22nd Sept - Kaunas to Poland

More details to follow....

After a fun relaxed morning with the other Couch Surfers and looking round Kaunas I then headed off again.

It was further than I though it was to the next CS place and so I ended up doing 126km in the afternoon and into the evening.

All of my stuff seems to be falling to pieces at the moment. I think that all of the equipment knows that I should be home by now and that it was only supposed to be 1 year that I was traveling for....

It will be 1 year in a couple of days.....

Good to have a place to stay in the warmth and some instant noodles again for dinner. :-)

21st Sept - Kaunas

I did not feel great when I woke up about 9 and so had some breakfast and a bath and then went back to bed for an hour - but then woke up at 12.30! I obviously needed to catch up on some sleep :-)

I felt like a different person. Loads of energy and in a great mood. Geidrius arrived just after I woke up and we chatted for a while. He told me all about the town and gave me a map etc. He has had over 300 people stay with him and so was very professional in terms of the information he had available for his guests. He said that there was another cyclist CS staying this evening and that if I wanted I could go to a CS meeting in town in the afternoon on and/or go to a modern dance concert (that Geidrius was volunteering at) in the evening. I had planned on getting going again on my bike today but it seemed like a good idea to just relax for the day and see the town and some of the culture.

I had a chilled afternoon and went for a slow jog around the town and bought some food and a ticket for the modern dance performance that evening. When I returned Hiroshi(a cyclist from Japan) just arrived and so we had dinner together and I rushed out to the performance.


I needn't have rushed as although the tickets said 7 the performance did not actually start until 7.30. Everyone was milling around chatting with there friends etc before the performance. I don't usually mind being on my own but I don't like it at concerts etc. Just standing on your own in a room full of people chatting to each other can be rubbish! I just did not know where to stand or where to look.


I saw the first black guys that I have seen in the Baltics! They were apparently performing tomorrow. It was also interesting to note that where as in the UK most people would have been standing with a drink and have maybe taken the drink into the performance with them, no one here had a drink. It was the same at the Choir concert in Latvia. Interesting small differences.


The event was the first evening in the international dance festival being held in Kaunas. I was rather disappointed with the performance to be honest. It was boring and some of the timing of the moves with the music was drastically off. I like dance and I have enjoyed other modern dance performances in the past but this one was just trying to hard to be artsy and futuristic. I decided half way though that life is too short to be bored to tears and that I would rather be chatting with Hiroshi and so I sneeked out.


I bought a bottle of wine on the way back from the performance. I thought it would be nice to chat to Hiroshiand have a belated celebration drink for my birthday. We chatted away for and hour or so when Geidrius turned up with another Couch Surfer, Martu from Estonia- (sorry if that is the wrong spelling). She was hitching to Spain.


We had a lovely evening nattering until well past 1. It was interesting to chat to other cyclists and people with similar interests. All lovely people. A good chilled day - needed!

20th Sept - Panevezys to Kaunas

Happy Birthday to ME!

Woke up at 7 and hurried to get ready as Vaida had to leave at 7.30 to go to work. She had very kindly cooked us breakfast of eggs and tomatoes and popper coffee :-) I really liked her company. She had wrapped a pot of honey for me for my birthday and attached a bow! My only birthday pressy. I was very happy with it as I had loved the honey last night.

It always takes a while to get the bike all ready to go and loaded up which I ended up doing in the hall so that she could rush to work. I felt bad because it always takes a while but that is just part of biking.


I had check how far I had to go today and knew that it was about 105-110km on the main roads to get to Kaunas where the next couch surfer was. By the look of it going on the back roads parallel to the main motorway would add about 10km extra. I had loads of time as I had set off by 8.30 so I decided to take only back roads. It was a miserable gray morning and was raining - but it was my birthday so I was happy (even with yet another headwind)!


I managed to find the first country road without too much problem (the GPS on my phone is not working as I have no internet connection and my phone will not charge at the moment after it got a little damp in the rain a couple of days ago - oops). I pottered along happily for about 10km until it just stopped at a sewage works. A dirt track went round the outside of the works and so I continued on that thinking it might turn back into a road again. The track was very hard work as it has been raining loads recently and so my bike sank into the sandy mud... When the track just turned into fields I then turned round and found some people to ask directions. They showed me which roads on my map were tarmac and which where mud. I thought I had got past this question now that I am in Europe - but apparently not. My European road atlas very clearly shows many of the roads - but just does not distinguish in anyway which ones are single tracks of mud and which are wide, good quality paved roads!


