Chill out day

Well today is chill out day. Got up and went to breakfast and this morning had a bowl of chocolate ball type cereal follwed by Nutella on bread, not your usual breakfast but still very tasty. Could not eat it everyday though.
The day had started with what the Irish call "soft weather" a very light drizzle, so I decided to do a little clothes washing before popping out for a little walk around Elk. The town itself looks quite nice, and another change from the 3 previous countries was that the flats, (very few houses) although very poor looking in means of repair, all seem to have flowers on the balconies. It is obvious that the occupiers take some pride in the surroundings.
I wandered about and eventually came to the railway station and a subway under the tracks to the Elk Narrow Guage Railway Musuem. What the hell, surely its worth a look.
The gates were wide open but there was no one about at all so I just wandered into the yard and had a look around. It appears that the narrow guage railway was built at the start of the last centuary to help get the Polish economy back and track. From the look at the rolling stock and engines on the tracks that was about the last time anything had been worked on, as witnessed by the poor state of the engine in the photo below.
There was one smaller engine that did look a lot better and on certain days you can take a ride to a neighbouring town about 40km away...you,ve guessed it, one of the days was yesterday and the next one was on Sunday, oh well, back to the hotel.
Whilst walking back I saw the below little group sitting in the "soft weather" trying to sell a few jars of home picked berries, I also saw a couple of old women trying to sell a couple of bottles of milk, I suppose it is one step removed from openly begging.

That reminds me of when I entered Lithuania, I went into the 1st town to go to an ATM, you never know if you need fees to drive on the roads, and its always nice to have a little local currency in any case. I withdrew some money and it gave me a single 200 Lita note, the eqivalent of about £50.00. I went back to the bike and I was approached by a scruffy male who was a little unsteady on his feet to say the least. He then tried to speak to me in, very broken

English, and was asking where I was heading to, he then tried to give directions. At the end of that he asked if I had any change, at least he had the honesty to say that he wanted it so that he "could buy a little drink", if I had the change I would have given it to him for his honesty, there was none of this " 10p towards a cup of tea" crap.

Anyhow, back to the hotel, via a corner fruit store (cherries and plums) and a supermarket (bottled water and Milka chocolate) and back to my room for a brew, hence the bottled water because the water from the wash basin tap has a definate yellow tinge. As it was still drizzling a bit, I had my brew and cherries whilst lying on the bed reading from my Kindle, next thing I knew I woke up about 2hrs later and the sun was peeping into the room. It was nice to have a little snooze I must admit.

I have reviewed the next few days and the plan (at the moment) is to ride down to Warsaw tomorrow for 2 nights camping in a site near the town centre, that will be followed by 3 nights camping just outside Krakow. I am really looking forward to Krakow and I will use it as a base to see the city, Auschwitz, and also the giant salt mine just outside the city.

I will then cross into Slovakia and I have found a pension (guest house) at a town named Liptovsky Mikulas, which is about 20 km from Vlkolinec, another place that has been recommended to me to visit. Following that I have 1 night at a pension in Bojnice before crossing into the Czech republic.

However, that is all getting well ahead of myself and I have loads to do before then.

Fireworks at midnight.

Last night at midnight, 1am to me as I had gained an hour coming over the border into Poland, the world erupted as a group of kids let off a barrage of fireworks. This went on for about 15 mins, some of the loudest that I have ever heard. At least they sounded loud as everything else was so quiet!
Then at 3am a group of girls went up the road making one hell of a din, then to cap it all, the bloody jet skis were flying back and forth over the lake at 5am, what is wrong with people, don't they know that I am supposed to be chilling out today.
I think (read know) that I am getting old.

What a difference a border makes.

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!

