Saturday, 18 July
After a good night’s rest in the hotel just over the border
of Lithuania, we feasted like Kings for breakfast. The problem was the menu,
while translated in English, didn’t always mean what we were expecting.
Whenever the option arises, Gene will have pancakes. This morning, both the
girls took the pancake option which ended up being a meat dish pancaked by
potato. I had prudently ordered the sausage omelet that Dee had for dinner the
previous night. One out of 3 people were happy with breakfast.
As we started down the highway, Springy just wasn’t
responding as he normally does. It felt like I had 4 flat tyres. I realised
that Springy was fine; it was the road that needed help. A deep rut for both
tyres had been created after many years of use on a road that probably didn’t
have a strong foundation under it. The sensation was like going down a
waterslide with its twists and turns up and down the pipe. The only difference
was I was driving straight ahead. As much as you tried to keep in the ruts, you
moved that few centimeters left and right normally or had the side wind push
you out of the rut. The option of keeping out of the rut was tried but it put
you too close to the oncoming traffic or the very narrow edge.
We stopped at the town of Kaunas for a look about and lunch.
We picked a fairly funky bar that was decorated with photos of people taken
over the period 1915-28. Lots of similar souvenir shops were found, one with
excellent Viking jewelry and knives. The main score of the day is a bronze
headed walking stick. It unscrews into 3 parts and has an interesting design
which I believe is linked to miners/geologists, especially since the head of
the stick looks like a hammer/pick.
We headed for the Polish border, planning to stop somewhere
near the town of Kalvanja. That plan was discarded when there didn’t seem to be
a safe place to stay and the local information board indicated a camping site
nearby. After looking for the site for half an hour along the edge of the local
lake, we decided to just go towards the border and see what we could see. We found a large truck park that we thought
would be a likely spot but Dee was worried that we would be moved on during the
night, so we looked up a camping ground in the GPS and crossed the border to
enter Poland.
We found a different camping site in Suwalki before the
planned one and we thought that was good enough for the likes of us. Especially
at 8.30 at night.
Something about the camping signs we have noticed in the 2
days of being in Poland. The sign, for example, will point right and indicate
400m. Now this could mean turn right now and you’ll find the site 400m down the
road OR you can turn right in 400m. For us, these have been used
interchangeably, involving us to do U-turns 400m down the road when we don’t
see the site or 3 point turns 400m down side roads.
Sunday, 18 July
Dee came for a morning walk with me which was great. Those
good feelings were used up when Dee suggested that we stay another night which I
objected to (we have a few days spare but we are holding them in reserve for a
really cool place or because something unexpected occurs) which made me grumpy.
I then started to pack up the beds, have coffee and quickly check my emails
instead of having coffee with Dee outside in the morning sun. That upset Dee
and we had to have a bit of a talk and hug to sort it out.
Since most things are closed on a Sunday, we drove to Lomza
for the night and not have to worry about those annoying antique shops and museums.
The camping spot was amazing hard to find but an information board indicated a
camping site not too far away, so we took a roll of the dice to check that one
out. We found it but the owners had recently changed their minds and made it a
private residence………..
And Dee was looking to take a photo of a home with a bomb
shelter in the backyard. We did found one but it wasn’t in a good enough
condition for her…..
We finally found the original site and made home. I was
finally able to draw some Polish currency as too many places don’t use credit
cards. I must have been spoiled from our time in the Nordic countries where you
could card everything.
The site is near the local river/creek with a massive flood
plain. I was amazed at the large number of people who came to look at the slow
moving creek. They mustn’t get out much. Dinner was had a nearby bar that did
pizza and lemon beer. It’s the first time we ever had a Nutella pizza.
The day is ending with a thunder and lightning storm in
orange sky with rainbows.
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