Tuesday 05/06/2018
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Slept OK until 01:00 when I was awoken by the sound of an alarm. Sounded just like my bike one so jumped up to confront the bike theives. It wasn't my alarm in the end but struggled to get back to sleep until the morning and then I overslept and didn't get up until 09:00...
It was a sunny morning but noticably cooler with a strong wind. I quickly packed and shot off toward Poland. There were tons of roadworks and a police car following me most of the way to the border so I rode legally (the same also happened when I got to Poland). Had to ignore the Satnav for most of the day as it just wanted me to go through Russia (Kaliningrad) constantly... Eventually crossed into Poland and rode through Suwałki, Ełk, Mikołajki, Mrągowo as well as a couple of other popular Mazurian lake district resorts. The road between Ełk and Mikiłajki was probably the best biking road of the trip. Lots of nice corners and some great views.
I didn't really stop at all apart from for petrol and the odd snack. I got totally lost in Olsztyn as there were massive new road construction projects going on and rudiculous detours. Had to use a paper map, but even that didn't help. Finally got onto a brilliant new motorway that led to Gdansk, but I got off in Elbląg and took the old, slower road back. It was nice to be back in these parts again - it's like my second home. They have built a new tarmac road to the village near where my in-laws live so it was easy going.
Unfortunately the last bit is still all sand tracks..... I was feeling happy to have arrived but as I took my final turn into my in-laws farm, I hit a deep bit of sand and inevitably dropped the bike - right in front of everyone..... What a fool! With some help we got the bike the right way up and I parked it in the garage. No real damage done other than to my pride!
Looks like Dino has also arrived today, so I may well visit him tomorrow. I can now rest for a couple of days before heading home. Today was nuts - 9+ hours of non-stop tricky riding, headwinds, traffic and yet more roadworks.... but, it's good to have arrived.
Mileage: 3455
Country count: 9 (GB, F, B, NL, D, PL, LT, LV, EST)
Beers: 30
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 3/10
Mechanical issues: 0 (1 new tyre)
Accidents: 1 (+1 that didn't involve me)
Coldness: 1/10
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