Riga rest days: 16km total pootling

Rīga – Oltūži 88.5km

Olive liked Riga. She got some proper pampering and a well deserved rest. Alexander managed to wrangle her a date with “the best mechanic in Latvia”, who normally has a month long waiting list, at short notice. He apparently found multiple problems with her (god only knows what – not much English was spoken in the workshop) but just fixed the essentials. Happy Olive.

I spent some time with my fan club after a private tour of the city by the wonderful Alexander.

My private fan club (my brother and I-Ying) gave me a private lesson in how to do city breaks too! Saw some very beautiful places and ate some tasty grub.

I think it’s a good job I had two days off because it gave me the mental reserve to tackle today with a smile on my face.

I’m sure the reason I didn’t break down in tears was the fact that I had company all day. It was great.

Joe, his hired town bike, Olive and I set off in a torrential downpour to navigate out of Riga. The rain was far too much for the drainage system. Every crossroads, every attempt at a bike lane and most street corners had been transformed into lakes and rivers. There were a couple of occasions where it was impossible to tell how deep it was so I went for the wading option. Bloody hilarious.

Mr Eurovelo has done a really naff job in Latvia so far. Once out of Riga the cycle route basically follows the coast which is a beautiful idea. Clearly whoever was in charge of route planning doesn’t realise that taking a heavy touring bike on sandy beaches is impossible…

Joe abandoned ship at the end of the railway line (trains are even worse than bike paths) at the exact same moment I made my first cycle tourist friend of the day, meaning I had company all day! Elise is the first solo female cyclist I’ve seen since Italy – so it was interesting to share stories and plans. She also gave me a healthy dose of jealousy of her rain cape. I want a cape.

Elise and I then braved the A1 together. Yes, Mr Eurovelo combined sandy beaches, gravel roads and the only major road going north out of Latvia and thought people would enjoy it. What ensued was a game of truck dodging, shower soaking and bus stop hopping. Just my idea of fun!

Žemaitkiemis – Bernatoniai 110.7km

Bernatoniai – Svēte 118.8km

Note to self: eat more rye bread. It’s filling powers are far superior, especially when eaten in the rain.

My latest revelation is that I’ve become pretty sensitised to cold after such a prolonged period of hot weather. Apparently yesterday was 20degrees and I required a coat and hot chocolate. Today theoretically the same and I couldnt feel my feet. I have no idea how I’m going to cope when I get back to England!

It’s been pretty grey, windy and showery. I’m hoping it’s just a front passing over because I’ve now sent all my warm clothes home.

Despite the weather I managed to find a river to swim in last night with hundreds of tiny fish.

Today was marred by repeated long sections of gravel road. It’s just so uncomfortable on a heavy bike. Although thinking positively it’s probably like a sports massage – constant pummelling?

If I had bike skills I’d install some suspension into Olive… the way it seems to be all the rage to install a big motor into your push bike around here.

When we made it to Latvia I was hopeful the gravel situation might change. Unfortunately not. It seems it’s a choice between busy A road and gravel.

Alytus – Vilnius

119.5km

I’ve been totally thrown by changing time zone without expecting to. Surely there should be a sign or something to warn you?

Either way I like Lithuania. The landscape is different to anything I’ve had so far – it’s long, rolling hills covered in wheat, dotted with forests and big beautiful lakes.

I’ve also had a tailwind for the second day in a row. This is unheard of and almost the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

I’ve come to accept that the wind seems to be in my face which ever direction I head. It’s nice to know that the weather gods found it in their hearts to give me two days respite. I’m well aware I’ll be changing tack when I leave Vilnius so I’m not expecting it to last!

Found me a castle. Didn’t have the fight in me to try and capture it. I saved my fight for getting into Vilnius – and I needed it – quite a challenge. Really not well designed for bikes.

It’s an interesting city though. I’m treating Olive to a day off tomorrow and I’ll go and have a neb.

Jazy – Alytus

108km so far [edit: 115km total]

Today was an emotional rollercoaster day. For some reason I thought I’d see how much I could destroy myself right from the start by opting for a forest track.

Had a mare all morning because I let the road get to me. I’m not sure which was the worst but I had 3 different, absolutely appalling excuses for road surfaces. I was left an emotional wreck.

