Lithuanian flag
LITHUANIA
14th August 08
Ryanair London Stansted to Kaunas. No problems. We arrive at Kaunas in the dark and decide to take a taxi into the city. Actually we need to take two taxis because there isn’t one big enough to take two people and two boxed bikes. Cost is therefore doubled. About 25 EUR per taxi. Our first night is in the Hotel Daniela, Kaunas. Hotel is very good – large rooms, good bathroom and excellent breakfast.
15th August 08 Day 1 Kaunas to Druskininkai by bike.
After a brief look at old town Kaunas and visit to helpful tourist info in main square we head off south on
We saw many storks : here are some in their normal setting (storks enlarged)
route 130 to Prienai. It’s the Day of Assumption and a national holiday in Lithuania. Many stores are closed but route 130 is very busy all the way south. Lunch in small bar in Prienai. Alytus, then Seirijai, Leipalingis on route 180 and finally Druskininkai. No hills, except for small climb up from bridge over river and out of Kaunas. Unremarkable route. Night in Hotel Regina. Room a bit small, but other wise, very good. Good evening meal in hotel restaurant and breakfast.
Distance 82.56 miles Time 06:52:24 Average speed 12.01 Max Speed 29.6
16th August 08 Day 2 Druskininkai to Vilnius by bike.
With more time to cycle today we plan a route to Vilnius that takes us off the main roads. Dzukija tourist map 1:200,000 enables us to do this. It’s sunny and warm, about 25 C. The route is initially through the park, via Marcinkonys, Varena, Valkininkai, then on to 176 to Baltoji Voke, then due north to Vilnius via Pagiriai. Good metalled roads all the way – even through the park. Nothing else notable, except good lunch in ‘rustic’ bar in centre of Varena. Night in Hotel City Gate. This is difficult to find, but OK.
Distance 88.48 miles Time 06:55:27 Average speed 12.77 Max Speed 27.6
17th August 08 Day 3 Vilnius to Riga by bus.
First we inquire at the Central railway station Tourist Information about trains to Riga. We are told that there are none. But the advice is vague so we try the ticket office information. They also say there are no trains but
Silver birch - our ever-present companion as we cycle through the forests; here in harvested mode
there is a train to Siauliai which is about 35 miles south of the Lithuania – Latvia border. So is there a connecting train to Riga? We never find out. We also never find out if there is a direct train the next day (Monday). In all these bureaux were very unhelpful. So we try to book a coach ticket at the Eurolines office at the bus station. We are told bikes are not allowed to be taken as baggage. Not much choice here. We try the rival Ecolines, but the booking clerk cannot speak English. Before taking the desperate step of hiring a car, we go down to the bus station to see if the Eurolines driver will take the bikes. After initially giving us a sharp ‘No’ he changes his mind after we beg and plead. The coach is about a third full, so there is plenty of room in the baggage hold.
Night in Hotel Forums. Noisy, but good bedroom. We walk out and see massive firework display over the river. Poor breakfast in hotel with little choice and service at table in tiny room.
latvian flag
LATVIA
18th August 08 Day 4 Riga to Valmiera by bike.
We take the train to Sigulda to get through the Riga suburbs. Once on the bikes we take a minor road NE to Kipari but soon after that the road surface turns to dirt. As Cruckstrer’s cycling companion is on touring bike with narrow wheels we decide not to risk punctures and return to E77 running NNW. It is raining and this is very boring cycling. We then take the P20 into Cesis and stop for a drink. Cesis and the P20 beyond going north are OK. Night in Hotel Wolmar which is very good. The room is very big and comfortable. Good welcome and bar. We eat in the hotel restaurant and the food is very good. Map = Gaujas Nacionalais Parks 1:20,000. SIA
Distance 46.08 miles Time 03:29:15 Average speed 13.21 Max Speed 31.3
19th August 08 Day 5 Valmiera to Pärnu by bike.
Typical road: this one is between Estonia and Latvia
Today we know we have to take a dirt road to get to the border. The Gaujas Nacionalais Parks 1:20,000 map we have shows dirt roads in yellow and we realise this now. We take the P17 due north out of Valmiera and it’s not bad: there are some breaks in the lines of trees either side of the road. At Rujiena where we have a very good meal at another ‘rustic’ bar, we take the P21 which soon forks left to Ipiki. Thereafter it’s a dirt road for about 5 miles to the border. There’s no traffic on this road and the ride is OK. The border crossing is completely unmanned – and the metalled road starts again as soon as we are on Estonian soil. Moisalkula is a ‘one horse town’ as we say in the UK, so we press on to Kiling-Nomme. There are a few more services here, but closed when we arrive. We continue on route 6, joining E67 into Pärnu. Night in Scandic Rannahotell. Big hotel, small room, but with sea view. Enormous dining room. Map= Valmieras Rajons 1:20,000. SIA. And Eesti 1:500,000. Jana sata Map Publishers.
