After our decadent night in Riga, we didn't want to return to the fray...howsoever....
The plan today was to knock out 60 or so miles taking the A7-E67 from Riga and ending somewhere just over the Lithuanian border.
After an extremely handsome breakfast in very pleasant surroundings we made good our exit at around 09:30.
The timing was spot on as we woke to very overcast skies and it was raining chats and chiens at our usual departure time. Even so, we set off in waterproofs as there was a fair amount of standing water on the roads.
The route out of Riga was reasonably straight forward despite the heavy rush hour traffic and the poor road conditions.
Traffic and road quality varied enormously today. At times we had good quality, Euro donated blacktop complete with shoulder and at others, we appeared to be travelling in Latvia's past. Initially the traffic was extremely heavy and the road conditions very poor.
This horrible state of affairs was eventually upgraded and the traffic quietened as we got further from Riga.
Happily, at times, we were sheltered from the vicious headwinds we have been experiencing for the past few days. Later in the day, the wind swung round a to more 3/4 on the bow which helped the legs a little.
We stopped for the customary breaks at roadside services, though CAKE was significantly absent. Happily the weather improved enough for us to abandon sweaty waterproofs and to sail along in our sun togs.
At the 40 mile mark we rolled into Bauska our last significant Latvian town, though significant is probably overplaying it somewhat.
The Lithuanian border was crossed 10 or so miles later and we immediately witnessed a change in the scenery and terrain. Latvia has been significantly flat, in fact flatter than we're used and we live on the edge of the Fens!
Lithuania, by contrast, started with some delightful gentle rolling mini hills which will hopefully develop into more interesting (though not toooo interesting) 3D terrain.
After a couple of more showers and a goodly slog at the pedals, we arrived into Pasvalys, Lithuania at around 16:30 with over 70 miles on the computer.
For the first time this trip, we had no prior information regarding potential accommodation at our destination. We'd hoped to either bump into something suitable or visit an information Bureau.
Both of these options came to nought and we visited the local Plod instead. They directed us to what is probably the worst hotel we have ever seen. On closer inspection, it was actually a cheapo doss house with 20 or more people sharing one loo and shower....
Suffice to say, we did an about turn and hightailed it out of there. Good news? The nice lady in the horrible hotel, directed us to a much more suitable place a couple of K's down the road.
We booked in, made ourselves at home then visited the equivalent of the local Spar for dinner. The two girls in the shop probably didn't know what hit them as two stinky, knackered Brits feebly pointed at and demanded various sugar laden goodies.
Back to the hotel where we ate our booty and Miles spent an hour or so changing both the drive and timing chains on the bike. Both had worn to their service limits in the 1400 or so miles we've done so far.....Not sure how common bicycle maintenance is in Lithuanian hotel rooms, perhaps this was a first?
Total today a hard won 72 miles and a 115m of ascent. Total trip 1410 miles.
