Day 10 - Ignalina - Daugavpils

Dear all,

 

I spent quite sometime writting the previous post at night so I felt asleep only around 3AM.

In the morning I woke up close to 9AM but rested!

It was nice to be with friendly people right in the morning. Elena has prepared a delicious breakfast with eggs, tomato and bread! Very very good!

We have made some stretching / yoga exercises all together and it felt great!

Well, after some more time chatting, it was time to pack everything and hit the road. Just before, let's have a picture for remembering:

Group photo at Ignalina

I am very greatful for the great evening we have spent together, to feel welcome and everything you have shared with me! Thank you is not enough!! Please feel very welcome at my place anytime! I am superglad I met you! Cheers!! (Also for you Onute!).

 

Well, I do hate goodbyes, but a see you then is somehow standable!

I started to cycle quite late, after I stopped at post office for some postcards and supermarket for supplies for the day.

I took the road 102 to Zarasai, just at the border with Latvia. The road is nice with no much traffic. Here you have some pictures:

The first kms of the day

Peter cruising on road 102

Road 102 to Zarasai

The pace was quite good, with average speed around 21 km/h. After 40 km ( close to 2 hours on the bike) I needed a break for some minutes and to have some food and drinks. I thought about stopping only in Zarasai but 55 km in a row is just too much.

Lunch time!

Bike having a break!

Back to the road I have continued my ride till Zarasai.

Reaching Zarasai

This city is quite beautiful and I stopped for some pictures and to rest a bit.

Bike by Zarasai's lake

Should we go to Latvia or stay in Lithuania?

After few kilometers I reached Latvia:

Entering Latvia

At the border with Latvia

My destination of the day was Daugavpils - the second largest city in Latvia. For you to have an idea, there are about 2 million people living in Latvia and about 1 million lives in the capital, Riga. In Dagavpils less than 100.000! So the city is not that big.

First impressions on Latvia is that the road is quite bad, I have been close to a crash for 2 times:

Road to Daugavpils

Still going strong after 70 km on the end of an uphill

Daugavpils is about 22 km from the border:

Reaching Daugavpils

Time then for the typical picture of the end of the day:

Arrived into Dagavpils

 

I had to look for the Olimpic Center where my host Maria lives. It was not that easy as much of the people just speaks Russian and they are somehow afraid of talking to others. After I was completely lost with some people saying to me contraditory directions, I could finally find Maria's place!

I was supposed to stay in the house of a Latvian girl but she hasn't respond till the morning, so I accepted the kind offer of Maria, and I am glad I did it.

She is a volunteer here in Daugavpils for EVS (European Volunteer Service), very friendly and it is nice to speak some Portuguese as well.

One other volunteer and Maria's friend joined us for the home made dinner. After we went out for a drink.

I asked Maria if it would be possible to stay one day longer, which immediatly she said yes! Thank you so much Maria. I think it will be nice to have a rest day, know better the city and hang out with Maria after her job finishes at 17h.

 

I still have some planning to do, but I think I will change my travel plans within Latvia. I was planning to go to Rezekne because I knew one girl from there but it turns out that she is out of the country so I will decide during this rest day where I am heading then. i have absolutely no idea!!

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance: 86,30 km
• Daily time: 4h20m36s
• Average speed: 20,09 km/h
• Maximum speed: 54,47 km/h

 

• Total distance so far: 556,79 km
• Total time cycling: 30h51m23s

Well, it is all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

Postado com o Blogsy

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

Day 8 - Vilnius - Mindunai

Dear all,

Yesterday night my Kaunas host, Zita, suggested to come to Vilnius. Thank you very much Zita, but I have decided to leave Vilnius one day earlier. Sometimes the Capital is not the place a person wants to be!

In spite of loads of clothes, linen, sleeping bag and a blanket that Zita gave me before leaving Kaunas - cheers once more Zita! - I woke up sometimes during the night quite cold. However in the morning I woke up with quite hot tent. The marvelous feeling of camping! Or you love it or you hate it!

I woke up early but decided to make everything slowly... Shower, shave, charge electronic equipments, buy some music (really good idea), some checks at the cycling equipment, organize my handlebar pannier, etc.

Almost everyone has left the camping by then. Nice to see some very expensive caravans from German and Norwegian people. I do not really get why they do bring satelite and TV for camping, but let me not talk about it here...

Unimog camper!

Are you looking at me??

 

Well, I was only ready to start cycling around 13h, quite late I know! But maybe everything has a reason, and you'll find out later on that I am glad that I left so late!

I decided to cycle through a park that was on the way to the city. What I did not expect was to cross the river once again so I was getting away from the centre. Well, maybe I really don't want to go to Vilnius.

Park in Vilnius

After some time I recognized one of the bridges and decidid to give it another try.

Headed to the centre, made some stop at the supermarket to buy supplies for the day and cycled through the centre and old town. Unfortunatly the camera's lens was dirty, so the pictures are not good. Anyway, from the ones are acceptable, here you are some pictures.

