day 46 - Vilnius

Day 46
August 17th

Our busy day began with a pancake breakfast and a few welcome words from the Director of the Belarusian Human Rights House, Anna Gerasimova. Then we had a workshop on Humans Rights Education, led by Jolita Beciene, from the "In Actio" Culture Center. Once again, a great opportunity for all of us to focus on one of the cornerstones of our project. Among other interesting exercises, we tried to evaluate how much inequality we can find in each of our countries of origin, in all aspects of society. It was a very rich discussion, like a few others we had along this trip.

After the lunch break (and the following coffee break), we came back to the HRH to meet Stephan Malerius, the Director of the Belarus Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. We learned about the History of Belarus and its rich and particular culture, and we tried to understand the current political situation, as well as the grim Human Rights situation in this European country.

Unfortunately, our scheduled meeting with the Mayor of Vilnius was cancelled at the last minute. Tiago has been very careful about parking Boris in the right places.

The afternoon continued with a nice city tour, and finally we got together with a few more ESN members and exchange students. We sat for hours outside, drinking wine and listening to live jazz music. Evening became night as we checked out the night life, and eventually we made it back to the House. About to end a longer break than usual, and still a long distance up ahead.

day 45 - Vilnius

Day 45
August 16th

This morning we slept until close to our "official" arrival time. We met our local ESN team who had brought us a truckload of pancakes. Also joining us for breakfast were Sabina and Kristjonas, two pro mountain bikers keen on riding with the group. Sasha was replaced as laundry commando.

We went on a city tour for the better part of the afternoon, and then Tricky decided to join the Prologue of the Baltic Chain Tour, where he had the opportunity to spread the word about the project and earn himself another clean t-shirt. The man is unstoppable.

In the evening, a new rider joined us: Mani came all the way from Austria to ride until the end of this trip. We celebrated this busy day by having typical Lithuanian Chili Pizza and carefully researching the local night life.

day 44 - Alytus to Vilnius

Day 44
August 15th

Despite the invitation we "chose" not to wake up before 6 AM to go and milk the cow. We did drink some fresh milk, however. This family's friendliness and hospitality are amazing. We had a great morning, playing with the dogs and taking ice cold showers outside, so we left some presents for our new friend Gintare and her family (Boris holds precious hidden treasures) and headed towards Vilnius.

Again, there was a change of plans. Initially we planned to stop at Trakai, but when problems came up, we decided to think outside the box. There were lakes all along the way, but mostly swampy areas, unfit for camping. After we made some phone calls, we decided to ride directly to Vilnius. This meant adding 40 km to the planned route for the day. Fortunately, Tiago can fit any number of bikes into Boris, so Ola and Cezary skipped those last 40 km and rode in the van, getting to Vilnius earlier and helping out with the luggage.

We stayed at the Belarussian Human Rights House in central Vilnius, welcomed by our host Kristina, a volunteer and student at the European Humanities University. There weren't many activities at night, mostly because the boys rode over 120 km today. But we'll have enough time to recover and get to know the Lithuanian capital.

Stage J completed, five more to go.

day 43 - Giby to Alytus

Day 43
August 14th

This morning we said goodbye to Nina (again), synchronized our watches and rolled down uncharted roads into Lithuania. The difference between the landscapes, and of course between cycling conditions, was impressive. From nice paved roads through wide plains, to bumpy dirt roads through thick forest. One thing remained: lakes everywhere, which make for the best lunch breaks.

A nice distinctive feature were the small colourful houses in these tiny villages. Another distinctive feature is that nobody in the group understands Lithuanian. Surely some people speak Polish around here, but the language barrier is becoming bigger.

Upon reaching Alytus, we had to cancel our scheduled accommodation. We split up to find an alternative, Boris nearly got stuck in the woods nearby, but eventually this team of diplomats managed to secure hospitality on a farm near the city. The nice family let us use their kitchen and other facilities, and even found us a room where we'd all fit for the night. The bikes were safely stored in the barn and we tried not to wake the dogs.

We've experienced Polish hospitality before, now we get to experience Lithuanian hospitality, both priceless. Now to convince our host Gintare to get a bike and ride with us...

day 42 - break

Day 42
August 13th

So, here's the story: our guardian angel Anet checked our itinerary and suggested we avoided the main roads, because of heavy traffic. We've experienced much of that lately, and we changed course according to her suggestion. These changes would save us one day of riding, but our calendar from here on is pretty much defined.

So, that extra day we gained, we decided to keep for ourselves. Camped out in the forest, with the lake nearby, this was our actual vacation. There was enough food and mosquitoes to make it interesting, there were a few neighbouring families camped around and a shop in Giby providing the supplies.

Also, we're out in the woods, we get to act like jackasses if we want to. GREAT!

day 41 - Dabrowa Bialostocka to Giby

Day 41
August 12th

The sun decided to show its face, this morning. Which was most welcome, not just for the cycling day ahead of us, but for breakfast time as well. We roamed the farm and found a nice spot to eat and then stretch. Healthy body, healthy mind. Maybe we could be healthier, but we try our best. Once we had our fill of sunshine, we packed up, said goodbye to Pawel and hit the road again.

Today we crossed the National Park, enjoying the fresh shade in the middle of the forest. We looked around for a nice place to stay, and we found a campsite next to a lake. Julian and Sasha went to meet Tiago, filled Boris with supplies and we finally pitched our tents.

We have declared a break day, previously unscheduled.

day 40 - Bialystok to Dabrowa Bialostocka

Day 40
August 11th

Another morning, another complimentary breakfast. We rolled down to the main square again, where we waved goodbye to our friends and began the stage that will take us out of Poland and into another timezone. Several people, young and middle-aged alike, joined our group, again with police escort. This time, however, a mechanical problem reduced us to one motorcycle in the front and Boris in the back, and we had to go through some very busy roads before reaching nicer cycling paths.

Courtesy of the police officer, we cycled calmly and delayed traffic in the whole region once again. We made it to a small country road, split from Boris and rode until lunch time, where we met again by a small like. The weather was quite cold but the atmosphere in the group is warm. We have a new rider in the group today, Pawel, who decided to take a day off to join us.

We stayed on small roads and eventually made it to Dabrowa, where we found our sleeping place on a farm, some people went for their 15-hour beauty sleep and we had a nice group dinner. After dinner there was still time for an excursion around the farm, which may have disturbed some grumpy livestock. All very peaceful.

PS: it's called (something) tricolore