Distance 87.83 miles Time 07:14:16 Average speed 12.13 Max Speed 20.0
Estonian flag
ESTONIA
20th August 08 Day 6 Pärnu to Haapsalu by bike.
We take route 60 NW out to P to Lihula. Route 10 NE for 10 mile and then 31 into Haapsalu. There’s a strong southerly wind so it’s frustrating to be always in a cross wind. It’s also raining at times. Unremarkable landscape. Night in Hotel Paeve Villa. We asked the Scandic Rannahotell to phone Hotel Paeve Villa to say we were en-route because we only had internet reservations and no vouchers, but they could not get through. At Hotel Paeve Villa they told us that Scandic Rannahotell had emailed them. Top marks to Scandic Rannahotell and thank you.
Distance 72.62 miles Time 05:54:02 average speed 12.30 Max Speed 22.4
21st August 08 Day 7 Haapsalu island tour by bike.
The Estonian flag on our ship to Vormsi
Tourist Information in Haapsalu are friendly and helpful. Our best option is to take the ferry to Vormsi – the smallest and closest of the islands. The ferry trip from the terminal about 6 miles out of Haapsalu is about 1 hour long. A gentle spin around the metalled road that runs around the east of the island takes about 90 minutes. The landscape is little different from the mainland.
The OTT platform at Haapsalu (now a museum)
Distance 26.53 miles Time 02:35:24 average speed 10.24 Max Speed 19.6
22nd August 08 Day 8 Haapsalu to Tallinn by bike.
East of Tallin, the first place with a bar where we can take lunch is nearly 40 miles away at Rummu on Route 17. This place appears to be starved of investment – there are
typical Baltic wooden houses
empty / derelict flat blocks and a factories that look like they are running on half steam. After lunch we press on through the rain to Keila after which we branch off NE to Vaanna to take the smaller roads into Tallinn via Liikva and Rannamoisa. Night in Reval Hotel Central – good quality hotel aimed at business and tourist trade. We wander through the old town to the train station to see the daily 23:30 St Petersburg train on the platform. This is for one of the last times, because our booklet guide to Tallinn informs us that the service ceases for ever from 1st September. Good but expensive meal (56 British Euros for 2) in the Maharaja Indian restaurant on the mail square.
Distance 77.93 miles Time 06:17:29 average speed 12.38 Max Speed 20.8
23rd August 08 Day 9 Tallinn to St Petersburg by bus.
We go to the Eurolines office in Tallinn bus station and book single tickets on 1th 11:00 to St Petersburg. These are approx 17 British Euros (pounds sterling) each. We are leaving the bikes at the Reval Hotel Central in their luggage room – they have kindly allowed us to do this. We have a voucher for our return to Tallinn in 3 days time.
The trip to St Petersburg is long and tedious. There’s also an hour’s time difference. We stop for 10 minutes at various places en-route including Rakvere and Johvi. The border crossing takes about an hour, and there’s no queue on the Estonian side. There are hundreds of trucks parked up along the roadside as we approach Narva, though. The road on the Russian side is very bumpy through being patched up, worn and obviously badly maintained. Our coach spends a lot of the time with the nearside wheels on the dirt hard shoulder trying to avoid the ruts and bumps. The road is also very busy. This would have been a very bad cycling route, had we gone with our original plan. We arrive slightly ahead of schedule at the Baltic Station at about 20:00.
Night in Hotel Rinaldi. This is on Moscovskiy Prospekt. It’s very hard to find as it part of an apartment block and there’s a tiny sign outside a huge metal door that leads to a dirty and broken down entrance all and stair. This type of security and access is a shock coming soon after our recent experiences. Inside the hotel and rooms aren’t bad, though the breakfast is very basic and there’s no choice. I guess 50 Euros doesn’t go far in Leningrad. We also have to pay the hotel to register with the police, though this isn’t much – about 5 pounds sterling for a form, if I remember.
Russian flag
RUSSIA
24th August 08 Day 10 St Petersburg
City Tour (in the rain) by open top bus. About 10 pounds each. Headset with choice of languages is OK.
Drinks in the Shamrock Bar. Ok..
