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Baltic States Cycle

June - July 2019
An amazing bike ride through the Baltic States of Lithuania,Latvia and Estonia. Our cycling adventure starts in Vilnius and ends in Tallinn. We will also be spending time in Warsaw, Helsinki and St Petersburg. Read more
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  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle

    Five weeks and Counting

    April 27, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    After 18 months of planning it is hard to believe that our Baltic States Cycling Adventure will soon be underway. By now I hope that all the arrangements are just about finalised, although the Russian component is still something of a work in progress. Contact with the local operator has been rather "hit and miss", however I have been promised that I should receive the final documents sometime in the next week. Then perhaps I will relax. In the meantime I might even start packing.Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle

    Underway at Last (well almost)

    June 2, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    After over 18 months of planning and waiting, you reach a stage where you just want the thing to finally start. I suppose it's a bit like waiting for the birth of a baby - maybe not as painful, but twice the gestation period.

    Sitting upstairs in the family room, I am confronted by a sea of partly packed luggage strewn from one wall to the other. Even after doing a large number of similar trips it is still hard to always know exactly what items to take and what to leave at home. While some take pride in having the smallest and lightest bag in the airport, I can personally see no point in being so frugal with your packing that you make yourself uncomfortable by trying to complete the entire trip with only a toothbrush and one spare pair of underpants.

    I have to admit being something of a technophile. That means that about half of my luggage always consists of adaptors, chargers, cables, cameras and the like. By the time I add my notebook computer and all the cycling gear, there is no way that it is going to weigh anything less than 18 kg or so.

    Part of the problem is that we do not know exactly what type of weather we will encounter in the Baltics. Although we will be there in the "summer" time, I have learnt that the definition of summer can vary greatly from place to place. On our previous rides in Finland and Sweden, we froze under overcast skies for most of the time we were there.

    There may be an old adage "when in doubt, leave it out", but I have modified it to a much more intelligent version - "when it doubt, toss it in". No point in suffering unnecessarily.
    As long as the zipper can still shut, I feel there is no problem. It makes sense to me.

    The next update will be from Poland.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 2

    A Lot can Happen in 48 hours

    June 4, 2019 in Poland ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Sometimes it seems like a lifetime can be crammed into a few short hours. The last couple of days has been a perfect example of how that can happen.

    After a rather restless sleep I awoke early on Monday morning to the sound of heavy rain outside. Considering how dry Melbourne has been over the past few months, this was something of a novel experience. I decided that further sleep was impossible, climbed out of bed and began the very long day that I knew awaited me. I was well aware that the next time my head hit the pillow would be on Tuesday evening when we finally reached our hotel in Warsaw.

    While having breakfast I checked the weather forecast. It was full of warnings about the huge band of violent rain, hail and gale force winds which were apparently going to impact Melbourne all day. That was not exactly the forecast you want when you will soon be heading off to the airport.

    It was a few hours later that things took something of an unexpected turn. One of the unfortunate aspects of the timing of this trip was that I would most likely be absent overseas when our newest grandchild came into the world. Since there was still around two weeks to go before the expected delivery date, you could imagine our surprise when we got a message from our youngest son that they had just gone to the hospital. Apparently the new baby was keen to meet Pops before he left.

    Although this sent the heart rates souring, it also threw something of a curve ball into my plans of getting to the airport. Since first babies can be notoriously slow in arriving, there was still no real indication of how long the labour would take.

    With no further news in the next couple of hours, we had to revert to my original plan of getting a lift to the airport with Sue Brown who lives not far away at Narre Warren. As we headed along the Monash Freeway the rain was still sheeting down making visibility poor. I wondered if the flight would be delayed.

    Somewhere in the middle of this deluge,my phone rang. It was a video call from my son at the hospital. He excitedly told me that their son had just arrived a few moments ago and they wanted to tell me before it was too late. It certainly was a moment I will never forget. Although I would not get to hold the new little one, I could take some pleasure in knowing that I was the very first to hear the news and see his little face,, albeit only briefly.

    In spite of the rain, we arrived safely at the airport and sat down to wait for the others. It was only then that I noticed that the entire stitching on one end of my luggage had come undone. How could I have not noticed that when I was packing ? This was not the type of discovery you want to make at the beginning of an extended trip. I had visions of my gear being spread over the cargo hold of the plane, but there was not a single thing I could about it now, apart from hope that the inner lining would somehow stay intact.

