September 9, 2024
Day 70: Zarasai to Ignalina
Seeing More than Trees
“We’ll have more hills today,” Patrick says, the ride GPS shows the elevation gains but over a shorter distance this means more hills. So different from the flat roads of Latvia.
Our fancy hotel does not start serving breakfast until nine. Even though today is a short day, that is way too late for us. So we eat our cornflakes and make a cup of coffee and head out at about eight. We follow the busy main road through town, then turn south on road 102.
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Traffic is much less and we travel through nice rolling pastures and forests. Several times we end up on ridges with good views over the country side a change from tree lined roads. There is nothing though: at 27km and the halfway mark at Dukstas there is a small grocery store, but no coffee.
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We have carried all we need for today: a liter of orange juice, pastries, bread, cheese and meats. The temperature is perfect for cycling, the hills are moderate, but the wind keeps getting stronger and is against us again.
Almost to Ignalina, we see a shortcut road that will take us to the Grocery store and saving a kilometer. We make it to our destination at about one, stop at the grocery store to get food stuffs, then ride to the Aquatic Center where we rented a room. We can only guess, but it seems from the Soviet era and the rooms were probably meant for athletes to stay at while training or competing in meets.
We luck-out and can check-in early. For $30 you cannot expect too much, but it is clean and the Wifi is good. Nearby is a higher level hotel where we have a very nice salmon dinner.
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Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 3,550 km (2,205 miles)
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