I had been looking at the maps and planning the best route to Poland. I have never been to Poland, for some reason, and I had heard a lots of rumours about the horrible traffic. Therefore, I was looking into smaller roads. In Lithuania, there is no problem riding on the main roads, they are mainly in good condition and with a wide shoulder.
I chose a route via Leipalingis and Kapciamiestis. From Kapciamiestis, there is a gravel road through the forests to Poland. I had no clue about the condition, but I decided to give it a try.
I had a lunch break at Kapciamiestis, bought yoghurt and enjoyed it at the main square of the village. Then I felt ready to conquer a new terrain. There was new asphalt at the last village before the border, Kauknoris. There were big houses with fences and surveillance cameras. Who are the wealthy people living here?
The ashpalt soon turned in to gravel, rather big stones and hard to ride. But it wasn’t long until I reached the border. The first impression of the Poland was that the gravel road was quite good to ride. Few kilometers in the forest, then some fields and first houses. The first village was Berzniki. The road was quite narrow, and the ladscape a bit hilly. The few cars passing were behaving well and one driver cheered.
I rode to Sejny, the next town. I was a bit lost, as I could not understand the shop signs for what is a grocery store and what could possibly be an operator shop for buying a prepaid sim. I didn’t visit either. I forgot to look for an ATM for withdrawing some Polish zlotys.
I decided to continue a bit further and find a campsite. The maps shower several before Suwalki, around a lake. The next Polish surpise was that there’s a spearate bike lane all the way between Sejny and Suwalki. I navigated to Wigry, where there was a campsite U Haliny on the map. It turned out to have several other campsites, too, but I sticked to the U Haliny. The main sight is the big monastery by the lake. People seem to come for camping and canoeing at the lake. There was some language barrier at U Haliny, there was one young man speaking some English, others spoke only Polish. Luckily they accepted Euros so I could pay my camping and dinner.
Kristiina Ullgren 