Leaving my lakeside campsite I headed north to the city of Kaunas. I needed to get some camping gas, but I also wanted to visit a Soviet era nuclear bunker and museum. Unfortunately the bunker was closed, so I ended up just getting the gas. There is an old fort there and although I was tempted to visit, the car park was some distance from the fort and as the bike was fully loaded, I decided to venture north while time was on my side.
A little later I stopped at the ‘Hill of Crosses’ which is a large hill festooned with crosses. Situated about 12km north of Šiauliai, there are hundreds of large crosses, thousands of medium sized crosses and zillions of small crosses intermingled or hanging off the bigger crosses. People started putting crosses on the hill about 1831 and it’s now become a place of pilgrimage for many, including the rubber-lipped and lycra-clad Instagrammers.
If you ever stop here, don’t bother with the car park and visitor centre. It’s utter chaos and very busy. Just park on the road, nearer to the the crosses.
After that I headed west to the Žemaitijos National Park where there is a large lake and free camping. I arrived about 5pm and soon found myself a spot to camp next to a picnic bench and near the lake. The lake is surrounded by a large forest, and because of the trees the camping area is very peaceful with no breeze. There were people swimming in the evening, but alas, I had forgotten my swimming shorts…
Today was a long day, riding around 620kms, but it was a good day. This morning it was cool, about 16 degrees but by the mid afternoon it was up to 26 degrees. I started riding in the morning with extra layers and ended up with no layers and all the vents in my jacket open. I’m here now for two nights for some peace and quiet, plus some chill-time besides the lake before heading to Latvia.
