Day 4 - Augustow - Meteliai

Dear all,

 

I woke up around 5h30!! Yesterday I was quite tired after cycling so I went to sleep around 22h30. Moreover, it seems that Polish homes do not use much of "solar shades" (is this the english word for persianas? I don't have internet while I am writting the blog), so it was quite bright already at 5h30! Fortunatly I could fall asleep again for some 1hour more.

The "couch" was great! In fact Sarah has an extra room so I had a kingsize bed! Waaaay much better than the tent I will se staying for some nights. Thank you once more for your hospitality Sarah!

Ready to go! Sarah's place

After the morning shopping for some food and drinks I had breakfast by the lake. As I think I wrote before Augustow is a very nice place. Not realy the center but the cycling path by the lake and the water sport possibilities makes it great. Unfortunatly I cannot stay longer.

Augustów centre

It was then time to start cycling with rain gear on.

Leaving Augustow

I started to cycle towards Sejny, close to Lithania border and I had no idea that I would be passing by the Augutów channel.

My bike near Augustow channel

What I had no clue is that there would be a boat passing in the channel when I was there!

Waiting for water removal

Before leaving the channel there was time for one more picture:

Still dry!!

Well, back to endless roads in northern Poland. The traffic is also quite low, sometimes is possible to be right in the middle of the road to take some picture:

Middle of nowhere

Traveling

Weather is changing

After some time cycling started to rain cats and dogs. I thought about stopping for some time under a tree, but well, the rain gear should keep me somehow dry.

I stopped in Giby for some lunch close to 13h. I had a soup (zurek tradyczyne - or something like that - and tartaczne - or something like that) the soup seemed to be made with tomato but colour was way much pink. Very good indeed. The "main dish" was a meetball inside what I believe to be mash potato.

Polish soup

Tartaczne

After the thunders finished (yes, it started some thunders when I was having lunch) I came back to cycling

Endless uphill road, northern Poland

8 km to the border

That's what is called a restaurant with a view

Cruising at 30 km/h, totally wet

After some more time I arrived to the Polish - Lithuanian border. Time for some pictures to register the moment - my first border crossing by bicycle.

Lithuania some meters away

Lithuania border

Welcome to Lithuania

I decided not to exchange money at the border, there were several places to do it, but I always doubt that the exchange rate is somehow fair at the border.

There was a sign in the road saying that there was a information point and internet about 2 km away, so I stopped there for some info regarding the camping where I was planning to stay.

The only problem is that the lady could not speak a single word in English, only German, Russian, Lithuanian and Polish. With some polish words i could ask how far was Meteliai and she said about 25km. Funny thing is, when you say about 25 and you are going by car, does not really matters if it is 25 or 30. I had already 60km under my wheels and it is different to cycle 85 or 90 km.

Well, time to head back to the road (aftervseizing the internet to update the blog). Posts and pictures were already made, so it is just uploading. Great idea to have this app to write the blog offline!

Me on the bike

The first city in Lithuania is Lazdijai. There was a cycle path paralel to the road, so, in spite of lower speed, I cycled on it.

Cyclepath close to Lazdijai

Then, somehow started some downhill and the cyclepath suddenly finished! Imhad to carry the bike all the way up again! No more cycle path in this day!!

The end of cyclepath

On the way to Meteliai I passed near 2 nice Lithuanian houses that I will show you on the next pictures! That does not really represent all the housing I've seen so far, some of the houses not looking so good, but after all, when you take pictures is mostly for the things you like, right?

Lithuanian house 1

Lithuanian house 2

At this moment I should be somehow close to Meteliai, so I stopped to see the lake. Meteliai is in between two lakes (Dusia and Metelys).

Dusia lake

I have finally arrived into Meteliai after some more cycling.

Arriving into Meteliai

Peter Lamb at Meteliai

The camping is already out of the city, heading north. It was only 4 km away, but honestly I think I never cycled so slowly. I was, in fact, tired!

Camping is cool, with a lot of grass and very close to the lake.

Here it is my palace and my Ferrari:

Camping at Meteliai

I was amazed by the price of camping. 15 Litas plus 5 litas for shower. That is about 5 Euro!!

After a rather long shower to warm up, I took the last pictures of the day:

Sunset

The closest I have been from bath

It was then time to eat something in the tent, write most of this post, set all my sleeping gear and I fell asleep before 23h.

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance - 90,67 km
• Daily time - 4h54m42s
• Average speed - 18,65 km/h
• Maximum speed - 39,29 km/h

 

• Total distance so far: 189,56 km
• Total time so far: 10h30m42s

 

And that is all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

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