This is a picture of my two sets of tracks... One created on the way South and the other one created about 1 hour and a half later when I retraced my tracks...

It was about midday by the time I got back on the road I should have been on in the first place and I had only traveled 10km out of Valmeria. Oh well... The road was actually a lovely biking road. Not much traffic and nice scenery.


I managed to stay on this road for about 3 hours and stopped off to buy myself lunch as a treat. It was raining and it was good to stop and dry off and warm up. They had a wifi connection and it was good to check my emails and see that people had wished me happy birthday. I did not feel so far away from everyone then :-)


By the time I got back on my bike again the weather had improved and the sun was out. I put on some cheesy music and rocketed along. Unfortunately I once again tried to find a good country lane parallel to the main road. The country roads started out great but then just turned into tracks and I had to turn round several times. There was no difference between these different types of roads on my map! I ended up on a motorway for the last 30km to Kaunas.


My legs were shot after pushing for 160km yesterday and after biking in the mud today. I wanted to get to Kaunas by about 7 as I did not want to be rude to my CS hosts and I wanted to get there before dark. I was really pushing and not concentrating when I hit a pot hole and fell off my bike just outside of Kaunas. I was on a busy road at the time and very fortunate that there were no cars right behind me when I fell into the road. I picked myself up quickly and shaking managed to pick up all of my bags and belongings that had fallen into the road. My Go Pro camera lens was smashed unfortunately but I was OK. Just managed to tear a whole in my new cycling leggings and give myself some new scratches on my left leg to match the ones on my right leg which I obtained in Mongolia. At least now I match. I went over on my ankle too and that throbbed a bit but I knew that it would heal quickly. After stopping for 5 minutes and just centering myself again I got back on my bike and this time much slower and with greater concentration I pottered off.

It was very frustrating that my phone would not charge and so I did not have GPS. It meant that it took me a while to find the CS places and I kept on having to stop and open my laptop to check the map for where I was going. I managed to get there about 7.30/8. Neither Giedrius nor his wife were in and so his mother in-law (who did not speak any English) let me in to the flat. Giedrius is very involved in the CS community and has a flat for him and is family and a flat downstairs for Couch Surfers. It was this flat that I was staying in. His mother in-law did not know how to turn on the electricity and so just left me in the dark saying that they would be back in about 2 hours. From what I could see in the dark they were in the middle of decorating and doing up the flat and there was no bathroom.


So there I was sitting alone in the dark, cold and damp, my leg and ankle sore where I had fallen on them when I came off my bike and needing the loo (but not wanting to bother the lady upstairs). Fortunately, I could still see the funny side of it :-) I do have a very black sense of humour sometimes. I did contemplate leaving and checking into a hotel but I was too tired and cold by this point and I could not face packing up and finding anywhere.

I still had some charge left on my laptop and there was a open wifi connection available and so I skyped some family and friends and felt much happier once I had spoken to some people on my birthday.

When Giedrius wife arrived about 9, she turned on the electricity and it turned out that the door that I thought was a cupboard and that my bike had lent up against in the hallway was actually a bathroom! Yippy electricity and a warm bath :-)


Giedrius was not available that evening as he needed to spend time with his family and so I had the flat to myself. I was very tired and happy to have the chance to get warm in a bath and to talk online to those close to me. The internet is a great thing :-)

I was chatting till late and eventually managed to drag myself to bed... Interesting birthday. Rather than doing 110km today I ended up doing a really hard 140km!

18th Sept - Chilled Sunday in Riga

I had such an awesome day!

I really relaxed in Marta's company and at her house. We were chatting until late last night and so we did not get up until after midday and had a really relaxed huge breakfast. I had planned on getting on my bike again this morning but Marta suggested last night that I should stay today and have a movie watching chilled Sunday. When I woke up today and it was raining and gray outside it seemed like a fab idea.