I was glad to see the back of Poland after that ordeal. The positive I took from it was that at least I was not arriving into Poland on those roads – if I had I think I may well have turned back.

Lithuania’s first impression has been good. Peaceful, beautiful and a cracking tailwind.

I started looking for somewhere to camp once I reached Alytus. What looked like a quiet spot by the river on my map was a little surreal when I got there. There’s some festival going on that seems to be an amalgamation of carpentry, sword fighting and paganism. Not exactly the peaceful camp I was hoping for but entertaining none the less. I guess I’ll just have to keep looking!

Osowiec – Jazy

108km

People keep asking me why I’m doing this trip. I’m sure they’re largely asking as a subtle way of questioning my sanity but it does make me think.

Often my reasoning that I just really like cycling doesn’t suffice. I tend to give a different reason to every person who asks, and I’m tending to make them more and more far fetched.

I reckon my top three slightly serious reasons are:

1. I would like to show some UK love for the EU (especially seeing as they’re so good at funding road resurfacing)
2. I love adventures and every day here is an adventure in its own right
3. I want to source some inspiration for how I can achieve my life public health objective: to get the UK population cycling.

My top three less serious reasons are:

1. I want to see how much chocolate a single person can eat and still survive to tell the tale
2. I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t wash my hair for 4months
3. I wanted to get some epic finger tan lines so it looks like I have very symmetrical vitiligo

Today Olive and I came up against some challenges in terms of route choice. It turns out there aren’t really secondary roads in this corner of Poland. It’s either braving the A road truck fest or battling the sand. I really don’t enjoy the sand so I went for the former.

From the looks of my map there are only two roads that cross the border into Lithuania and no motorways. This meant I was joining half of the international traffic. I should have expected it to be busy… but still, is it strictly necessary to have that many lorries full of chickens?

I found some grt big lakes and a ret nice canal with wee locks.

I only screamed at the wind twice (it was pretty windy).

And I cycled really far and I’m proud of myself.

Siemlanówka – Białystok

80.9km

I honestly did try to chill my beans a bit today. The plan was flawed by fishermen going out on the water at 3am (imagine starting work at 3am!) and the sun making itself known about 4.

It did mean I had plenty of time to chill my beans. I read a whole book this morning sat by the lake… And found another lake in the afternoon. A two swim kind of day!

The afternoon gave rise to some pretty oppressive heat. I’d cycle a few miles then have to stop in the shade. I eventually figured out that cycling was better than stopping because you get the breeze.

I made it to Białystock and found yet another fantastic warmshowers host. I arrived feeling a little weary but within minutes was made to feel at home. It didn’t take long to become revitalised and start planning the next leg with some advice. Excellent company, even the dog!

Oh and this blog post is called bumpy because

1. Until some unknown marker the roads were in a pretty appalling. I wish I’d taken a picture. It would have been comical if it hadn’t been so uncomfortable.
2. The landscape was forest on rolling hills. I’m sure there were flat bits but I can’t quite remember them.

Niemirow – Siemlanówka

127km

There were definitely benefits from being trapped by the river Bug last night. I woke to the mist dancing on it’s shimmering surface at the door of my tent.

I would love to say I wholeheartedly embraced the challenge of crossing the bug this morning but I almost gave up when the road turned into (yet another) sandy, gravel track. Thankfully I coaxed Olive down it and we found a treat.

Ferry would be an overstatement. It was actually a floating block attached to a wire spanning the river. No motor, just a couple of men taking it in turns to haul us across. Well worth 2złoty (40p) and a bit of sandy track.

The day passed in a bit of a haze. Seemingly endless forests with neat wooden villages dotted around basking in the (boiling) sun.

I spent a considerable part of the afternoon analysing a headache. I’m quite a headachey person so nothing out of the blue. I sometimes enjoy the challenge of deciphering which headache it is. The causes seem to be:

1. Dehydration
2. Too much water and not enough salt
3. Too much squinting into the sun
4. Going too long wearing sunglasses and not wearing my prescription glasses
5. Neck/shoulder tension
6. Not enough coffee
7. Too much coffee
8. Navigation stress
9. Tiredness
10. Not enough ice cream.

Today was a 1, 3, 6 and 10 day.

But it’s all ok because I found a lake with a cool sunset.