On to Augustow: What a difference a day makes!

August 13, 2015

I'm not sure what happened in the atmosphere to cause the change, but the temperature today dropped by 20 degrees. Yesterday my Garmin was reading up to 108 F while I was riding. Today it just passed 80! By my measurement system, that was just hot. I think 60 to 70 is comfortable. Each extra 10 degrees (and I'm talking Farenheit) gets a hot. Today hit 80, do it was hot. The last 2 days passed 100, so they were hot hot hot.

My hotel room never really cooled off last night. I got up in the morning and took what was my 4th shower in that room. Then I ate breakfast and hit the road. I did discard the food that I had that could have been affected by the heat, including some string cheese and some sausage.

The border with Poland was about 5 miles away. There was quite a lot of information for people coming into Lithuania, but pretty much nothing for people headed to Poland. Just a string of Kantors, money changers. I changed just 10 euros so that I'd have some money for snacks or lunch if I didn't find an ATM quickly.

Just past the border, there was something that every mapless traveller dreads. A detour!

As I was trying to figure out what to do, an older man on a bicycle came out from the closed section of road. We communicated as best we were able, and I understood that a bridge was out, but that you could get by if you climbed down and over, but that it would be hard on my loaded bike. The detour was for 5 km. Of course, he could have been saying "fine, no problem, you can get through", but I chose the first interpretation and took the detour. The road was a little rough.

I got through that section, which was 5 km, and then the road was great. Traffic was fairly light and the drivers were respectful.

I detoured to the town of Sejny, found an ATM and also a SIM card, but no paper map and no tourist info. The SIM card I got allows roaming, which is needed as there are different carriers with services in different regions of Poland.

Then I got going again, and then stopped for lunch near a lake in a little resort area about 15 km before Augustow. The menu was, as expected, in Polish. I asked the waitress what she suggested, and she said a hamburger. That's what I ordered, and I regretted it. It was mostly bun and ketchup and mayonnaise, and very little burger. So it was not a great treat for my first hamburger in a very long time.

I continued on to Augustow. I had read that there was a tourist office, but I didn't encounter any signs until I was within a block. I navigated there using Google maps on my phone. Augustow is quite the happening place. The downtown has cobbled streets, and is quite pretty, but also has lots of tourist shops and was completely mobbed. I asked if it was a special holiday, and was told it's just that it's summer and the weather is good.

The tourist office gave me a list of campsites, but no real advice. I looked them up, and chose the one close to town with hot showers. So I'm camped at the city marina. As most "campings" are in this part if the world, it is mostly cabins and a hotel and RV spots. The tenting area is an afterthought, and in this case had been taken up by a stage for a concert. So I'm set up in between the cabins and the RVs. The toilets and shower are a 5 to 20 minute walk. Not ideal, but I guess you get what you pay for. I would have paid the same if the tenting area was open. I didn't know the situation until after I paid for my site.

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 1,222 km (759 miles)

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