taking the long way home

jurbarkas – rest day

it started to rain in the morning and it was cold…. not exactly inviting for a long day on the road. so we decided to make use of the free internet at the guesthouse / campground to update our blogs.

pasyiai –jurbarkas

99km 293 alti meter

nice blooming rape fields along the side roads.

i scream for ice-cream! 

the 3 man from bremen on their way to riga

the rolling bike shop at work….. broken derailer!? leatherman and a little piece of wood….

the skeptic look…. “will this work?”

still skeptic …. but riding ….

curonian spit – pasyiai

63km 258 alti meter

we checked out the border to the russian province and the sand dune before taking a sail boat to the main land (uostadvaris). we met a woman who imigrated to the usa 30 years ago and commented sadly about the economic changes of the area under soviet and now under eu influence.

we all scream for ice-cream!

lithuanian border – curonian spit

98km 224 alti meter

nice bike routes to klaipeda where we met steve from the uk. we took the ferry to the curonian spit where we cycled down to the border to the russian exclave kaliningrad.

jürmalciems – border lithuania

46km 190 alti meter

we tried to stay on the sandy gravel roads along the sea shore and through forests. the deep sand and mosquito attacks made us ride on the beach (same sand but no mosquitos). which was nice along amazing lonely beaches, but turned difficult as the high tide forced us to go through the loose deep sand close to the dune.

riga – jürmalciems

27km 54 alti meter

re the “tour-guide” and flera gave us a ride to the “west coast” with lots of latvia background informations and secret windsurf / kite spots.

riga – rest day

in between french croissants for breakfast and tibetan lunch i did some serious extrem-couching while alex went sightseeing with flera and re.

kabli – riga (latvia)

after a nice camp at the beach a nice ride along the coast to riga. along the way we meet rinrin, a japanese cyclist who is on the road since 3 years. re and flera pick us up at a beach about 35km north of riga. we watch re doing some kite-surfing and hang out at the beach.

http://www.rinrinweb.com/

kurgja – kabli

121km 263 alti meter

nice day on the road with good cycling and a nice lunchbreak in the old town of pärnu.

soodla river – kurgja

115km 289 alti meter

the mosquitos here show a impressive appetite and agressive behavior.

helsinki – tallinn – soodla river (estonia)

61,5km 226 alti meter

rainy morning in helsinki. on the ferry we met 3 cyclists from canada who are also on the way south. after riding through the old town of tallinn we rode east. or originally planed route over the saaremaa island was not possible the way we wanted because the ferry on the south of the island is not operating at the moment.