    There were seven of our team due to depart today and, when we had all arrived we proceeded to the check in. When it was my turn to check in, I rolled my case to the counter, smiled and handed over my passport. The girl looked at it, typed away for a while, then looked a little worried. She typed some more, frowned a lot and seemed confused. After some minutes of this delay she asked me to stay there while she went to talk to her supervisor. My stomach churned.

    For the next 15 minutes I watched her and her supervisor talk and fiddle with another computer. All the others had gone through to the departure lounge while I waited. Maybe I would not be leaving after all. Perhaps I had some sort of security warning on my passport. I know that the horrible photo they had attached to my Russian visa made me look some sort of serial killer, but surely that was not really my fault, - some people just look like that.

    All the while this was going on, the long queue behind me were probably secretly cursing me for making them wait longer. When she finally returned, I asked what the problem was. She explained that there was no record of my booking, even though I had the eticket in my hand. "Do you have the payment receipt ?", she asked. "Or do you have a bank statement that would show the payment ?" Since I booked the flight months ago, I could assure her that, no, I did not bring the bank statement with me.

    The supervisor came over to join in the fun and spent some time chatting to someone else on the phone (maybe his supervisor ?). After another ten minutes or so of this excitement, his face suddenly relaxed. "They have found the booking", he announced. I could have told them that I "found " the booking every time I checked the Emirates web site over the preceding couple of months.

    After being held up for so long I decided to go for broke. "Surely you should now give me an upgrade to First Class", I suggested. It didn't work. They handed me my economy boarding pass and finally sent me on my way.

    By this time the rest of the team had been wondering what on earth had happened to me. It had been a bit of a scare, but fortunately the plane took off on time and the wild weather had largely abated by then. At least I was glad that I had made the wise decision to pay a little extra for exit row seats. The extra leg room really does make a difference on a 14 hour flight and I was even able to grab some sleep from time to time.

    We arrived at Dubai right on sunrise, but the temperature was already a blistering 35C or so. The blast hit us as soon as we left the plane and reminded me afresh while I would never choose to willingly spend any more time in this city than was absolutely necessary.

    The second flight from Dubai to Warsaw is a much shorter 6 hours, and it was a great relief to discover that the plane was less than half full. It was even more comfortable as I luxuriated into my business class seat (I may tell you more about that sometime later) and actually looked forward to spending some time in the fully flat reclining seat.

    Those six hours actually passed all too quickly for me. I was actually a little reluctant to say goodbye to attentive staff who had looked after me so well (I could have told you that the business class section was almost empty so I was REALLY spoiled).

    We arrived in Warsaw right on time at 12 noon, collected our luggage and went looking for our waiting shuttle driver. The weather outside was a delightful 27C and bright sunshine. We were ushered to a comfortable Mercedes mini bus and were pleased that the young driver spoke excellent English. The midday traffic flowed smoothly and we were soon at the Hotel Chmielna.

    It is always nice when the reception desk expect you and we were soon issued our room keys and everyone went upstairs in search of a shower and a change of clothes. Well everyone but me that is. (Sound familiar ?). The girl explained that my room "was not ready yet" and I would have to wait in the reception for some time. This seems to be the story of my life.

    I decided to spend the time getting my phone to work. Although it connected to the Polish network, I could not make or receive any calls. I later discovered that the entire group were having the same sort of problems. Perhaps this is a feature of the region.

    When I did finally get access to the room I was pleased to find that it was enormous -a real business class room. Situated on the top floor and with no less than four separate rooms inside, it really was very comfortable. Well it would have been comfortable if not for the heat. It is obvious that rooms here are not built for heatwaves, and the sun streaming in the windows soon made it into a sauna bath. Oh well, you can't have everything. At least it would mean that my washing would dry quickly.

    The group later met together for our first foray into the unfamiliar city, first walking down to the river and then to the centre of the old city. By five o,clock the long day started to take effect with most of our team now struggling to stay upright. We decided it was time to stagger back to the hotel and have an early night.

