Washboard and timezones

Day 11 of our journey, and the legs are starting to feel tired. A good thing that the road out of Druskininkai is absolutely perfect: sheltered from the wind, flat, and the sun is not too hot.

On our way out of Druskininkai, we get lost once again (as we did on the way out of pretty much every single larger town). Two Lithuanian women, dressed up in their fancy car, offer to not only help us find the way, but drive with us to make sure we find it. Once they made sure we found the right junction, we have a little chat with them and they are quite interested in our journey (they speak perfect English).

Once back on the way and well out of the town, we notice that (a) not every small town has a shop, as usual in Poland and (b) we should have taken tea with us from the B&B. Too late now, we have to make it to the next larger town, Marcinkonys. The road is great, the weather ideal, so this isn't hard to do. Once there, I do some shopping, and we have some lunch and ice cream.

On our way out of the town, we find a lovely lake with a sandy beach and I take the opportunity to take a bath. Lithuania is starting to look good: surrounded by forests, the lake is as scenic as it can get. But while the scenery stays beautiful in Southern Lithuania's National Park, the road gets worse and turns into a sandy path - once again. We're starting to get used to a phenomenon called "washboard road" - when cars drive over sand and hit a pothole, the suspension makes the tire bounce off the sand, creating another small ripple behind the hole. The next car comes along, hits both holes, and creates a third. After a while, you end up with a road like a washboard - an absolute nightmare to cycle on. Avoiding the ripples usually leads into deep sand, where the tires (especially with the load I'm carrying) get stuck. Most of the time, we have to push.

Out of the National Park, the road turns to gravel for 10kms, which is even worse, but then back to sand. The next problem is that we're out of water again, and no shop in sight. Asking some locals using the tiny vocabulary of Lithuanian I have accumulated, I'm told that we can find a shop some 3km down the road. It's only half past 6, so no problem, the shop should still be open. As we get there shortly after 7pm, the owner is just about to close, but still lets me buy some provisions. Strangely, the shop claims to close at 8...this is when the realisation hits home - we forgot about the time zone we crossed on the Polish-Lithuanian border! Well, living by the sun, you tend to forget that time even exists.

Having stocked up, we continue along, Belarus across the fields to our right, and stop by the side of the road to build the tent in the high grass - not such a great idea, as the place is swarmed with mosquitoes. Quickly, into the tent, and lights off!

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