Photos from yesterday

Hill of Crosses, Lthuania.
And how many crosses can you count? There is supposed to be 200,000, but I don't know who counted them or when, or even how.
Now why would anyone even consider lighting a candle?
Family of storks, the first of many I saw on the ride. It is supposed to be good luck for a stork to nest near your house and people put wagon wheels up on posts to encouage them to nest. This one was on top of a telegraph pole. Difficult to tell from the photo, but this nest is about 5ft across and a couple of feet deep.
The Hill of Crosses is only really a very small mound, not even a hillock, and as you can see it is spreading out from the original point. I looked but could not see any from the UK although I did see a number from Australia, so if they can get there why can't the Brits, we get everywhere else.
You can buy crosses to put up yourself from some tacky stores nearby, however, not being at all religious I did not place one.
Had 2 bowls of Sugarpoofs for breakfast this morning, the first I've seen. My excuse is that I don't suppose I will eat again till this evening, apart from my mid morning garage stop I suppose. I feel as if I am losing a little bit of weight, my love handles seem to shrinking, at least I can hope.

Bouncing in Lithuania

One thing I forgot to tell you about Riga was about the cycles, they were everywhere and appear to be encouraged to ride on the pavements. I was strolling along minding my own, when whooooosh, cyclists would come either side almost taking my arms off, you had to look behind you all the time if you wanted to change direction. A bit of a worry.
Anyhow, left Riga for Lithuania, and every one was warning me about the state of the roads there. Well, the road out of Riga towards the border was the worse one I had seen all trip. It warned on the signs about a bumpy surface, but it was worse than you can imagine. Think the prom and multiply by 100, yes that bad. I slowed to a crawl to make my way over the bumpsies but I must admit I was worried about my luggage rack fracturing.
I crossed the border into Lithuania, and lo and behold, smooth roads, you can see where the EU euro is being spent. I must admit I did come across one section where they were laying new chippings but as long as I kept inside the lorry tracks I was OK.
Today I went to the Hill of Crosses, this is a very small hillock where, some years ago, and to express themselves as Christians, people started to place crosses. The Russians tore them down on a few occasions, but the tradition continued. When the Russians moved out the crosses multiplied. At present they estimate that there are over 200,000 crosses of every possible size. This site is so important that even the Pope himself has been here. There were a few tacky stalls nearby selling crosses and people are adding them all the time. I saw crosses from all over the world, however, not one in English, however, I must admit I did not study every one of them!!
On the way from the site I saw my first stork nest with 4 birds in it. This was to be one of many that I saw during my ride to Kaunas, Lithuanias second city.
I arrived at Kaunas and booked into a newish hotel called the Magnus, I was put on the 5th floor but thankfully they had lifts. My room is the best I have had yet, with a super kingsize bed, work station and a bathroom to die for, in fact the underfloor heating in the bathroom was so hot I could hardly walk on it. Only thing missing AGAIN, is a plug for the wash basin. I am really glad that I bought a travel basin/bath plug with me, the best 3 quid I have spent, I have had to use it every single day, even on the super boat from Sweden to Estonia. It makes shaving so much easier. And all for 27 pounds a night including breakfast.
I took a walk into the old town to see if there was anything of note to see, mainly so that I could justify a second night at the Magnus, but afraid not. The old town had a very grubby look and feel to it, although I did have a very nice meal with sweet and beer for 12 pounds. I will struggle to spend the 50 pounds I withdrew at this rate as I paid for the hotel by card. I will have to fill my tank twice tomorrow and pay in cash AND buy chocolate just to use it up, don't want to take any money out of the country.
I made my way back to the hotel and decided to have a beer in the panoramic bar on the 9th floor, but no dice, closed for a private function, typical.
I have decided to make towards Elk, in Poland tomorrow and have booked an apartment for 2 nights. This comes complete with kitchen and room for 3 people, cost 52 pounds for the 2 nights. It does get excellent reviews on trip advisor so I am not too worried. I note from the map that south of Elk is Treblinca, another must see on this trip.
The weather forecast is rain tomorrow then getting better over the next days, so it will be on with the waterproofs again and make the most of the ride to Elk. I do not have to book out till midday so will leave it as late as possible to see if the rain lifts a bit.
This has been typed on the hotel compter as I could not gain access to blogspot on my own notebook, I will try to post photos of the Hill of Crosses later.

A day devoted to History

Right, where do I start? regarding the statue I posted earlier, it is the freedom statue to celebrate the fact that Latvia is now free from rule of the Soviets, it was erected shortly after the country gained its Independence (again, similar to Estonia) in 1991. This park is a green area right next to the old town, it was nice and quiet this morning and, yes, the sun was out.....for a bit.