    Near the hotel there is a lovely popular restaurant called "SUBWAY" and their 15 cm turkey roll was a perfect way to end a very,very long day. Back at the hotel, I removed the doona and collapsed unto the top of the mattress. After all, I had a new grandson to dream about.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 3

    A Wander in Warsaw

    June 5, 2019 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    It's always amazing how much difference a good night's sleep makes. When I collapsed into bed last night, the cumulative effects of the long trip over and the rapid changes in time zones had reduced me to a zombie like status.

    Although the room was still uncomfortably hot, and although it was not even 8 pm, I don't think it took me more than a couple of minutes to fall into a deep sleep. The next thing I remember was the room being brightened by the approach of dawn. When I checked my watch I discovered that it was not quite 5 am. By the same token I had already enjoyed almost 9 hours sleep and that was about 2 hours more than I usually get.

    A glance at the pre dawn sky suggested that the day was going to be a carbon copy of yesterday, and that's exactly the way it turned out. I decided to check my emails and try a Hangouts video call back home. What followed was a delightful 30 minute chat with my day old grandson. Although he was fast asleep the entire time, it was easy to see that he was glad to hear my voice. I tried to tell myself that it was almost as good as a cuddle, but obviously it wasn't. Although he had only been born the previous day, the mother and baby had already been sent home from the hospital. I guess it's all just a matter of freeing up the hospital beds now.

    Since it was still too early to go down to breakfast, I spent the next hour watching Polish TV. Although there must have been about 50 channels to choose from, not a single one was in English. Even though I have been in Warsaw for a few hours, I would have to admit that I am not yet fluent in Polish, so I had to invent my own dialogue for each show.

    At 8 am I could wait no longer and went down to get some breakfast. I discovered that some of the others could not wait either and had already raided all the best food from the buffet. The breakfast room was also full with about 30 rowdy school children. In fact Warsaw is currently full of groups of students from all over the country. This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of Poland gaining independence from the Communists and the schools are obviously marking sure that the young people appreciate that freedom should never be taken for granted.

    After breakfast we formed into a walking peloton and headed south to an incredibly beautiful complex of large parks, the highlight of which was the royal palace by the lake. This was yet another reminder of the opulent lifestyles that the royal families of Europe all enjoyed. For me it gave an opportunity for my favourite pastime of people watching.

    Several of our group sat under the canopy of trees and savoured the moment. For me these moments are the highlights of every trip. I enjoy this far more than visits to famous art galleries or museums and I always find it gives me an insight into what makes each country unique.

    It was certainly the right day for an ice cream and we were happy to find that they cost much less than we would have paid in Australia. After lunch at the lakeside amphitheatre, we started to make our way back towards the hotel.. The temperature had, once again, risen to near 30C and we were grateful for any shade we could get along the way.

    After a short afternoon siesta, I set out again to walk the surrounding streets. Just twenty four hours earlier, the entire city had been a mystery,however I found that I was already feeling more at home. Familiar landmarks showed me the way back the hotel.

    I have already begun to make my mind up about Poland and about Warsaw in particular. The city is certainly clean, the traffic is orderly and the people seem happy and prosperous. The fact that they all wait for the green signal before crossing the roads, shows that they are law abiding. It is also very obvious that they are fiercely independent and value their freedom highly. It is a country that has suffered badly over the past hundred years and the people certainly deserve a brighter future.

    The rest of our group had decided to head back to the old town for a walking tour, however since I generally avoid organised tours as much as I avoid typhoid, I was happy to wander the streets by myself. I eventually found an Italian cafe near the hotel and ordered a pizza.

     A short time later my phone rang. "How are you enjoying your pizza ?" David asked. I wondered how he could possibly know what I was eating. He told me to turn around. Of all the hundreds of restaurants in Warsaw, the others had chosen a restaurant directly across the road from mine.

