Blogs from Lithuania, Europe - page 10

Motorhome News from Lithuania Lithuania Chapter I Saturday 28th April 2012 Once again we turn into new territory; up into the Baltic States beyond Poland, edging our way northwards towards the southern shores of Scandinavia and the western fringes of the old USSR; to delve into the history, the landscape, wildlife and culture aflicted by invasion from all sides for centuries. Is that why we continue to travel; to learn more about that which is beyond the horizon; that Christopher Columbus feeling I was talking about? There's a little bit of the old Soviet Union tucked into the corner of the Baltic coast to the northeast of Poland, leaving us little choice of roads northwards into Lithuania. Some roads run through the small Russian enclave of Kaliningrad that gives access to the Baltic Sea when ice ... read more

I wanted to add a word or two specifically about the wonderful children of Rugute, known affectionately as Rugute's Captains. During our little jaunt around Lithuania, we were honoured by the presence of many of the children that the Rugute charity supports. many of these children are actively receiving treatment for their conditions, some are thankfully in remission. All of them warmed our hearts and strengthened our resolve to complete our journey. In Panevezys we met : Naglis, Zilvinas, Vilte, Ignas and Kipras we were also met by friends of Rugute, Ieva and Benas. In Siauliai we met : Julija and her brother Mindaugas, Ugne and Abhajus In Klaipeda we met : Reinoldas and his sister Simonija together with Domantas and his brother Danielius In Silute we met : Justina In all cases, these children reminded ... read more

Just a quick blog for now, more detail later this weekend. WE MADE IT! After about 520 miles of cycling over 5 days, we made it back to Vilnius to a hero's welcome at the Barclays office, Green Hall, Upes Gatve. We covered a mere 85'ish miles today from Kaunas to Vilnius mostly on the A5 road. This is the hilliest portion of the trip passing through some of Lithuania's beautiful national parks, forests and lakes with a few nice challanging hills. We stopped off at Trakai for our "traditional" Kibinai and soup in a bread bowl (nothing like eating your bowl whilst you eat your soup, before blazing the final trail into Vilnius and Green Hall. I will put full route details up shortly, but thanks to all who have supported us and my personal ... read more

Today was a long, hot day. We headed out of Platelai onto a long uphill climb to the A11. Our hope was that we'd soon be westward bound towards Palanga on the coast, which we soon were. However the wind picked up considerably and slowed us by 3-5 miles per hour. We made it to Palanga by 2pm, later than originally planned and stopped for lunch. Here we picked up National Cycle route 10 which took us all the way into Klaipeda via a beautiful, car free, trail through woodlands and quiet lanes. In Klaipeda we visited with more Rugute Captains and enjoyed a much needed rest whilst we heard their stories. It was here that we decided to change our Day 3 destination to Silute rather than Taurage as the earlier headwind had hit our ... read more

The day started nice and bright and I was optimistic about the journey as we were turning out of the wind. Unfortunately, the wind had a different idea and my favourite flat, nice road was a real slog plus the end hill was a killer. My left knee was now really swollen and I was getting twinges in all joints now...lost feeling in fingers too. Nick had to bail because his knees had given up and I know he was upset to sit in the van and watch us struggle on. We were unable to stop at Smallininkai as there was no place to eat so we soldiered on to Jaburkas. The hills kept on coming into Kuanas and the roads worsened though we did get some speed on one very steep down hill...followed by another ... read more