Flowing through the park is a canal with nice green slopes dropping to the water, not a canal as we know it, but very pretty all the same. Crossing the canal are a number of bridges and on this one people fix padlocks. Most of the locks are engraved with couples names and a date, I can only assume that they are love tokens, the keys being thrown into the canal once the padlock is on. It looks like a smaller version of the prom after TT when there are always a few chains and padlocks stuck to the railings along the front. I've even seen them painted over by workmen painting the railings.

This cat appears on symbols all over Riga and is actually high up on a tower in the old town. Please note the blue sky....it did not last soon as within about 5 mins of this picture I was caught in a sharp shower, luckily it was as I was about to enter the Museum of War. This museum is in a tower caller the Powder Tower and is over 6 floors, showing the history of Latvia and war through the ages. It was a free museum and was very good, only lacking more information in English, but saying that, would an English have information in Latvian. I think not.

From there I went to the House of the Blackheads, this was a society set up in medieval times for bachelor tradesmen of the Baltic regions....think the Masons and you will not be far out. The house was very ornate and was full of treasures bought to Latvia by travelling traders. The original property was built in the 1300's, however, it has been destroyed more than once and re-built. Like Triggers grandads hammer, its had several new heads and a number of new handles but its still his grandads.

The next port of call on my day of history was the museum of Occupation, like the one in Tallinn this one tells the story of the occupation of Latvia by both the Russians and the Germans. The story was told better in this museum and they had tons of information in English. Again the museum was free to enter and is a work in progress as more and more material is unearthed.

This view is from the top of St Peters church (I only went up because this time there was a lift) The view from the top was superb, but the reason I have put it in is because of the 4 rounded buildings (In fact there are 5 but one is almost side on) This is the Central Market and is claimed to be one of the largest and oldest markets in Europe with 5 food pavilions. The buildings themselves are old converted Zeppellin buildings which must make the unique.

This statue is again in the old town and I think it is from a childs fairy tale of years ago. It shows a donkey with a dog on its back, a cat on the dogs back and a cock on the cats back. As you can probably see, the nose of the donkey has been polished by people touching it, the nose of the dog to a lesser degree, and the cat far less. It appears that very few people manage to get their hands on the cock!!

This one is for Rob, don't know if Banksy has ever been to Riga but looks the same as his work. This was in a few places on walls as well as the pavement. Very clever.

Off again tomorrow, the Hill of Crosses and a night or two in Kaunas in Lithuania, I will be leaving Latvia with a 5 Lati note, worth £4.00 unless I stop for a hot chocolate before I leave the country. I had almost got it so that I left with no money but then saw something to buy and had to get a little money out of the bank, still, almost got it down.

Took a walk into old Riga yesterday teatime, took about 20 minutes, but as the rain had stopped it was quite pleasant. It is interesting seeing all the different building styles, a lot obviously precede the time of the Russian occupation but some bore the stamp of the communist states.
One that stood out was Costa, can you believe that, I did not know they were a world company. And before you say anything, no, the building does not lean over, that is my camera skills, or not!


Riga looks interesting with what looks like enough to occupy my mind for today before I move onto Lithuania in the morning. This is a statue that is in a main square in the town, I must find out what it represents.
On my travels I also found a donut shop, mmmmmn donuts! Treated myself to 2, chocolate and lemon if you want to know, and the cost 48 santimu, there are 100 santimu to the lati and a lati is worth 80pence, so 2 donuts for less that 40 pence, that's what I call value. I ate them in my room after brewing up a great cup of tea on my camping stove as there are no "makings" in my room.

I see on Robs blog that he is putting on some stunning photos of beautiful scenery, I'm afraid I cannot compete with scenic views as I have not seen a hill since England, the countryside is a flat as a flat thing pretending to be flat. I think I have about another 10 days before I see anything like a hill, and I will be down on the south border of Poland by then.
In the meantime, not to be outdone, here is a shot of a building?? that is just behind the hotel that I am stopping in. It appears that the started, but could not finish...I know all about that.
I stop in the best areas, who needs the South of France and Italy, jealous, not me!