Locks with love mates names

Cathedral of Vilnius

After I passed this cathedral, there is a bridge some meters away and I stopped just after it. There was another guy in a bike, without panniers and waving me to go near him. He asked me where I was heading and he told me: you can follow me! It is not where I planned to go but I will cycle with you!

We have been chatting on the way. His name is Ramunas, 71 years old but kicking my ass with his shape (well, I must say that I am carring about 15 kg and I was hungry, ok?), and he is an experienced traveller. He have cycled the Caminho de Santiago in Spain, have cycled from Tunisia to Mongolia and several other trips. Well, we have cycled together around 12 km so I did not to bother at all with navigation, which is not always easy within the cities! Thank you so much Ramunas and keep on cycling!

Me and Ramunas

Before he left he said that the place I was heading is indeed very nice, although the stop I was planning to do on the way was not worthy.

I was too hungry after I left Ramunas, so I decided to try the local burgers, Hessburger. So nice to know that you can have it because you are burning all those calories just after it!

I took the main road, A14, from Vilnius to Utena. There is some traffic but there is enough room for cycling, as you can see on the picture below:

A14 towards Utena

Cycling on A14

This road passes just very close to the geographical point of Europe. It was the French National Geographical Institute that have determined the point, considering the Northern Spitsbergen, the Eastern the crest ofvthe Urals, the Southern the Canary Islands and the Western the Azores.

Well, Ramunas was right, there is only a rock with the signal, plus a small square with the flags (portuguese one is there but it was not windy so it was pointless to have a picture. Anyway, here are the pictures of the Europe Centrepoint.

Centre of Europe

Me and bike near centre of Europe

When I was leaving this place I have passed through a couple of bicycle travellers but it seemed to me that they were going south.

Due to the fact that I was quite late and the traffic in A14 was not that intense and the there was room for cycling just attached to the driving lane, I decided to continue on A14 insted of the planed road 172. It was not bad though! The cycling was done with the Dire Straits and Sting. Average speed was over 20 km/h with no wind, which is not bad at all!

Cycling with music is way much better, nevertheless, from time to time, I took some pictures. Here you have the best ones:

Cycling on A14

Over the line

Keeping the pace

 

There were basically two options for campings today. Either a 4 star resort before Moletai on road 172 or turn already on the road 114 towards Ignalina and the camping is close to Mindunai.

Well, the thing is, when you cycle on A14, the signs are close to Moletai, so you have to cycle the back for 10 km. Although I had already 76 km on the wheels at that point, I decided to go to Mindunai.

Approaching Moletai, because I took a smaller road, there was time for some silly season (after all it is August right?)

Look mummy, no hands - cruising at 28,5 km/h

One hand waving, other taking the picture, who's driving??!

Well, back to the main road, sun was starting to be low, I thought about taking the typical picture of the end of the journey. Here you have the result:

After that sign, to the right, there is a cyclepath and bicycles are forbidden on the road. Time for some more pictures, which I like the final result:

Peter's shadow leading the way

From up above

Another angle of cycling picture

 

When I reached 92 km I had no idea how far was the camping, but suddenly appeared this sign:

Almos there!

Well, I have cycled for some 600 meters and could not find anything, I decided to come back and figure it out what is happening. I have found a board, almost all in Lithuanian and in English had a price list and a message to contact the responsible for the camping via telephone. I have phoned him, but he did not pick up. Well, according to camping map I have there should be one camping in this area. Fortunatly, the name was different. Well, back to the main road to look for the camping. Finally I have reached Mindunai:

Arrival into Mindunai

The camping is 2 km away on a sometimes sandy road, which is a nightmare for my bike. After sometime fighting against it and a close to a fall, I finally reached the camping.

The camping is really close to the lake, having access from the tent zone to the lake. Pictures were difficult with that lighting, anyway, here is the spot for my dinner today:

Camping's access to lake

 

Summary of the day:

• Daily distance: 96,60 km
• Daily time:5h13m35s
• Average speed: 18,67 km/h (considering I was cycling in Vilnius and the average dropped from 19,00 after the sandy road, I think it is great!)
• Maximum speed: 38,91 km/h

 

• Total cycled so far: 409,92 km
• Total time cycling: 22h55m50s

And that's all for now folks!

 

Best,

Peter

 

Things I forgot to write above:

1. There is a buch of drunk guys about 50 meters from my tent. It is already 00h17 and they are still in hot water bath ( they have attached to the car one trailer with a sort of a barrel where they have water and inside of it a place where they burn hood and transfer the heat to the water. Looks very professional, even has a chemney!!
2. I have been contacted by a Potuguese girl that lives at the moment in Latvia. I had a couchsurfer confirmed for that day, and I do not like to cancel, but I won't leave that place without meeting the Portuguese girl. It is great to feel welcome!

 

Postado com o Blogsy