    The pizza was lovely and so was the freshly squeezed orange juice. The night was still quite warm. It really was a lovely place to be. I asked for my bill and was somewhat surprised at the amount shown on the invoice. It was about half of what I calculated. The waitress explained that she had not charged me for half of what I had as they had "kept me waiting for too long". Now that was a surprise. Warsaw went up a few more points in my rating. I was able to give the waitress a good tip and still spend less than what I had anticipated. I think I could grow to like this place a lot.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 4

    Restless in Warsaw

    June 6, 2019 in Poland ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    When I had been planning this trip I had been faced with the problem of how best to get to the start of our ride in Vilnius. Since there are no airlines that offer flights from Melbourne to Lithuania, we would have to devise a more complicated route. After investigating several options I came to the conclusion that the simplest (and cheapest) would be to fly first to Warsaw and then take a short flight from Warsaw to Vilnius.

    Since nobody in our group had ever been to Warsaw, we had no idea of what sort of city it would turn out to be. I must admit that my preconceived notion was that it would be dull, dirty and dour - how wrong that turned out to be. After spending the past two days here I can honestly say that the city is clean, vibrant and interesting. It is also relatively cheap compared to most other large European cities. We will all be a little sad when our time here comes to an end.

    The second full day in Warsaw began when the predawn light started streaming in through my hotel window. I decided that it must be at least 5.30 am and climbed out of bed. It was only when I checked my watch that I found that the correct time was 3.20 am. These long hours of daylight really can play tricks with your sleeping patterns. I don't mind getting up early, but 3.20 am is too early even for me. I went back to bed and tried to convince my body clock that it was really still the middle of the night.

    Somehow I managed to steal another 90 minutes of sleep, but by 5.00 am I was really ready to begin the day. I joined the rest of our group (and also about 50 very noisy schoolchildren) for breakfast before heading off with Bob to the Polin Museum. This famous museum documents the 1000 year history of the Jews in Europe (and more particularly in the region now known as Poland).

    Since it was only a short 4 km walk from our hotel,we decided to skip the bus and walk the whole way. We are now already starting to get a feel for the layout of the city and the streets which seemed so confusing at the start, now feel familiar.

    There is one feature of Warsaw that is worthy of special mention. The city has an excellent system of public electric scooters. These are scattered all over the city and are obviously very popular with the locals. In fact you cannot walk anywhere without being nearly knocked flying by one of these devices. I am not sure how fast they travel, but it must be at least 25 kph.

    There was however one mystery which we never did solve. The scooters must be regularly recharged, however we never once saw any of them plugged into a power outlet. I even asked the girl at the hotel reception, but it quickly became apparent that the question had never occurred to her. We had to assume that every night they are all secretly recharged by magic electric elves and fairies.

    We made our way successfully to the Museum and were happy to discover that it was free admission today. I then spent the next two and a half hours discovering the remarkable history of the Jews. Somewhere along the way I lost Bob. Although I looked for him everywhere, I finally had to admit that he was lost in action and had to walk back to the hotel without him. I had to assume that like the proverbial "bad penny" he would turn up later. And he did.

    The rest of the day I spent wandering the streets and exploring the banks of the Vistula River. The hot sun made it impossible to spend any time in my room and I was content to enjoy a cool drink by the waterside instead.

    In the evening seven of us returned to the Italian Restaurant that had undercharged me the previous evening. Unfortunately the same waitress was no longer there. Perhaps the boss had not been happy with the way she had been handing out discounts. Tonight we all had to pay full price.

    Tomorrow we will be returning to the airport to catch the flight to Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. Although the flight is only short, it will be in a Brazilian made aeroplane, operated by an unknown airline. What could possibly go wrong ?

    By tomorrow evening our team will be almost complete in Vilnius.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 5

    Another Day Another Country

    June 7, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Question - Which key on the keyboard do you use the most often ?
    Answer - the space bar of course

    And why did I start with this strange question ? Because that is the key on my laptop that has decided to stop working. It means that I have to hit it two or three times every time I want to insert a space. I like to consider myself a very patient man (although those that know me might say otherwise), but this is really starting to $#@& me off.

    In spite of the difficulty with the misbehaving space bar, I will do my best to keep up with this blog.

    The day actually started quite poorly. The location of the Hotel Chmielna is in a precinct that is filled with a lot of youth hostels and guest houses. The people that stay in those sort of establishments are often more interested in getting drunk than learning anything about where they are. Apparently there was some sort of soccer match between Poland and the UK which attracted a horde of unruly supporters across for a drunken weekend in Warsaw. What followed would have made wonderful viewing on an episode of "Brits Behaving Badly".