We eat in the Dickens Pub – food is good but expensive – western prices. Russian lager Nyevskoe is about half the price of imported stuff and quite drinkable. We trail off to a Fish themed bar (recommended in the Rough Guide) off Ligovskiy near Moscovskiy Railway Station. It’s a student underground type place down an alleyway. No music though on this Sunday night.
25th August 08 Day 11 St Petersburg
Russian Museum – we look at the modern galleries. Cost about 8 pounds. The Grand Hotel is a good place to use internet and get money. The ATMs we tried asked an unexpected question we didn’t like ‘which account do want to withdraw from?’ and in one case we were successful gave a fixed amount (1,000 Roubles) which is only about 20 pounds. We spend some time wandering up and down the Nevskiy Pr. Finally, we aim to go for a bar that’s in the Rough Guide’s top 20 places to visit in St. P – it’s call ‘Lenin’s Last Laugh’ or something like that – however it seems to have moved around the corner since the Guide was published and has changed – no Lenin-theme uniformed staff or videos on the box. There are (still) plenty of busts of Lenin dotted around and other oddities, though. It’s also tiny.
We stumble upon the Tinkoff brewery pub/restaurant. This is on Kazanskaya U. It’s an enormous place, and despite its size, is not blatantly advertised on the outside. It doesn’t look like a bar. However, the prices are high even by western standards and it’s not meal time so we have a swift ‘half’ – which is very good and move on.
Another good meal in the Dickens then it’s off to find some music – advertised in St Petersburg Times (weekly freebie in English which is OK and has an interesting comment this week on Russian occupation of parts of Georgia) and St Petersburg Times at the end of Nevskiy. Alas, the music is not on tonight, but we console our selves with 100 cl of Russian Standart Vodka and a glass of tomato juice. Excellent.
26th August 08 Day 12 St Petersburg to Tallinn by bus.
We booked our tickets the previous day in the Eurolines Office next to the Baltic Railway station. By now we have gained confidence in using the metro – it’s OK if you can transliterate. Our coach is the 11:15 and costs about 20 pounds each for a seat. It’s almost full.
The ride back to Tallinn is grim. In addition to the delays and the bumpy road there’s an extra hour’s delay at the border where we take our bags off the coach for an airport-style check in a small garage with a car ramp and jack in it. It’s so bad all the passengers have to squeeze around this to queue for the search.
It’s good to be back in Tallinn. We check back in at the Reval Hotel Central. Walk around the old town.
Nice plaque on medieval house in Old Town Tallinn. Good to see the plan form shown on it. There are more.
Cruckster likes the modern plaques on the old merchants buildings that describe their (usually medieval) origins and development, including even ground floor plans! The Depeche Mode bar is sampled and we sit through about half an hour of ‘Violater’ videos which is enjoyable enough. The off to the Beer House on Dunkri 5. This is a brash Austrian style bar / restaurant with various beers brewed the Austrian way . We try 4 or the 5 or 6 beers brewed on the premises and they are excellent. The food is good as well.
27th August 08 Day 13 Tallinn to Stansted by air.
The airport is only 3 miles from the centre. We meet a couple of Germans who have cycled all the way to St Petersberg and then on to Helsinki. Alarmingly they could not find any accommodation in Helsinki the previous night so had to get the ferry to Tallinn to stay there. They are told they have to get their bikes wrapped up (cost about 5 pounds each) for the flight to Frankfurt. However, when we check our bikes in for the flight to Stansted – there is no such requirement.
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This was a good tour with the highlights being the cities we stayed at. The cycling was monotonous and arduous (for us) but the absence of any hills meant that the distances were achievable. There is a problem moving around with bikes by public transport in view of the poor or non-existent train services and no-bikes policy on Eurolines coach services.
All hotel arrangements worked well. The voucher service provided by Lithuanian Hotels worked well 100% and all the hotels were very good standard and value for money (all hotels described above excluding Wolmar, Paeve Villa and Rinaldi). We booked the Wolmar , and Paeve Villa directly and they honoured our online reservations (that weren’t paid for in advance). We used HPS in London to book the Rinaldi (by phone, 020 8446 0126). The Rinaldi was OK, but not to the same standard as the others, clearly you need to pay much more that 40 pounds each a night in St Petersburg.
We booked our visas through the Russian National Tourist office in London – the online booking process worked as described and our visa arrived after 8 days (we chose the 8-day service – total cost about 95 pounds each).
Footnote: we saw that Marie Curie Cancer Care are running a ‘Bike the Baltic’ trip that takes a similar route to ourselves. We think that the descriptions of the Baltic scenery were rather over-stated. This is a good landscape only for getting your head down and grinding out the miles.
Back home: Northumbrian (UK region) flag
