Day 9 - Mindunai - Ignalina

Dear all,

 

I woke up at 7h45 with some fight between the (still) drunk guys. As a result of that, they have broke the windows of each other car. Well, I was thinking that maybe I could stay one extra day at this camping, but after this I decided that I should leave as soon as it is possible.

I had a morning swim at the lake (no pictures about that! I have to maintain somehow a respectful life!) and I found my spot for the breakfast:

Breakfast spot

Well, this lake is really a beautiful place. I will show you two more pictures, although believe me, it does look better if you see it live.

 

After breakfast I packed my things and soon I was ready to hit the road:

Fully packed and ready to go

Today I decided to cycle slower to save my legs from the last day that was quite intense (both on kilometers and pace).

I was having 3 options for camping (one near Ignalina, another one near Zarasai and the third one more a less in the middle of both). I started cycling around 10h30, so I could see close to the first camping if I wanted to go further or just set my gear there.

When I passed near a church - don't really remember where, but really does not matter I saw a house in construction. Check it out how their hooden houses looks like:

Hooden house

Hooden house

I continued my journey and when I was reaching 17km I saw this sign:

Well, I have no idea what is written there, but a point of interested just 3 km out of my way, maybe it is worthy to give it a shot.

The road then was not with tarmac, which, in spite of being much more unconfortable, it is nice to cycle through.

Cycling on unpaved road

After about 2 km overtakes me a BMW X5 with a nice boat on a trailer, so I though: "Great, I will have a break for a meal by a lake!" The 3 km come, as well as the 4, the 5 and I reached the village and no sign of the point of interested... Well, maybe is the park with the trees that is really the interested, I really do not get it... Nevermind, I needed to cycle back on that very same road.

The next village has a hotel, restaurant and a information point (closed on Sundays, of course), but I tried to see if I could find some internet to upload the post into the blog and check what was the news about the upcoming hosts of couchsurfing. Anyway, there was no internet available in this very nice village.

I stopped at a mini-market to buy some supplies for the day and just had a small break to have some food and drinks.

Back to the road I continued my way to Ignalina. Quite nice road there:

Road to Ignalina

After some kilometers I stopped by a lake to have a closer look at the view and take some picture:

Picture by the lake

After I just took the picture, I saw a girl on the bike on the opposite direction of mine. We waved at each other and she stopped so we started to talk. She asked me where I was going, I had absolutely no idea if I would stay inIgnalina or continue further. She was going to Vilnius (about 130 km away!!) She was then on a phone with a friend and after the call she said that maybe the friend could host me for the night!! We cycled to the next bus stop to be out of the road and continued to talk while waiting for the friend to call her back. I gave her a small souvenir from Portugal and we took a picture to remember then:

Me and Onute

Her friend could actually host me, GREAT news! She said that she would take me there! Well, but aren't you going to Vilnius? Later, she said! Perfect!!

After few kilometers we stopped by the lake! Well, she said, that I should come here tomorrow and go on canoo for a while... We parked the bikes, and well, we decided to go on the canoo right at that time! For the ones of you who knows me better, you know that I have done this kind of things a lot of times, but it felt great to leave the bikes and just go into the lake and keep the talk flowing! Sorry folks, pictures are not great due to difficult lighting conditions:

Canooing

Canooing

Afer that nice time on the lake, I thought that she would head to Vilnius and I would find my way but we kept on cycling till Ignalina!

With Onute's company heading to Ignalina

After a few kilometers we arrived into Ignalina, and due to the fact that was my last destination for the day, here you are the already typical picture for the end of the day:

Arriving into Ignalina

We headed to her friend's house. The day before the lady was turning 50, so I thought that the little magnet was not even close to thank for their hospitality, so me and Onute headed to the supermarket to buy some beers for us and a bottle of Port Wine, that although I did not carry from Portugal, is a slightly better present than a magnet for the fridge. It is a big family, reunited for the birthday celebration and the couple of about my age is a girl from Lithuania and guy from Turkey! Love has no borders!!!

Well, we had the beers, than a very nice dinner outside (so good to feel home made food and not supermarket stuff or restaurant by the road!).

After a while, Onute decided to leave to Vilnius. Everyone tried somehow to convince her to stay but she really needed to go. She is somehow used to ride the bike at night and I am writting this post now at 2h30 AM and I know that she is still on the way - close to home though!

I have no words to thank you Onute for this fantastic time! Thank you is not enough, hosting you back in Portugal is the minimum I can do for you!! It was definatly a pleasure to get to know you, you have introduced me to your friends and I am very thankfull for all of this. Postponing your plans just to be in the company of another traveller is simply outstanding!!

It is for sure experiences like this that makes this trip unforgetable. Cheers!!!

Onute starting her long way to Vilnius

After the meal we continued outside playing some guitar in Portuguese, Lithuanian, English and Russian. Time then for some chatting and whatching a documentary about Lithuanian typical bread. Very interesting to see that, in spite of the differences, there is also a lot of common things taking into accountvthe traditional way of baking the bread I knowcfrom Monchique.

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance: 60,57 km
• Daily time: 3h34m57s
• Average speed: 17,11 km/h
• Maximum speed: 49,61 km/h

• Total cycled so far: 470,49 km
• Total time cycling: 26h30m47s

 

The funny thing is when I started cycling in the morning I was somehow "afraid" that I would not have much to tell today. Afterall, I would be cycling from camping to camping, slthough that would be through a nacional park. By the end of the day, there was, in fact, a lot to tell!

 

And that's all for now folks!

Best,

Peter

 

Postado com o Blogsy