    From early evening the amplified techno "music" combined with the shouts of drunken louts at earsplitting level. In spite of the heat in my room, I had no alternative other than to close all the windows and swelter inside. Even with the windows closed the noise still permeated. One particularly obnoxious Brit obviously had a vocabulary consisting solely of one four letter word. This he uttered every few seconds at the top of his voice for hour after hour. I assume he was practising his barracking skills for the upcoming match.

    The audio onslaught continued all night long until sunrise the following morning, when they finally decided that they had interrupted everyone else's sleep enough and probably went somewhere to collapse into a coma. Somehow I did manage to get some sleep, but the stuffy room made the final night in Warsaw a night to forget.

    This morning it was time to bid farewell to Warsaw and start our journey to Vilnius. I had arranged for the same driver who collected us at the airport to drive us back again. Once again,the sparse Warsaw traffic allowed us to reach the terminal very quickly. Even quicker was the speed that we were able to check in our luggage. How wonderful it would be if all airports worked like this.

    Since we had some time to spare, we all settled down in a quiet corner of the Costa Coffee shop and chatted. It soon developed into a sort of "truth or dare" as each revealed secrets about our past that we had not told anybody before. Of course Bob excelled by telling of his famous previous life as a sharp shooting bank manager.

    Our plane was delayed a short while and we were happy to be finally called to start boarding. The only trouble was that we had to be jammed into a waiting bus to take us to our plane. We were then crammed together like cattle while the bus waited and waited, and waited. The temperature inside soured in the hot sun. It became unbearable. But still we waited. There was no explanation as to why we were kept in the bus for so long, but it really was terrible.

    When we finally reached the waiting LOT plane (made in Brazil), I was happy to find that it was actually freezing cold inside. I loved the respite from the heat. We even were served a chocolate bar and a cup of coffee during the short 1 hour flight to Lithuania.

    After collecting our baggage we were met by a quiet guy who drove us to our hotel. Although we expected that there would be more horses and carts than cars, we were a little surprised to find our vehicle stuck in peak hour traffic. As we looked around it was clear to see a contrast of decaying soviet era buildings interspersed with quite a few modern structures. It was clearly a country in transition.

    We finally arrived at our hotel about 6 pm and were met by Ross and Fran, Lothar and Celia, Gordon and Sue and also Marg Jones. That brings our contingent up to around 16 people. If Marg was looking a little stressed it was probably because her luggage had not made the flight from Amsterdam with her. Every traveller's worst nightmare. We hope it arrives tomorrow for her sake.

    Our hotel is the very comfortable City Gate Hotel, beautifully situated right near the entrance to the old city. After a shower and a change of clothes I joined some of the others for a wander into the old city. We soon found a place to have dinner and hear Gordon and Sue tell of their travels in the far north of Norway and Finland. The food was good, relatively inexpensive and it was great to spend time with good friends at the start of another new adventure.

    Somehow David managed to get us lost on the walk back, leading us all into an interesting dead end. It was only a minor blunder and we were soon all back safely. Although the sun doesn't go to bed until about 10.30 pm, I am happy to hit the mattress at 9. And the hotel is beautifully quiet............    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 6

    A Taste of Lithuania

    June 8, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    I believe I can gauge a feeling for a country by spending a day wandering the streets and carefully watching the people. So that is what I basically spent the day doing.

    Our hotel is conveniently located right outside the city gate. This makes it very convenient for exploring the old town, but it is still far enough away from the hustle and bustle to provide a delightfully quiet sanctuary.

    Near the hotel I discovered a lovely flower and fruit market. As I wandered the aisles, my gaze was quickly drawn to the beautiful looking strawberries and cherries. I have found in previous overseas trips that the standard of these fruits in Australia is very poor when compared to other countries. I ordered a bag of cherries for the grand sum of 3 Euro (about $5 Australian) and spent the next 30 minutes savouring their incredible sweetness and juiciness. They were certainly among the best I have ever tasted and I will certainly return tomorrow for some more.

    My meanderings then took me right into the city, down to the Vilnia and Neris Rivers. As I walked I could see that the city was in a state of transition. While there were still many older, decaying buildings from the Soviet era, there was also a lot of modern development also taking place. It reminded me of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon that it had been trapped in for decades.

