After nearly four full weeks of cycling, today we crossed into the sixth country (France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czech Republic on our epic Napoleon Cycling Tour across Europe, Lithuania. Along with this new country comes new culture, cuisine, and scenery for us to experience – at least two of which promise to be quite different from neighboring Poland 😉
Suwalki, Poland to Alytus, Lithuania
DAY #27 of 35Lithuania1,674 miles total
Shauna was so surprised at how good her knee felt – and looked – this morning. So we headed out on our bikes and headed north on our way towards Lithuania. Within minutes we had escaped the town and we rode one of the longest, most consistently smooth bike paths of the trip for nearly 18 miles. It was perfect for a ‘slow and easy’ (as Ed Trieb would say) pace to get the knee warmed up.
Said goodbye to the Velvet Hotel in Suwalki, Poland as we were off to Alytus, Lithuania – 74 miles and 1,800 feet of climbing. Leaving Suwalki, we enjoyed almost 18 miles of uninterrupted bike paths cycling along with Mike from Scotland. We were missing our foursome of cyclists as unfortunately his wife, Catriona, had departed that morning to travel to Kingston, Jamaica. Luckily, she is now there spending precious time with her 101-year-old grandmother, who had fallen ill. Catriona and her grandmother, after a lifetime of wonderful memories, spend precious moments together. Jo, the Marketing Director at Gatwick Airport, checks something on her bicycle. Cyclists’ adjustments are an ongoing event! Mark is very sure he could not get into, or up from, that deep squat. Stopping for a coffee break before leaving Poland. This was the first time in the entire tour that we had all riders at a morning coffee break at the same time. Of course, we didn’t actually capture a picture of all of us (Ben did in the drone video below!), but here a few of us say “Goodbye Poland!” Ben Weigl, the Napoleon Epic Tour Leader, readies his drone for some ‘Bye Poland’ shots.
Video: Marks gets a funny cameo … when (4-year-old grandson) Jack watches it, he waves back to Grandpa! lol
Cycling Into The Republic of Lithuania
Lithuania is classified by the World Bank as a high-income advanced economy with a very high Human Development Index, a high standard of living, and performs favorably in measurements of civil liberties, press freedom, internet freedom, democratic governance and peacefulness. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, eurozone, Schengen Agreement, NATO and OECD.
With an estimated population of 2.8 million, Lithuania is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden and Denmark. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast (a Russian exclave) to the southwest. Wow – talk about being surrounded.
Upon arriving at the Poland-Lithuania border, we discovered that neither country has been willing to pave the mile of no-man’s-land separating the two nations. The trucks and farm tractors bouncing back and forth along this stretch of road kicked up both the dust and our sense of adventure. Besides, it isn’t really an adventure unless you get a little dirty, right? 😉
Looking back at No Man’s Land from Lithuania. Chris, our new friend from the UK, navigates expertly (he also does a lot of mountain-biking, and would actually choose it over road-biking if he had to make a choice). Chris was a Royal Air Force pilot, a test pilot, and a pension trustee (some common ground)! Entering Lithuania, our 6th country on the trip (after France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, and Czech Republic), and a new country for us by any mode.
Lithuania declared its independence in 1918 during the first World War but that only lasted until World War II, when they were occupied by the Soviet Union and soon after by Nazi Germany. When the Nazis retreated, the Soviets returned and long story short it was not until 1990 that Lithuania declared its independence again.
Crossing into rural Lithuania, the cloud cover got lower and grayer.
Once in Lithuania, the first part of the ride took us down a narrow country road surrounded by forest, through what seemed to be true ‘big sky’ country with stunning panoramas in all directions.
Video: For some oncoming traffic, it seemed prudent to just pull over and wait it out.
After leaving tractors, etc. behind, we descended into a small village. And then reentered rural areas with miles and miles of ribbon highway below ‘big sky’. This was typical of the village churches we saw along the way.
Dzukijos dvaras Lodge on the Edge of Alytus
Arrival at the Dzukijos dvaras lodge.
The Lodge is located on the fast flowing Nieman River which in Napoleonic times marked the crossing into Russian Territory. While not a particularly taxing day, Mark had not gotten a good night’s sleep the night before and so was especially glad to arrive at our destination.
End of the day in Alytus — icing her knee…..and working. Second day brought more swelling and stiffness.
Trivia Fact: Since 2007 the city of Alytus has hosted an annual Tomato tasting. But the fun doesn’t stop at just eating tomatoes. Participants also discuss the various factors which help produce a rich tomato crop.
