Blogs from Platelai, Lithuania, Europe

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 11th 2012

So today dawned bright and clear for a 110 miler to the beautiful lake of Platelai. We were all feeling a little tired from the previous wet start, but soon made excellent time under a cloudless sky. We passed Siaulai in early afternoon where we were cheered in by severalrugute Captains and their parents. After an all too short visit, we had to head onwards again with our hearts and determination refreshed after our visit. The afternoon consisted of a long slog up the A11, before turning off onto side routes through gorgeous rolling countryside on the last 20 miles to the lake. We reached our Day 2 destination around 8pm tired, but eagerly anticipating the coming days. Food and a jacuzzi soon saw us refreshed and ready for Day 3... read more

Plateliai to Taurage - Day 4

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 11th 2011

CIMG5988

alanquinlan

Had a reasonably good sleep though snoring wars between myself and Nick are still not fully resolved. John joined the fray but was pitiful and he slept soundly albeit a bit of footsie was fun. My sunburn kicked in just great...deep red down my left or right side of my leg. The journey to Taurage was quite eventful as we left the lake after a photoshoot on the jetty. The roads were hilly then started to level out. We are getting the hang of the roads and working together...drain, pothole, no road! and we are generally good. We went to Silale and had a great lunch in a greasy spoon cafe - steak and cheese. We kicked off at 20mph after that. We met up with Rimus (chaplian from army base) and he escorted us to ... read more

Day 4 - Plateliai to Taurage

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 11th 2011

Lakeside start

CrazyCyclist

On Wednesday morning we had a 70+ mile ride south to Taurage. We had the most panoramic start of the trip (see the photos), starting from the jetty on Lake Plateliai, which is the cleanest lake in Lithuania. The weather was, yet again, blue skies, bright sunshine and very hot. The morning was a series of seemingly never ending inclines that only ended after about 2 hours of cycling, just north of the A1. From then on the story changed. The remainder of the route (on the whole) was flat (or slight declines) and we made excellent time, averaging 20 miles per hour (~30 kph) for long sections and eating the miles towards Taurage. It seemed like a very short day before we were pulling up and the Taurage city limits sign for our regular photo ... read more

Siauliai to Plateliai - Day 3

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 10th 2011

Silo

alanquinlan

Dumped our bikes into the back of the van up to the Hill of Crosses in the morning and took lots of pictures of the crosses - definately an eye opener. The journey started really well with a gentle incline that I lead on just a bit too fast (exuberance - it was a gorgeous day!) then John got a puncture :-( The roads were pretty good but a theme emerged, little flat bit followed by a long straight incline for as far as the eyes can see. Not so many Storks on this trip. We had a tour of the missile facility (ex-Russian) which was cool though my fear of heights kicked in when Nick leant over the edge of the silo...it was too deep to see the bottom from. Our guide was superb even ... read more

Day 3 - Nuclear Missile Silo

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 10th 2011

Borris on the Generator

CrazyCyclist

When we arrived at Plateliai we went on a guided tour of a decommisioned Russian Nuclear missile facility in the vacinity. This site is not yet fully opened to the public, so we had a guided tour whilst the renovations were on going and saw what they were doing with the site. It was really cool and we think will be well worth a visit next year when the renovations are completed. We then went back to our hotel for an excellent dinner and a few more of the local beers ;-)... read more

Day 3 - Siauliai to Platelia

Europe » Lithuania » Platelai May 10th 2011

The Hill of Crosses

CrazyCyclist

This morning started with a drive in the minibis (with bikes) to the Hill of Crosses, north east of Siauliai. We spent a very interesting hour walking around the hill and visitor centre and getting a feel for this extraordinary site with it's colourful history. We set of from the Hill of Crosses, cut across the top of Siauliai and hit the A11 out towards Plateliai. The weather, which has been fantastic so far, continued with this trend, giving us strong sunshine, very hot and low wind. The only incident in the morning was when I turned to Alan and murmured "Have I got a flat.....?" whilst bouncing down the road. I pulled up and I checked the tyre. Oooops, something's up :-) A quick check later and I find the offending piece of metal lodged ... read more

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