Blogs from Lithuania, Europe - page 11

Morning everyone. So we struggled through rain and cold yesterday for 108 miles before reaching our stop for the night. We travelled through some lovely Lithuanian country side, lots of rolling hills, lakes, forests lovely panoramas, eventually descending onto the flatter lands some 30 miles from Panevezys. The last 20 miles was tough but our spirits were lifted when we saw all the Rugute Captains waiting in Panevezys. After an all too short a stop to visittwitch the Captains we had to head onwards to our Hotel for the night 6 km aeay on the west side of town. After a shower and some food we all felt much better. Cold beer and a sauna sorted us out completely. :-) It is now the morning of Day 2. The sun is shining with a blue sky ... read more

Hi folks. Sorry for lack of update yesterday but the first hotel had no internet connection. The first day was very tough and after a celebrity send off from Vilnius we headed into the hills. Lots of undulations and cool weather made us realise that we had arrived. The afternoon route was a lot flatter which was good however it started to rain. We arrived at the first hotel in Panevysys (excuse spelling) cold tired and wet. I could hardly get my case up to the room. Good food and an instant sleep however helped with the overnight recovery. Up bright and early today (Tuesday) and we set off for the lake at Plateliai. Long flat roads a quick stop for lunch and then we were on our way again. A very long ride up long ... read more

For the children in Little Oaks (Elena's class) and Northleigh (Alex's class), we are starting day 1 of our trip which will see us cover around 102 miles. We are in Vilnius, which is the largest eastern city of the country of Lithuania which is in Eastern Europe, next door to Russia. I am getting up early tomorrow to make some final arrangements, then myself and 2 of the team are riding from the Novotel Hotel in Vilnius town centre, to our Barclays Office on Upes Gatve. (That's Upes Street). From there we will have a big send off from the staff in the local office and our friends in the Rugute charity. I will have Boris on my handlebars (if it's dry) so that he can see the whole journey. For those in Northleigh, Boris ... read more

Everything went very smoothly as it was a carbon copy of last year. The weather was really hot and we were expecting rain (as per the forecast). Setting up the bikes was a breeze and the Novotel staff were great. Went for a quick trip up town with Nick and John and the heavens opened. Felt tired and glad that I didn't have to ride my bike that day...not sure how we did that last year - I've been up since 2am! Trepidation for tomorrow as it's a new route and we are cycling 102 miles on our first day.... read more

Just three hours later and it's torrential rain with thunder and lightening. Hope it clears up for tomorrow.... read more