I had not had a day where I just did not go anywhere for a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Marta and watching movies and catching up with my blog. I was in a fab mood. I wrote some summaries of biking in different countries and also watched a couple of movies. A great day inside, in my Pyjamas and off the bike.

We had homemade apple pancakes which Marta's Grandma had made with apples from the garden. There were so many apples from all of the apple trees that there was literally a basket of them in each room in the house. I was surprised I did not find any in the bathroom. Marta's Grandam kept on offering them to me every hour. It was very funny :-)



Marta's house is great. It has turrets and her room is at the top and is like a Princess's tower. Her Grandmother is really friendly and kind and Marta taught her some English phases which she kept on repeating to me. A great weekend :-)

16th Sept - Valmeria to Riga

In the morning I was unsure about what todo as I really wanted to push on to get to Riga as I want to get back to the UK as soon as possible now but I also wanted to meet Sandra as she had been so lovely on the phone. She had invited me to stay with her and her family in Valmeria tonight. Jaraka was a genius and suggested that I meet her for lunch on my way to Riga! Awesome.

I did not get off very early as I spent sometime on emails and couch surfing trying to plan my route for the next few days. I then went to the Supermarket to get a new Sim card for Latvia. It is really difficult not having a way to conact people when couch surfing and not having GPS for directions. I was very happy to get a cheap Sim card with an internet connection.

When I set off it was raining heavily and there was a strong headwind AGAIN! The road was through forests and was flat and pretty but there was too much traffic and it took away from my enjoyment of the ride. I got absolutely soaked through! Again I went much slower than normal because of the really strong head wind.

This was painted on the side of a bike shop on the way out of town. I thought it was great - but today with the bad weather I was not sure how much I though evolving to such a state was a good idea!?


Rather than meeting Sandra at 1.30 (as we had arranged first thing in the morning) I ended up getting to the cafe where we planned to meet her at 3 ish. It worked out really well though as we texted throughout the day and I ended up getting there 30 mins before her.


The cafe was a lovely little wooden place with a traditional Latvian theame. I tried to dry off and warm up but I was so wet through that I did not dry out completely. I had some coffee and chicken with potatos cooked in a traditional Latvian style followed by blueberries and dumplings.


I have to say that these signs summed up very well how I felt today: beware cycling and that all I really wanted today was to have a warm bed inside, lovely food and to be sailing (instead of biking). I miss sailing.....



Sandra was great to talk to and very friendly. She set me up with a friend of her's (Marta) to stay with in Riga. As I had spent much longer in the restaurant chatting away than I should have done in order to get to Riga before dark she gave me a lift about 20-30km down the road. It was lovely to get out of the rain for a while.

It started to rain heavily again just as I got out of the car and back on my bike again. Sandra had been given some flowers from her husband and so wee took photos with these. I look so cool and elegant with a bright yellow florescent top and water proofs! I am looking forward to dressing like a normal person again for a while when I get back to the UK!


I should have had plenty of time to get to Marta's just before dark but unfortunately my phone got damp today and would not work properly. I ran out of credit as I had no applied the right tarif for internet and I had to stop off at a garage and add some credit, I then had to stop all the time to connect my phone to my laptop and hold the cable in a particular position as it would not charge in my bag. I was using the GPS to get across town and find Marta's house. It was really difficult in the dark. The pavements were very poor quality and so I went really slowly on them. It took my phone 5 minutes to boot up every time I needed to check google maps and GPS to make sure I was going the right way.

I did not arrive until about 9. I was tired and fed up. I had done 110km even with the lift from Sandra and I was cold and wet. I had the most lovely welcome from Marta though and my mood improved straight away. I was worried about turning up at 9 not for me but because I did not want to be rude to my host. Marta was very understanding though and so I felt much happier. I had a lovely warm shower, Marta gave me some warm comfy clothes to wear and we had some cottage cheese on fresh bread with slices of garlic and warm lemon tea. Marta lives with her Grandma, also called Marta, in a house like a castle with turrets and everything!

I warmed to Marta straight away. She invited me to stay tomorrow and said she would show me round town and I could go and see her singing in her traditional Latvian Choir. It sounded like a great plan to me. We watched a movie called "Babies" which was fab and chatted till late.

