Adventures in Biking, Baltic-style

If I haven't mentioned it here before, I should tell you that the forest and coastland of Lithuania is really, really lovely. One of my fondest hopes this summer has been to spend some time bicycling on the beautiful Curonian spit, which is a protected national park area just a 5 minute ferry ride off Klaipeda's coast. Sunday afternoon, my friend Nicole and I decided we would bike to Juodkrante, a picturesque town not far down the spit. And an epic adventure ensued...

We had in our minds that Juodkrante was about 12 kilometers from Smiltyne (our starting point) by bike, which is a bit less than 6 miles - not a big deal for an afternoon stroll. This turned out to be not quite accurate! The distance was more like 16 or 17 kilometers, and we were quite ready to be there much earlier than we actually arrived. Part of our anxiousness to get to the end of the journey was that the two bikes we'd borrowed from friends were a bit on the rickety side. One had a seat hard enough to bruise bone, and the other had a back brake that constantly rubbed the wheel, making it feel like you were lugging a piano uphill most of the time. Nevertheless, we finally made it to Juodkrante at about 5:30, after an hour and 45 min ride.

Since we were tired out, we decided to enjoy a nice walk in the woods, have some soup at the Villa Flora (where I seem always to end up for meals in Juodkrante), and then try to take the bus back - with our bikes stowed in the underneath compartment, of course. I probably don't need to tell you that the bus driver was not too keen on this idea. :) Despite my awkward Lithuanian sentence telling him - "we have two bikes, is that okay?" He reacted as if we were trying to carry nuclear materials onto his bus!

Though we were tired, Nicole and I cheerfully accepted our fate of pedaling back to Smiltyne in the lovely evening air. Any evening in Lithuania in which I can ride around without anything covering my arms is a good one, in my opinion, with winter and cold weather looming on the near horizon. So we started the trip back. The problem we soon became aware of, though, was that we didn't want to miss the 9:15 ferry - after that, the next one wouldn't leave until 10:15 and we would be stuck waiting around at the docks in the dark. It was 7:50 when we left Juodkrante, and 8:35 when we realized this fact. At this point we began riding as fast as we could. Now, I don't claim to be a triathlete or anything, but I was impressed by the speed we could actually get out of the rickety things! At one point we had a chance to ditch the bike trail and join up with the road - a straighter, smoother and more direct route - so we did, dodging traffic and praying as we did.

The kilometers ticked by. We passed the signs for various landmarks, saw the sign for the ferry docks, and then I saw the 9:15 bus heading past us going in the opposite direction. I yelled at Nicole that we needed to hurry up, and then we rounded the corner to see... the ferry hadn't left yet! In a burst of speed not seen since Steven Spielberg filmed kids on bikes pedaling E.T. into the air, we sped onto the ferry and just about collapsed.

Nicole's watch said 9:16. 30 seconds later they put up the chain and the ferry pulled away.

We were so proud of ourselves and our 1 hr and 20 min time that I don't think we noticed that our panting and grinning was greatly amusing the Lithuanians and tourists around us. All in all, it was a 35 kilometer ride round trip, and we definitely have the sore muscles to prove it!