    One thing that is also clear is that Soviets had no idea how to make good concrete. Every concrete structure that they built is rapidly crumbling to dust, almost before your very eyes. It is little wonder what happened at Chernobyl, thirty years ago.

    Since the day was rapidly heating up, I decided to spend some time sitting in the park, under the shade of the trees, just watching life passing by. There was a mixture of young mothers with children, middle aged people and a few plump babushkas, some of them in national dress.

    At breakfast time we had received a notice that we had arrived in Vilnius just in time to enjoy a festival of senior dancing and singing. That sounded like a great way to observe .some of the rich culture, so I set off to find where it was being held. Along the way I met Ross & Fran and Lothar and Celia. While we were chatting in the street, we were joined by an uninvited interloper. It was an obviously a very queer Englishman who had apparently come to Vilnius to take part in the gay pride parade. He tried to persuade us to ditch the ladies and join him at the parade. We politely declined. I still cannot understand what actually happened.

    At 3 pm we managed to find the location where the folk dancing was to take place. Unfortunately it was in the full sun and the temperature was souring. I felt sorry for all the dancers dressed in their hot costumes. Whoever designed those clothes did not take global warming into account.

    The dancing was spirited and very colourful, however the baking sun started to make my head feel like I was growing crackling. After 30 minutes we had to leave to seek some shade.

    On days such as this there is nothing better than a lovely ice cream, especially when a heaped double scoop in a cone costs only 2 Euro.

    There are now 17 members of our team in Vilnius. There should have been 20, but Peter & Brigitte and John Mudgway had been delayed at Warsaw airport. At last update the flight was 7 hours late and counting. That meant that they missed dinner and the first briefing with our local guide. Marg's missing luggage is still missing and one of our team is feeling ill. Apart from that, everything is going fine - especially when we heard that Australian Ash Barty had won the French Open tennis championship.

    At 7 pm a young fellow answering to the name "Lucas" introduced himself as our local guide and led us to a nearby restaurant for dinner. After an enjoyable meal I am now back at the hotel. The time is well after 10 pm, but due to the bright light outside, it feels like 7 pm.

    And so ends our first full day in Lithuania.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 7

    We Meet Some Unexpected Lithuanian Fans

    June 9, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    For me, one of the very best parts of travel are the unexpected things that can happen when you least expect them. I like to refer to these as the "serendipity of travel". One of these events happened today, but I guess I should first start at the beginning.

    Late last night the final three members of our team finally arrived from Warsaw. They were not happy that they had spent an extra 7 hours at Warsaw airport, but I tried to make sure they knew they had not been forgotten by arranging for last night's restaurant to prepare three dinner boxes for them.

    Now that all twenty riders are present and accounted for, the only thing still missing is Marg's luggage. We had all been hoping that it would turn up from the airport, but so far there is no sign of it. This means that she may have to buy another suitcase and a basic assortment of clothes. There is of course still some chance that it might be found before we leave Vilnius tomorrow morning.

    After breakfast we met outside the hotel with Lucas. The plan was for him to take us on a walking tour of the city. He certainly knows a lot about Lithuanian history and he did his best to tell us most of it in the two hour walk. He would have made an excellent auctioneer.

    After the heat of the previous few days we were glad that the day started overcast and relatively cool, however it did not stay that way. Once the early clouds cleared, the temperature steadily climbed back up again. It is beginning to look like all the cool weather gear we jammed into our cases will never see the light of day.

    Since our team is now complete, we also took the opportunity to don our new Ghostrider shirts. I have to admit that they were so bright that I am sure they would have been visible from the moon. I suspect some of the locals thought that we were in town for the gay pride celebrations. We certainly got noticed.

    It was only after the tour was over that the unexpected event happened. A small group of us were walking down a small back street of the town. We were interrupted by a distinctive Aussie voice "Hello Ghostriders". We all looked around to see where the voice had come from. We saw a neatly dressed couple looking at us.

    "We have been reading all about you", the man added. He then proceeded to prove that he knew who we were by telling us that we were here to ride from Vilnius to Tallinn. I must have looked confused as he then went on to explain exactly what had happened.

