Marching About

Today was a breeze. Mostly because we had the wind at our backs, we finished with an average of over 26km/h for 117km. Our hosts in Šiauliai were a family of five: Sniega and Aleksej, the two parents and their children Ronia (5), Julia and Vera (twins, 3). They whisked us immediately away to a beautiful lake in a pine forest to make the most of the rest of a warm day. Mylène and I after swimming in the lake. Us with the whole family at the lake . The little girls didn't care that we didn't speak Lithuanian, and after we gave them some chocolate, they were running around and playing with us, and teaching us Lithuanian at the same time. I picked up Ronia and spun her around as she laughed. I know the typical child's response after I do that which is "again!" Which came immediately as her feet hit the ground, "dar!" Much obliged. After the lake, Sniega stopped by the road to gather some herbs and berries. She knew quite a bit about which ones to take and ho...

Bordel de colline à monter Pourquoi pour les routes financées Par nos impôts européens, comme indiqué Nos ingénieurs plus ou moins bien formés Ne pouvaient-ils imaginer D'autre solution que des pentes à monter? Prendre son élan Désespérant Mes jambes forcent, c'est épuisant Aller de l'avant Puis une fois atteint le sommet Il est temps de s'envoler Sans même tenter de freiner Au fur et à mesure des collines Elles semblent devenir moins élevées Est -ce l'entraînenent, je sais ce qui m'attends Sous une autre perspective, est-ce la hauteur Qui ne se donne plus des airs de grandeur À cela doit bien ressembler Pour nous chaque difficulté La toute première expérience Tombe, peine sur le chemin Prends de l'élan et recommence Tu pourras t'envoler demain

Our tent was well traveled before we even went on this trip. My very patient parents allowed me to send it to them to stick inside their bags before they visited Germany. It weighs less than 2kg (4lbs) and fits comfortably on the back if my bike. It's also easy to get back in the sack. So here is us putting the tent to good use to make it known that it didn't take up a whole suitcase for nothing :) Brand new day Camping in a Lithuanian village

Résultat d'une nuit impromptue: eh oui, les chaussettes peuvent prendre feu - au sens propre. Cette nuit, comme nous voulions camper entre Klaipeda et Siauliai, pour couper un peu la route, nous avons demandé à des gens en train de diner dehors dans un village lithuanien si on pouvait planter la tente dans leur champ avoisinant. (le fils de la maison a aidé à la traduction, notre lithuanien et russe se résumant à bonjour - vélo - tente. Mais nous sommes doués en langue des signes). Résultat: le plus bel endroit du voisinage pour camper, dominant une rivière, un feu de camp allumé rien que pour nous, un formidable petit déjeuner en repassant par la ferme le lendemain. Et des chaussettes que le feu, à défaut de sécher, aura rendues inutilisables. Andrew portant la tente Position: Vytauto gatvė,Šiauliai,Litauen

After our crazy day in the rain we slept hard on a great couch. Maybe I surfed the dunes in my dreams. When we woke up, Elene took us to eat Lithuania's national dish: Zeppelins. True to its name, it is mashed potatoes in blimp form stuffed with meat. Very filling to say the least. Lithuania's national dish: Zeppelin Then she took us just outside the city to see a Nazi bunker built on the beach to protect from attacks. It was later used in Soviet-occupied times to prevent people from trying to escape across the Baltic. The walk through the forest was a tranquil prelude to the instruments of war we were about to see. The bunker used to be an abandoned place, like many of the defunct soviet-era buildings around Berlin, but it was recently acquired by some WWII reenactment enthusiasts (yes these exist here, much like the Civil war or American Revolution reenactments in the US) and has been turned into an unofficial museum where somebody from the group sometimes hangs around and gi...

It was already menacing when we woke up this morning. By the time we left at 10:00 it was already drizzling. But this was really the last day where we couldn't afford to be flexible and try to wait out the rain. Damn. By the time we reached the outskirts of the city it was pouring. But we still had almost 90km (55 miles) to go just to the border. The Coronian spit is a tiny strip of land that connects Kaliningrad with Lithuania. It's about 100 km (60 miles) long and only about 800 meters (2500 ft) or less across in some parts. Fortunately there is only one road that traverses the spit so we couldn't possibly get lost. But it rained and rained and rained. Mylène on one side of the Spit. We could never stop for too long . We took a short break inside a stall where there were some merchants selling amber-related things. The main highlight of the spit are the dunes that line the west side. On both sides of the border (Russia and Lithuania) it has been made into a national park ...

Andrew passant la frontière à de Pologne vers Kaliningrad : Fonctionnaire: - What are you doing in Russia ? - Andrew: mhhh... Tourism. - With the bikes ? (incrédule ) - Yes, with the bikes. - Really ? And what are you going to do after leaving Russia ? - Biking further. - And where ? - To Helsinki. - ... (pas sur d'avoir bien compris ) where ? - Helsinki, Finnland. 5 min plus tard, tampon dans le passeport, c'est mon tour: fonctionnaire: "- Francia ?" moi à Andrew: "comment on dit oui, de nouveau?" Fonctionnaire: "oui" (l'air de dire: je suis pas con, je comprends oui en français). moi: "da, Francia ". fonctionnaire: "you too, Helsinki?" moi: "da". fontionnaire: "Well, good luck"... et son sourire ne voulait pas seulement dire: "bonne chance pour le voyage", mais très certainement: "bon courage à toi si tu es avec un type comme lui" :-) Position: Vytauto gatvė,Klaipėda,Litauen