witch

Chilling out with his buddy

It was here that we realised the whole weekend was a public holiday and the campground was chocka full - with a fair few cycle tourists scattered amongst them.

We squeezed into a spot near another tent and delegated jobs while the rain had receded; Kate setup site and Calvin shot back to town and try to find out if it was possible to catch a ferry back to the southern mainland the next day. While setting up the tent Kate got talking to the neighbors who turned out to be an incredibly chatty young couple from Vilnius. They were so interested in what we were doing, and so friendly that Calvin and I both wish we could have made time to visit them in Vilnius.

We also got chatting to our other neighbors who were an older couple from Riga away for the long weekend. He was an ex-international volleyball umpire and both had reached retirement age. They let us ask them loads of questions about Latvia and shared their thoughts on being under Soviet rule for so many years - most of their lives. They said it was all they had ever known so they had happy lives, but because they were a young nation their pension system was poor so they were living off very little income. The last people we got chatting to at the campground were two Polish cycle tourists. The rain had returned and heavy as ever and they had come in to the kitchen just standing at the door staring at the pouring rain (they had arrived and set up tent in) making little comments in Polish. After a few minutes we asked them if they were okay and they told us they were trying to decide what to do. They were four days into their 6 week cycle tour from Poland to Finland and back, and they weren't enjoying the Lithuanian roads, or the wet weather. It was like was like music to Kate's ears. Even though we had missed the evening downpours, enjoyed hot showers, and had filled our bellies with a delicious one pot wonder meal, the consistently crap weather was taking it's toll on us so it was nice know other cyclists were finding it a bit crap too.

The next morning with the few bits of information Calvin managed to find out about ferries we found one to take us from Nida back to the mainland at Ventaine. It was a relaxing hour and a half boat trip, doubly as joyous because we made progress without having to pedal! It was a beautiful day and upon arriving back on the mainland and on our bikes we had the wind at our backs. As we made our way along the roads we passed a solo cycle tourist going the other way slowly battling away. We smuggly gave him a wave and whizzed on by relishing our time with a tail wind.

Bikes secured on the ferry

 After a night camping with vicious mosquitos, we made our way along the Newman River, very close to the Russian border, towards Kaunas. There were plenty of castles to stop and admire, and with tired legs from the previous few days we found ourselves being overtaken by two cycle tourists going at top speed. We set up camp near the river and were treated to heavy rain, thunder and lightening in the early hours of the morning.

The next day we were up early to try and make Kaunas before the next forecast storm. We made it to Kaunas in ample time, and attempted to find some much needed wares before the storm hit. After an hour and a half of navigating our way through Kaunas, and Kate taking a mighty but unscathing fall when her tyre got caught in a railway track, we made it to our accommodation just as the rain began to pelt down.

We had been looking forward to Kaunas. We had rented a small studio apartment out of town for two nights. Once we arrived a massive laundry blitz in the world's smallest washing machine ensued. Five loads later and everything was washed. We even gave the bikes a clean up in the shower.

As we only had one full day to be tourists, we chose to go to the Ninth Fort. This was a spectacular history lesson as the fort had been used since the 1800's as a fort to protect Kaunas, a hard labour prison for locals (run by both Lithuanians and Soviets), and was the site of Nazi executions totalling around 30,000. Sobering stuff. We also ran into the two cycle tourists who had passed us two days prior and got to have a good chat to them. They were Australians living in Switzerland, and they too had spent the previous day out-cycling the storm to Kaunas.

The cold and darkness inside the fort

We managed to conquer the local bus system and get ourselves back into town to have a quick wander through the old town before we headed home to relax for the evening. We woke up the next day to the forecast rain. We pulled ourselves out of bed and began the pack up routine, aiming to get riding a little later once the weather had subsided. We were absolutely shattered, and the thought of riding in the rain made our legs feel like lead. So with a quick phone call we managed to book ourselves in for another night and spent almost the entire day inside relaxing.

Wandering the old town of Kaunas

Our second to last days riding in Lithuania was both our worst and our best. Taking off from Kaunas was pretty easy, but about 20km out we turned on to the 130 road heading south. It was narrow, there was a 20cm shoulder that had chunks smashed out of it and often disappeared entirely. Cars would pass us at great speed, often crossing the centre line on to the other side of the road and into oncoming traffic. The side of the shoulder was sharp and dropped down onto sand so if you were forced off the road you would be a little out of control, potentially hit the lip and come crashing off your bike, under the wheels of the cars speeding by. It may sound like an exaggeration, but we were both pretty damn scared on that road and grateful when 25km later we found an alternative route through the village of Balbieriskis.

From then on the road was quiet and passed through rolling hills as we got closer to the regional park surrounding Lake Dusia. We set up camp beside the lake and took a brisk dip in the waters to clean off before settling in for the night. At around 3am we both got up to pee, and with her pants down Kate heard Calvin yell-whispering "A cars coming! There's a car! Quick get in the tent! Hide! Hide!". Pants were hitched up quick smart and Kate dived into the tent. Calvin, not wanting to wait for the tent to be unzipped, had rushed out of sight behind the tent. Kate asked, "Were you still peeing?". "No", came the reply. "Then why are you hiding? They know we are here, there's a tent!". The car got to the end of the dirt road, did a five point turn and headed back away from the lake. Both the car and Calvin's reaction to hide still remain a mystery to Kate.

On our last day riding we realised that Poland used Zloty's, not Euros, and neither of us had transfered any money over in order to get cash out when we crossed over to Poland. So, after finding only one disappointingly tiny store on route to the border we took a 10km detour to the nearest town with a supermarket in order to stock up with food for a few days while we sorted our money. It was the strangest supermarket we have found in Europe, mainly because of the constant coming and going of drunk people, one of whom even fell down the front steps to the store. From there it was a mixture of sealed roads and dirt roads as we wound our way south through farmland to cross the border into Poland.

The road to Poland