    Apparently he had seen our brightly dressed walking peloton earlier in the morning. He had been so impressed by our magnificent physiques than he went home to look us up on the Internet. It was then just sheer chance that we happened to walk down the very street where he lived.

    He explained that he had Lithuanian parents, but had spent most of his early life in Australia, before returning to Lithuania with his wife some twenty years ago. He still followed Australian football and returned home almost every year. After a long chat we parted company, marvelling at how the whole event had taken place.

    Our group then dispersed around the city. I wandered rather aimlessly,sometimes stopping to watch the locals. At one point I spent some time watching three well dressed (and very competent) girls playing string classics on two violins and a cello. Another highlight.

    By mid afternoon I was feeling hungry and noticed a French restaurant called the Cafe Montmartre. I went in and started to enjoy a lovely Coq au Vin. It was at that point that a disaster occurred. Somehow the gravy from my plate leapt across and deposited itself right down the front of my florescent Ghostriders shirt. And it was the first time I had worn it ! Oh the embarrassment, oh the shame.

    I quickly finished the rest of the lunch and tried to walk back to the hotel with my hands held in front of shirt. With the colour of these shirts it is not as if you can quietly merge into the crowd. I might as well have had a siren and searchlight on me. It was not my finest hour.

    Once back at the hotel the famous lines of Shakespeare's Macbeth came back to me ("Out damned spot") as I worked furiously to restore the shirt to its former glory. I almost succeeded - the spot has now been reduced to a level that would only be visible to someone with at least some eyesight. It's now hanging up to dry.

    Tomorrow we will be saying goodbye to Vilnius. I am sure that our memories of this place will be very positive, but the adventure must continue. After all, we came to cycle and that is exactly what we will begin tomorrow.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 8

    On the Road Again

    June 10, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Although our time in Warsaw and Vilnius has been very pleasant, we didn't come all this way to just wander about sightseeing. We are a cycling group after all, and we want to experience what it is like to pedal our way through the Baltic States.

    We knew that the day would begin with a bus transfer, but we had no idea of what type of bus would be provided for us. I had visions of all twenty of us jammed into some Soviet era minibus. This could not have been further from the truth. We emerged from our hotel to find a HUGE modern (and air conditioned) bus waiting for us across the road. If the bus itself was not of gigantic enough proportions, it was enlarged even further by the very impressive bike trailer mounted behind it.

    This was easily the biggest bus we have ever used on any previous Ghostrider adventure. The opulent size meant that our team members could spread out inside the bus and really enjoy the ride. We even found that the bus was so long that passengers in the front and rear seats were in different time zones. Our driver answered to the name of Vaidas, although it was a bit of a shame that he spoke almost no English.

    In spite of his lack of English, he was obviously a skilled driver and managed to manoeuvre the behemoth through the narrow streets with comparative ease. About an hour later we arrived at Trakai Castle. While we explored the large lakeside castle, Vaidas unloaded the bikes from the trailer. Once again the temperature started to soar towards 30C. All that cold weather clothing stayed securely hidden in my case.

    After a look around the castle we stopped at a lakeside restaurant for lunch, before finally getting on the bikes for the first time. We were relieved to discover that the bikes appeared to be brand new, although it was impossible to tell what brand they were as they had all been painted the same green. We spent a short time adjusting the seats and loading the panniers, but soon we were underway.

    We had been promised that the Baltic States were "flat and cool". That was obviously a lie. After a couple of kilometres we encountered the first climb,and it was progressively followed by a succession of others. That was not in the agenda, nor was the blazing sun and high temperatures. We quickly realised that this was not going to be an easy ride after all.

    Because of the large number of riders, we divided into two smaller groups, each one guided by a GPS equipped rider. From time to time we stopped to consolidate the groups and make sure that everyone was OK. The scenery was superb and the road was relatively quiet. The few vehicles that were there gave us a respectful separation.

    The rolling green hills reminded me of Finland and Sweden, but the dilapidated houses reminded me more of some of the old villages we had ridden through in Hungary. At one stage we rode into a tiny village and found a general store that sold ice creams and cold drinks. That really was a welcome discovery.

