When I
woke this morning, as
predicted,
it was
raining,
however as
check in time
from the hotel was
midday I was in no
rush to
get on the
bike.
During breakfast I
noticed that the
rain had stopped and the
ground was
drying fast,
so at 1030 I
decided to make my
move. By
now there wer actually one or two blue
patches up
there. First stop was to re-
fuel in order to
use up my
local currency,
well I
used up
some of
it at least. I
decided to stop
again just before the
polish border and top up the
fuel again so I
could go out of the country
skint.
That was the plan
anyhow,
however,
after riding only about 30 km I
felt really tired and
started to
yawn,
so I was
forced to stop
early in order to
wake up. A can of red bull
later I was
once agin on the
road.
I
did manage to stop
again at
what I
later found was the last petrol
station before the border, and
used up all my
currency,
almost, I was
left with equivalent of
about 60
pence. By
now the
sun was
also out and
it was nice and
pleasently warm....for a change.
I
crossed the border and
almost as
soon as I
drove past the
abandoned customs post the
scenery and
roads changed, how can
this be, I
only drove over an
imaginary line on the map.
The
roads in
Lithuania were staright and went
through and past open farm land but as
soon as I
crossed the border the
road started to twist and
turn,
going inbetween small
hills and
through heavy,
broadleaf woodland.
One
sight I
did see before I
left Lithuania was a farmer
ploughing his field
with a horse (
does that work better than a
plough I
wonder), in the UK
you would expect the farmer to be
followed by a
hoard of
seagulls, not
here,
about 30
storks were patiently walking
along behind him picking at
whatever he was
turning up. A
sight to
behold.
Another feature of the
roads in Poland, and
they started to
appear straight after the border,
were shrines at the
side of the
road, I
presume to
honour people killed in car
accidents, no
doubt someone will correct
that. I
have seen them
before when I
have driven through Poland, but on
this occasion they all
seemed to
have been dressed.
There were also loads of
people about in
their Sunday best walking
along with flowers or
branches from trees. I know
that the
Latvians had a "
longest day"
celebration and I
wondered if this was the same for Poland. In
fact, as I
pulled into Elk the Police
had the
road closed and as I
found an
alternative route I
came across a large outdoor
gathering with people all
dressed up and a
priest conducting some sort of
service and
blessing. At the end of
it all the
poeople rushed to the podium and
started to
tear braches of two small
trees that were alonside the podium.
Again perhaps some on will
enlighten me.

I
arrived at the
apartment I
had booked yesterday, and as I was
alone I was
moved from a 3 person
apartment to a 2 person one,
it meant I lost my
kitchenette but the plus
side was
that I
gained a room
overlooking the
lake, nice
view eh!
Blackie looking resplendant outside the
aprtment/bar. The 2
windows for my room
are the
ones over the
words "& Pub"
Jed enjoys the
view over the
lake and
catches a
few rays of
sunshine. He
hopes that the
forecast for the
next few days is
good.

My
reward for the
day, a nice long,
cold local beer.
What could be
better, a
cold beer,
blackie in the background and the
sun shining.
Tomorrow is
going to be a
chill out
day.
There is a
bench on the
side of the
lake with my
name on
it!
Hi Boys, This place looks fantastic. You certainly have an eye for a picture Nick with that 'P' sign just behind that long, cool glass of beer! Remember what the Doc said, beer is good for your pee so feel free to enjoy. Jed has a twinkle in his eye looking out at that lake and the lucky bench. perhaps there is an ice cream seller out there too. Have a nice rest day as you proably need it by now. you still have a way to go so make the most of it. Lots of love, Chris. xx
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