The idea was born in an AC-3 night train in India from Chennai to Kozhikode when I asked Alicja "What if we cycle from your home to Finland?". I was a little exhausted from urban life and all the attention in the villages after 6 months in India and we were thinking, about how we could spend our summer in Europe with some nature & peace around us. Nearly half a year later we were sitting on our bicycles and starting the project Poland to Helsinki by bicycle!
In the past 4 years of traveling, I tried many travel styles but a long cycling tour was not among them. So the first thing I had to do was to buy a bicycle and some camping equipment. We spent 6 days in Poland where we visited some family members and were ready to cross into Lithuania. Round about we planned just under four weeks for the entire journey. It was also my first time in Białystok in Eastern Poland, a city that really surprised me and is a nice place to visit.
We decided on the Baltic countries mostly out of three reasons: 1) Extremely low population density (easy for wild camping and having your peace), 2) I nearly did not see anything of that area in Europe and 3) very very flat countries (suitable for easier cycling).
Lithuania was really a cool country! The fastest-growing economy in the EU has very charming villages with beautiful wooden colorful houses and cities with interesting historical buildings. It took us eight days to cycle from the very South to the North. The weather was just perfect for cycling and it was super easy to find wild camping spots. The only two incidents at the tent were a wild boar family that visited us at our tent at 4 a.m. on the second night and a swan that attacked us when we left the tent in the morning. Some dogs (especially the small deadly ones) took their job of protecting their property too seriously and tried to bite us several times. Nearly all the time they found Alicja more appealing than me and attacked her. That's why I don't travel solo anymore.
Sometimes we didn't see any people for hours - we cycled for 10,20 or 30 km without seeing anyone in some parts of the country. The roads were the worst of the three Baltic countries but still manageable. A good life safer for us was graveyards (we camped next to one and used the water (after a few days we stopped drinking from them since people advised us strongly not to) ). Toi Tois are placed everywhere around the country, even the tiniest village has one.
I have found people in Lithuania very pleasant. They all mind their own business pretty much but are respectful, calm and friendly. Some people (mostly in the villages) treated us with fresh berries and veggies from their garden. One family even invited us to their house when they found us cooking coffee in heavy rain hiding in a bus station.
A funny encounter was with Kamilė in Šiauliai with whom we connected nearly 2 years earlier in Sri Lanka. She invited us to her parents' apartment where we had a good rest and tried some good Lithuanian snacks.
Since we had our own cooking equipment with us, we cooked quite tasty and huge (you are getting hungry as crazy after all the cycling) meals. The clear highlight of the day was a coffee break in some random location to relax the muscles and enjoy a hot cup.
3 Highlights:
- Charming Kaunas, 2nd biggest city of the country and its amazing cycling network around
- the tiny village of Čekiškė, our favorite village in the country
- Tytuvenai, a really pretty town with a nice lake
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| Visited places in Lithuania |
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| My new racer, made in Poland |
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| Spending a weekend in Bobrowo |
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| Enjoying the amenities of civilization before heading into the bush |
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| BBQ in Bobrowo |
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| Białystok |
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| Walking Bella the friendly Husky |
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| With Franio and Marcin in Białystok |
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| Off to Lithuania! |
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| Our first border crossing |
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| The first camping spot, a nice lake with a bench |
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| Marijampole |
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| Wild Boar Zone! |
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| Graveyards, a great place to manage yourself |
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| Crossing the river into Kaunas |
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| Kaunas city center |
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| First oil change |
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| A typical house in Lithuania |
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| With Rolandus who invited us for a coffee |
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| Taking a car ferry to cross the river after Kaunas |
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| Cooking Pasta with heavy wind |
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| Village shops, choices there are very very limited, especially veg ones :D |
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| A stork on a streetlight |
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| Coffee and journaling |
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| Camp spot next to a graveyard |
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| Rain, worst enemy while cycling (more in Latvia..) |
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| A wooden house in a village from inside |
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| Presents :) |
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| With legendary Richardus and his wife who saved us from the rain, offered us instant noodles and did and gave us a big harvest |
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| Drying our stuff |
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| Coffee and chocolate break |
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| Yes they look romantic, their aggressions are hidden inside |
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| Cycling and listening to our radio |
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| Lithuanian milk bar |
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| Sleeping one night at Kamile and her parents |
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| Thanks for having us :) |
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| A famous huge collection of crosses we randomly stumbled upon to |
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| A war jet on a cross - double standards at its best |
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| Camping under a wooden house to hide from rain |
