Day 1 - Vilnius to Ukmerge

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Okay, so we landed at Vilnius International airport at 13:15, 30 minutes later than planned. Not an issue with WizzAir, more a problem with Luton's ground crew. Never mind, such is life.

After waiting for ages for our bikes to arrive at luggage reclaim we had almost dispaired of them ever turning up. Then the last three bags came off, our lovely bikes.

Dragging our bikes along we staggered out of the airport to be met by Vitas, Gintaras and Vija, our colleagues from Barclays. They had a arranged plenty of transportation and shipped us effortlessly to Green Hall, our starting point.

This was where we had our first surprise, a crowd of staff, their families and (it turned out) Rugute families were waiting to great us, together with more Camera and Camcorder wielding folk than you could shake a stick at. We had a formal greeting including a drink of a fermented milk / yoghurt drink and local bread, met a few of the attendees and then nervously removed the bikes from the bags to inspect them. Luckily all three of the bikes went back together with no bends, scrapes, broken cables or missing parts. Can't say the same for the bags, but at least they protected the bikes well.

We then got dressed and had a welcome "lunch" of pizza and a few introductory speeches by ourselves, Rugute and Zilvinas (Head of Networks). Edita, from Rugute, told us how they name their children "Captains" and wise them "a following wind through the see of life", she then conferred this blessing on us three riders, which was a touching gesture. After which we hit the road following the ceremonial wave of the Rugute flag to start the trip, escorted by 4 other riders (most planning on reaching Ukmerge with us) and 2 vans (ours and one holding Rugute folk.

We had an excellent trip out of Vilnius (once we'd negotiated some "off road" terrain first) and then hit the road in earnest, up the A2 before turning off on the old A2 (when the new one turned into a "motorway"). We followed this to Sirvintos, where we met Samantha and her family. Samantha had been diagnosed with cancer several years earlier but, thanks in no small measure to Rugute, is now cancer free and enjoying life. Samantha waved the Rugute flag to set us off again and we continued, refreshed from our meeting with her and her family.

We then headed for the final leg to Ukmerge where we spent the night. During the ride today I learnt that one of the local riders, (Vaidas I think) was introduced to the ride by Rugute as his daughter was a Rugute Captain. She was in the Rugute van that was following along with us. Her story was similar to Samantha's in that she had been diagnosed with cancer when she was 3 but, with help from Rugute, had been cancer free for 6 years.

These two stories in the first day of our trip, reenforced my desire to complete the ride in support of this excellent charity.

In the hotel at Ukmerge writing this, contemplating an 80+ miler tomorrow with confidence that I can go the distance and complete this mammoth task.

More from Siauliai tomorrow night.

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Photos

Rebuilding the bike at Green Hall
Checking that everything goes back together and there are no bent bit :-)

Samantha
Meeting with Samantha and Rugute in Sirvintos

Ukmerge At Last
Good friends gather for dinner in Ukmerge after first 46 miles.

Comments

[Sarunas]

Great Stuff!
Guys, Thanks a lot for sharing the latest news from your trip. I still think you are doing something extraordinary and wish you all the best in completing the whole ride. Please keep us updated as i cannot wait fro another entry. Thanks. Sarunas