BALTIC CYCLE 2025: Day 10

Day 10. Thursdsy Aug 21.

Kupiskis to Ukmerge (Lithuania)

103km

Weather: After a cold night, a clear day ranging from cold to very warm at end. Light breeze from the west.....I'm moving south.

Road conditions: 18 km of gravel including a short piece of washboard. Paved roads excellent. Cycle path for last 10km.

Up early to catch the dawn over my lake. After breakfast in common kitchen I was off at 7:45 on a short stretch of gravel along by the lake.

Spotted a good few cows today out in the fields and bird life was principally storks on their lofty perches. Farmers welcome storks near their farmyards to control pests. Sometimes an extra platform (the size of a pallet) is added to the top of electricity poles to attract them.

The road ahead was more rolling than previously, but nothing too serious. It'll be more so tomorrow. Accordingly roads tended to also weave horizontally, much easier to cycle on than those long 5 or 6 km straight stretches.

Did come across an impressive church in Subiacus...Orthodox.

For today, again it was wheat all the way and forestry. A field of sunflowers was a welcome relief.

Small towns and villages I pass through are so silent. Haven't come across a school yet with kids out playing in the yard.

And shops don't have any colourful frontages. Just a sign indicating that this is a shop.

I've also become aware that doors (of shops, houses and hotel rooms all open outwards. Thinking back, it was the same in Estonia and Latvia. You learn something new every day!

There was a lovely cycle path beside the A6 into Ukmerge (could be the antithesis of Brexit). Plenty of businesses on the approach. It's a very large town. Main St is impressive but Garmin brought me on some hairy looking streets and lanes to my hotel. I was a bit concerned. But apparently this was to avoid the one-way system that would have proved to be much longer.

At 2:45 I parked up by the door in the rising heat. A fine hotel but no reception...just a message from Booking.com informing me of the entrance code. A lovely spacious room with balcony out over the street.