    At around 4 pm we were met by Vaidas and climbed back onto the bus for a transfer to Kaunas, the second largest town in Lithuania. It took about 90 minutes to reach our hotel - the Best Western Santaka. Judging by the enormous sizes of the rooms, this was probably once one of the finest hotels in the city, however it is now showing its age a little.

    When I tried to have a shower I discovered that the hot and cold taps were fitted back to front and the plug hole did not drain. I was soon standing in 10 cm of warm water. All part of the experience.

    Tomorrow we head off early for our second day of cycling. The weather forecast is for the weather to be even hotter. Sometimes the life of a Ghostrider is not as glamorous as you might think. On the other hand, it sure is a lot of fun.    Read more

  • The World on Two WheelsBaltic States Cycle
    Day 9

    In Which Storks Roost but Chaos Reigns

    June 11, 2019 in Lithuania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Our day began with a bus transfer along the Nemunas River from Kaunus to Vente on the Baltic Coast. This region is famous for being home to some impressive 16th and 17th century castles, but by far the most interesting feature of this region is its proximity to the Russian enclave of Kalinigrad.

    Kaliningrad is a small isolated part of Russia with a population of about half a million people. It is situated between Lithuania and Poland and obviously has huge strategic significance to the Russians. We passed by some heavily fortified border checkpoints and eventually took a tiny track down to the riverside where we had a unrestricted view across the river to this forgotten Russian enclave.

    Although we were observing it from a distance of a couple of hundred metres away, the decaying and dingy looking buildings did little to encourage a future visit. After taking a few pictures and trying to make fools of ourselves by waving to the non existent residents, we climbed back on the bus and continued on our way.

    This region is also home to thousands of storks and the local residents try hard to encourage storks to nest on their chimneys. Just about every house was equipped with a huge stork nest, many of which actually had storks in residence. Those residents with active storks were sure to attract good luck.

    Judging by this there must also be a lot of lucky lamp posts as numerous power poles were also topped with giant stork nests. I wondered how they avoided setting fire to themselves as they were perched in such a precarious location.

    After unloading the bikes we rode out to an Ornithological Museum on the coast, before heading off to find somewhere for lunch. Although we had been promised that a nearby village boasted a bakery, when we arrived we found (to our horror) that it was only open three days a week, neither of those days being today. That was a severe letdown, but we kept knocking on doors and managed to find a tiny general store that sold fruit and about three other items.

    I bought a bag of cherries and sat down to devour them. It was not exactly the lunch I had been looking for, but it was not all bad. It was only when it was time to head off that somehow chaos crept into our peloton. We rode a short distance to the turnoff and stopped to count our riders. Two were missing. But where were they ?

    Since no one had seen them leave early we assumed that they must be behind us. The group waited in the hot sunshine while Kirsten and Douglas volunteered to ride back and search for them. Fortunately I had brought the walkie talkies and was able to keep in touch while they searched back and forth for them in vain.

    After about an hour we were really starting to worry. It was at this point we were met by a jovial German with a hugely overloaded bike. He stopped to chat. We asked if he had seen two women riders. He had - about 10km further down the road ! They had obviously left early and were almost back to the waiting bus.

    In the meantime Douglas and Kirsten were each about 10 km in the opposite direction,still searching. It took about another hour to finally round up the rest of the peloton and continue on our way. When we arrived at the bus the two missing riders had been waiting there in the shade for a couple of hours.

    We all then climbed into the scorching bus and waited (and waited and waited) while the driver checked and packed the bikes. In case I haven't mentioned it enough times, we have arrived in the Baltics at the same time as a highly unseasonal burst of hot weather also chose to arrive. Every day so far has been in the 30s and the sun seems to really pack a particularly ferocious punch. We had not been expecting this (and neither had the locals).

    Hotels and homes here are built for the cold, not the heat. Someone will make a fortune selling ceiling fans throughout the region, but for the moment the people swelter. Fridges cannot cope and the few air conditioners really struggle to make any impact.

    In spite of this we were really (really and truly) glad to find that our rooms in the Old Mill Hotel were air conditioned and cool. It took some time to finally bring my body temperature down to a comfortable level. It had been a challenging day and the heat is predicted to continue unabated.

    After a lovely dinner, I finally collapsed into bed after 11 pm. Of course it was still bright daylight outside.    Read more

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