Day 6 - Trakai (LT) to Nida (LT)

Thursday 31/05/2018
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Slept OK, but would have slept better given the chance of taking a dump in a normal toilet rather than crapping through a hole in a plank onto a steaming pile of someone else's shit. For €15 I would have at least expecting a circa 1920's flushing water closet....

Only realised this morning that the clocks are 2 hours ahead of BST as soon as you cross the Polish border. Packed my stuff and left the 'campsite' by 09:30. Got to Vilnius about 20 minutes later. Whilst not as hot as yesterday, I really didn't fancy stopping to look at a bunch of old churches. I may do it another time as a mini-break. Vilnius (Wilno) was a key Polish city for centuries, but with Stalin et all re-drawing the map again after the 2nd world war, the city was added to Lithuania's land. There was a whole ultra modern side to the city which I didn't expect but I didn't bother to stop and take pictures as I had a lot of ground to cover....

My next stop was at the Hill of Crosses. Took forever to get there. The roads are a bit bumpy but mostly empty yet nobody really speeds which is odd. I wasn't exactly going mad but I was one of the fastest things on the road. That said, lots of speed cameras and a couple of Police speed traps today so that probably explains it.

Jurgicai (I think) - Hill of Crosses. Very interesting. There are thousands upon thousands of crosses there. Apparently someone had a vision of the Virgin Mary so people started putting crosses up. The Communist government bulldozed them only for new ones to be erected. It's quite an impressive site and bow there are crosses from all over the world there. Anyone can put up their own cross as long as it's under 3m high. Pretty cool - faith and defiance.

I then had to head back down, South-West across the country to Klaipeda and then catch the ferry to the Curonian Spit and Nida which is near the border with the Kaliningrad bit of Russia. Rode right up to the border but quickly did a U-turn just before the border post and snuck a photo in from a distance. The Curonian spit is amazing. Very much like the one near Gdynia in Poland (called Hel). I had to catch a short €3.50 ferry from Klaipeda to the spit itself and then after a couple of miles I had to pay another €5 toll for the bike. The spit has some pretty little towns on it with Nida being the Southernmost. Unlike the Hel spit, you can't see the lagoon / sea at the same time - certainly not from the road.

There's a nice sea-breeze here. Set up the tent in a great campsite with 21st Century facilities and just a short walk from Nida and pretty much on the beach (and just €8). Lovely. Nida itself if a quiet holiday town. Lots of great views and restaurants over looking the lagoon / spit. Had my best ever Karkówka / neck pork steak with pepper sauce with some tastly local beer to wash it down with.

Tomorrow, Riga - but I'm debating going further as I've got time to make up. I should really change my route as it's probably not the most efficient..... Let's see how things go.

Mileage: 1883
Country count: 7 (GB, F, B, NL, D, PL, LT)
Beers: 19
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 3/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (well 1 that didn't involve me)
Coldness: 0/10