Planning the trip - Part 1

Dear all,

 

When I first started to think about this bicycle trip, I thought about flying to Tallin, then take another flight to Vilnius and from there start cycling all the way up to Tallin again, passing through Kaunas and Riga.

The route would be roughly like this:

 

Of course that the last version of such a trip is way different from the original plan but this one changed as soon as I contacted TAP that the flight's price from Lisbon till Tallin was almos double than Lisbon till Warsaw and I needed to contact Estonia Air to check if they would transport my bike on their planes...

So I have changed the plans to start my journey in Warsaw and hopefully I still have enough time to reach Tallin before the end of holidays.

The start and finish cities of my journey can be seen on the image below:

 

So, for Day 1, the plan is to fly to Warsaw, unpacking the bike and assemble it (the pedals and the handle bar has to be dismantled), and do some sightseeing / meet my host Marta.

 

In order to save some time and kilometers on the first days I have decided that on the Day 2, I should take a train to Bialystok (around 200 km Northeast from Warsaw). This Day 2 will be also without much cycling - just in Warsaw till the train station and in Bialystok to meet my host Edyta.

 

On Day 3 the plan is to reach Augustów, but I have read and I have been told that the direct road (E67) is the main road that connects the Baltic Countries to Poland so it is usually fully packed with trucks and there is no side way on the road. So the plan for this Day 3 is to take a train to Sokólka and from there cycle to Lipsk and then Augustów. I should cycle close to 80km on Day 3. My host will be Sarah.

The route for this Day 3 should look close to this:

 

On Day 4 the plan is to leave Poland, enter Lithania and find a camping close to the lakes on Meteliai region.

It is not possible to find a host in that region, so I think that setting up the tent that day is the most likely scenario! The plan is to cycle a bit over 80km.

The route should roughly look like this:

 

On Day 5 the plan is to arrive into Kaunas (about 100km away)

There are 2 "must-see" on the way (according to my host in Kaunas), so, due to the extra kilometers, the plan is to cycle to Birstonas (around 55km) from there take a bus to Kaunas. The bus costs only about 3Euro and to transport the bike is free of charge. This should save me around 60km.

 

Day 6 is a rest day to visit Kaunas and the surroundings with my host Zita.

 

On Day 7 the plan is to arrive into Vilnius, but due to the fact that visiting Trakai is "mandatory" I will take a bus probably to Elektrenai and cycle from there to Vilnius passing in Trakai.

Picture of Trakai can be seen on the picture below:

 

The plan is to spend one extra day in Vilnius but there is no much plans (till this moment for the "after Vilnius partmod the journey".

I am still looking for a host in Vilnius!

 

Best,

Peter :)

 

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