The biking today was rubbish but the people I met along the way really made up for it!

15th Sept - Forest in Latvia to Valmiera

I woke up at 6.30 in order to pack up everything and get on the road by 8 as I really wanted to see if I could make it to Valmiera to meet Sandra from Couch Surfing before 1.30 and it was 100km away. I had spoken to her last night using Skype on my phone from a free wi-fi connection at a Petrol Station and she had seemed really friendly and welcoming on the call. She said that she was going to Riga tomorrow and so could not put me up but that I was very welcome to join her if I could get there by 1.30. She was going to a film festival and was planning on watching a few movies. I really liked the idea as she seemed so lovely and I had not been to the cinema in ages.

Normally 100km would take me less than 5 hours on flat roads and so it should have been possible for me to make it by 1.30 however the weather was terrible! There was a really really strong headwind and rain. I pushed hard but I only managed to get to Valga for 12.30 - about 50km. I called her and let her know I would not be able to make it and she kindly said that she would arrange for me to stay with some friends of her's in Valmiera instead. :-)



I spent about one and a half hours warming up in a garage, drinking coffee and using the free wi-fi connection to call my friends and family and then when the weather cheered up I set off again. I crossed into Latvia about 2ish. There was only 1 little sign and no real border as such. It was a nice flat road mainly through forests but there was still a very strong head wind.

I stopped off at another garage to use their wi-fi and check my messages to find out how to contact Sandra's friend and tried to buy a Europe Road Atlas only to find that unlike Estonia, Lithuania don't use the Euro - oops! They accepted credit cards but I would have to find an ATM somewhere. I had thought that I could use Euros in all the Baltic countries - what a numpty!

I did not arrive in Valmiera until about 5.30 (only 4 hours later than planned). It had started raining heavily again and so I was wet and cold. Davis (Sandra's brother in-law) drove to met me at the Petrol Station on the outskirts of town and I followed him to his flat. It was lovely to have someone meet me and to jump in a hot shower. Davis' wife Jaraka came home not long afterward and we all went off on a tour of the town in the car with Davis driving.



Jaraka popped into a shop and bought me a traditional Latvian sweet. It was amazing. You can buy them in pretty much any shop and they are stored in the fridge. It is like chocolate coated New York Style Vanilla Cheese Cake but in a small sweet packet - perfect :-) It is almost as good as Starbucks Cheesecake but a fraction of the price and available everywhere.



It was the best tour I have ever had of a town! Davis had trained as a guide many years ago and knew every obscure fact there was to know about Valmiera and Latvia. I found it absolutely fascinating and loved the statistics for there utter obscurity! I wished that my Dad had been there to enjoy the experience too as he would have loved it too....



There are 10 kindergartens, 5 primary school, 2 high school, 1 university and one professional college in the town. The have an ice skating rink, a huge basket ball hall (where the international woman's championships where held), a beach volley ball court outside next to the river, a skate park and a BMX park where the national champion trains.... there were so many other facts that I don't even have the energy to write them down. Needless to say I did film the event and so I have it on video to remember for ever! It was very funny and lasted about 1 hour.



I explained to Davis that I had not been able to find peanut butter since Mongolia and so he took me to the largest local Supermarket - and there it was! It had been a long running joke between Jenna and me in Mongolia that the next peanut butter would be Moscow but I had failed to find any until Valmeria, Latvia!



When we got back to the flat we were not very hungry and so we just had some snacks and I ate loads of peanut butter from the jar :-) Davis told me loads about Latvian culture and Jaraka also told me about Slovakian culture as she is originally from there. I loved having a glass or two of Jamesons and nattering with them until late. They were really fun people with a great sense of humor. I enjoyed staying with them very much.


This is a youtube video about the history of Latvia which I found very funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcKIeD3RxRQ



They have the best toilet I have seen on this trip!

Not only did they have a gold sprayed loo but they also had a plastic chandelier and a picture of Mona Lisa!

Had a lovely night drinking whiskey and chatting.

14th Sept - Tartu to Forest in Latvia

Rubbish weather and so did not leave Tartu till late. Camped in a forest off the side of the road. Details to follow.