The morning was sunny, too. The host Elena invited me to have a cup of coffee and a piece of bread, so I skipped cooking any coffee or porridge. I was looking at the route and possible accommodations, and it seemed a rather long day – and headwind. I happened to look at the warmshowers, and I spotted two hosts near Silute. I was a bit unsure if it would turn out well with such a short notice, but I decided to try.
Then I rode off. The road follows the Nemunas river’s north bank. I’ve ridden here 2014, to the other direction to Kaunas. I remember there was a castle and nice villages by the river, but I realised they are east from Jurbarkas. So, the nicest village on the road is the Smalininkai village.
Otherwise there’s just forest. Which was a lot nicer than open fields, so the the wind didn’t hit me so hard. I stopped to check the WS messages, and I was happy to have an answer from a host. So, I would have a place to stay 10 before Silute, which made today’s distance reasonable. Otherwise I might have continued after Silute to the sea, where there are some campsites, but it would have been about 120 km day.
So, as I spotted a cafe at the roadside, I decided to have a proper lunch. So I had a cold soup and blinchikis with cheese and mushrooms. I had a perfect timing, because it rained quite heavily, but it passed during my lunch.
I arrived at my host at 18:00. They were a bit older couple, but it turned out that the man’s daughter had helped with messaging, so Gediminas actually doesn’t speak too much English. So, Russian then. A bit difficult to discuss, but we did get along pretty well. Early to bed.
Kristiina Ullgren 