15. From Capital to Capital – Riga, Latvia to Vilnius, Lithuania – 317 km

By Dennis

Riga to Birzai – 100km Avg 19.2km/hr

We were up and away at 7:15 to try and get a headstart on the busy Riga traffic and the forecasted hot day. It has been a good rest in Riga with its many interesting sites but definitely time to move on and get some more K’s under our wheels. Komoot almost immediately put us onto some bone shaking cobblestone back roads, as it seems when you plan your route using the ‘touring bike’ option (as compared to the mountain bike or road bike option) it avoids all main roads whenever it can – which in Latvia means the worst roads. Lesson learned, we bailed on the suggested route and jumped on the nearby highway which on a Sunday morning was mostly empty, and continued on the highway all the way to Birzai, Lithuania, avoiding the suggested ‘scenic’ detours on gravel roads. And of course, you guessed it, there were solid headwinds the entire day.

Being a Sunday, Birzai was quiet with most shops closed and, much to our chagrin, the local supermarkets cut off liquor sales after 3pm. No micronutrient replacement therapy today! (We found out later that every other day of the week the cut-off time is 8pm)

Lithuania is a very Catholic country as compared to the Greek Orthodox of Estonia and Latvia, and Birzai with its population of 19,000 has 19 churches and chapels. If this ratio was extrapolated to Greater Victoria there would be 360 churches! Better not swear blasphemously in this country! It is interesting that Lithuania ranks as only the 60th happiest country in the world. Is there a correlation between religion and lack of happiness? Or is it that you cannot buy a bottle of wine for Sunday night dinner?

Birzai to Anyksciai- 106km Avg 19.2km/hr

Anyksciai – pronounced Ah-nick’-shay. It is almost impossible to remember the pronunciation of words except for “aciu” (ah-choo) which means “thank you”.

It would have been a good sailing day, tacking to weather all day with the occasional beam reach on the curves, and finally for the last 2km, a light run into Anyksciai. We will have to make a sacrifice to the wind gods.

Anyksciai is a small town of 10,000 and appears to be well off compared to many of the country towns we have been through, probably because it is a ski resort town!

 

Anyksciai – Vilnius – 116km Avg 20.7km/hr

The countryside has changed from flat farmlands to rolling green hillsides with lots of dairy farms. This has been our first day with any significant hills yet our daily average speed is up a bit. The uphills are a little tough but the downhills are fun with deserted roads and today, NO WIND!

I attribute the no wind to the Cathlolic church we visited in Anyksciailit a votive candle and said a prayer to the wind gods (sorry JC!). We lit a votive candle put a 1 Euro coin in the donation box. And voila! next day, no wind! We should have put 2 Euros in and asked for a tailwind!