Day 69: Pilskane to Zarasai Lithuania

September 8, 2024

Shaken not Stirred

“For you,” the lady says and points to the covered plate and jar of honey, “pancakes!” Rachel is at the kitchen table finishing a sketch when she arrives with the breakfast. “” Nine?” she says, confirming that we said we would leave at 9 today. She brought us a plate full of pancakes. (Addendum: we are sorry that we did not write down their names but will try to research and correct in the journal)

The owner brought us homemade pancakes and honey.

We had a lovely stay, so friendly and informative of history. This is a great place to stay.

As we started to load up our bikes she and her grandson return to see us off. They want us to take the large jar of honey, but honey is hard to carry (it always seems to leak out) and the jar is way too large and heavy for us to take. They give us more history of the area and a tour of the 100 year old house she was born in and still lives today. We walk around the garden and see the wood fired sauna.

“Which road do you plan to take?” they ask. Yesterday, they shared advice of the roads and that the unpaved road is beautiful. “The gravel road,” Patrick says. Before we say our goodbyes she gives us a couple of apples. Then with her grandson translating she struggles to find the right words: She wants to thank Americans for supporting Ukraine, because if Putin wins she worries Latvia could be next. We express our support and our belief we should be doing more.

We set off back to the road that has construction going on, it’s nice that this is Sunday with less traffic, for one section of one way traffic regulated by a stop light was quite long. We reach the turnoff onto the unpaved road. It takes us 3 hours to do 16 kilometers, some sections are fine, then corrugated and sandy. However, it is beautiful. Some cars slow down, some don’t but today there are no trucks to spit dust in our faces.

Our first food break at a bus stall. Patrick's treasure needs the skull cut off the antlers.

Out in the middle of nowhere, there is a Eurovelo 11 sign. Up until now we've followed the Local Route 7 and turned at Ilukste.

When we reach another junction there is another decision point: do we go 4 kilometers to the paved road then another 3 or 4km to the border or do we stay on the unpaved road for another 7km getting us to the main road at the border. We opt to continue on the unpaved road. The surface improves greatly and we make better time. We stop at an old cemetery in a forest, then just before the border at an old dilapidated Lutheran church with German war graves from WWI in front of it.

The road surface has improved on this section and we make better time

At Egipte, we take the mandatory photo of the border sign. Now we will learn how the Lithuanian drivers are to cyclists. We have to go about four kilometers to Zarasia where we reserved a hotel room. Traffic is pretty busy with a lot of trucks, even on Sunday.

We had asked for early check-in and when we check our email we find the access codes to our room. The room is very modern and nice: Carpet on the floor, nice bathroom. There are complementary bottles of water and a small bottle of wine.

Different standards from last night. This is a great room, last night was a not to be missed experience.

Downstairs is a highly reviewed restaurant where we will eat tonight. What a difference from the $20 room we had last night, but really there is no comparison. Here we don’t speak to one person, once we leave we will never think back about this place. The kolgozh administration building room we stayed in last night and the people we met will be with us for a long time.

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Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 3,494 km (2,170 miles)

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