Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening

Just after going to bed last night it started to rain , no surprises there but we were ready for it this time. It was long until the thunder and lightning started and within minutes the storm was raging right above us. I'm usually a lover of storms but I have never been so frightened in my life. The claps of thunder were so loud that the ground shook at it really hurt my ears. Even with my eyes shut, the lightning was really bright. Within about half an hour I suddenly realised that I was laying in a pool of water. The polythene cover had worked but the rain was so torrential that it had pooled on the ground and, as we were on the downward end of the pitch, was coming in from under us. I checked on the children – Alex as usual was still asleep and Shannon was laying awake (but dry at least). the storm must have raged for about 4 hours, then died down for a while. Chris took the opportunity to go to sleep but I was too worried and ended up being awake nearly all night. The rain had stopped by morning so we took our time packing up in order to try and get the sleeping bags dry (again!).


We set up the 'crap nav' for Warsaw and were on our way. The intention was to spend a whole day there and camp nearby. It was a really crappy journey. We were all really tired (apart from Alex), Chris and I were suffering from eating something dodgy the night before and I had a screaming backache from sleeping in a wet bed. The outskirts of Warsaw looked very grim, but as we neared the old town it started to look like a promising place to spend some time. We parked up and set of to walk to Rynek Starego Miastra (the old town square) but I was feeling bad and needed a drink and, as usual, Alex was hungry so we sat down at the first restaurant for the kids to have some soup and us just water (tummies still feeling bad). It was a real rip off – the served iced tap water and charged the equivalent of £1 a cup.


We soon reached the square. The centre of Warsaw was destroyed during World War II and the network of streets in and around the square has been painstakingly reconstructed. It looks very beautiful but it was absolutely mobbed and also full of 'tourist tat' hawkers. In my sensitive state, I have to say I didn't really enjoy it. Chris particularly enjoyed all the busker's lamenting Jewish fiddling music!


While in Warsaw, Chris picked up a map of campsite's in Poland. We decided to set out on the road to Krakow and camp along the way. Chris picked the best site for the route we wanted to take, the intention being that the following days drive would be shorter and less boring for the children. En-route we stopped at a couple of local shops to get stuff for tea. The kids were really amused that I'd mimed chicken to the lady in the shop because I wanted eggs.

We arrived at said campsite and I went in to see if they had a cabin (rain was brewing for a change and our tent was still wet from last night). The lady didn't speak English but gestured me into her office and got me to type my request into the computer and used her translation software. She then gave me the keys to they cabin and pointed in the direction it was. It took us a while to find it as there was no rhyme nor reason to their numbering. To put it mildly, it was a shithole! It was covered in graffiti – beds and all. The whole cabin smelt of damp and it was really creaky. Still, we told ourselves, it's warm and dry.


Chris, by this time, was exhausted and had a nap while I got the stuff ready for dinner and made a cup of tea.

[chris/]

I was exhausted from lack of sleep in the thunderstorm and the long drive and had been pushing myself to reach camp. I helped unpack the bedding, clothes and tea stuff but then needed to lie down as I was ready to drop. Unfortunately I should have made the effort to apply some mossie cream then, as when I awoke half an hour later for tea I had a cluster of four bites down one side, a number on my ankles and a fetching trio on my forehead that made it all lumpy.

Our neighbour from the next door shack popped by and was highly amused that we were barbecuing on the porch – we'd put a disposable barbie on the Campingaz rings. He then gave me a warm can of Polish lager saying it was good and very strong at 5.7%. I think he'd had a couple already. I gave him a cold bottle of Latvian beer (offered instead of Lithuanian beer in case of neighbourly rivalry, but a paltry 5%) and we chatted as best we could with our non existent Polish and his limited English, which was quite good considering that he was a motor mechanic. When our sausages, eggs and beans were ready we decided there were less mossies inside so we retired to there.

I was still exhausted and shortly after tea I went to bed, shortly followed by the kids. This was only about 8.30 pm. Our friendly neighbours were enjoying their holiday, and shrieking drunkeness awoke us at varying times till the early hours. Mustn't grumble, they were on holiday too and weren't to know how tired we were and how ill we felt from the undercooked pork rustled up the night before.

Castles and statues

Trakai Lakes & Castle

We woke up to SUNSHINE! What a surprise – it's not something we have seen a lot of on this trip. We decided to drive the 10 minutes into Trakai and have a leisurely walk around the insular castle(known as the Island Castle) and eat lunch at a restaurant.

Trakai is the former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was founded in the 14

^th Century and the insular castle stands on an Island in the lake. There is another castle on the mainland called the Trakai Peninsular castle which is now just the ruined walls. This was thought to have been built by Duke Kestucio. Trakai itself is home to the Karaim, members of a Judaic sect whose ancestors were bought here from the Crimea by Grand Duke Vytautas to serve him as bodyguards. Around 200 of Trakai's inhabitants are Karaim, who recognise the Old Testament but not the Talmud. They are Lithuania's smallest ethnic minority, the street running along the castle is composed of their buildings.

There are two wooden footbridges leading over to the Island Castle.

This is one of Lithuania''s most famous monuments. Built in the 15^th Century by Duke Vytausas, under whose rule Lithuania reached its pinnacle of power, it fell into ruin in the 17^th Century. It was restored to it's former glory in the 1960''s. There was some excellent architectural drawings on exhibition showing various stages of its rebuilding. It also house an exhibition of 'smokabilia' the second we have seen in Lithuania. It's not surprising they are all obsessed with smoking – they are so cheap!

We then adjourned to a nearby restaurant for kibinas, the local specialty dish of mincemeat pastry – very similar to a Cornish pasty. It would have been much more enjoyable if we hadn't had to put up with being dive-bombed by half a dozen wasps. Alex spent the whole meal leaping up to get away from them.

It was such a lovely day we decided to return to the campsite to let the children spend the afternoon swimming in the lake – and enjoying the very expensive water slide – while we set up the tent to dry off and had a cup of tea. We treated ourselves to dinner at the campsite restaurant. Alex was disappointed with his potato pancakes and salmon as the salmon was raw. Shannon was quite surprised when she got here crispy chicken – it was coated in cornflakes! Chris and I really enjoyed our sea pike dish and a couple of glasses of local beer.

What a difference to have a day of sun!

Witch wood

I woke at some ungodly hour this morning to torrential rain. No surprises there then but I lay awake for ages worrying about how wet our bedding would get while the rest of the family snoozed away. We had agreed on an early start as we had a long way to go to Vilnius so I woke them up and, surprisingly, for a change there was only a couple of minor puddles inside the tent. However, it was still pouring so we packed up quickly and went to the cafe with our breakfast pastries to get a hot coffee.

We were soon ready to set off and made our way along the Curonian Spit until we reached Juodkrante where we knew there was a woodland exhibition of witches, dwarfs and demons. We were keen to get some pictures for Aunty Janet so, despite the still pouring rain, we parked up and trekked up through the woods. It was about a five mile walk and each time we rounded a bend in the path we came across amazing wood carvings either depicting the way of life in the village or witchy things (or maybe that is part of their way of life?). Wet to the skin we made our way back to the car, buying some smoked fish from one of the houses along the way. Most of the occupants seem to have a little fish shop business going on – even one house which had recently had a fire (having no roof left) was still occupied downstairs and open for business.

Fish face, and a statue...

We headed off on our drive to Vilnius, pleased that we had taken the walk despite the weather. We stopped at a motorway services along the way and decided to order lunch. We were very pleasantly surprised by the food. For 44 Lt (£10), Chris had a smoked herring and hot potato salad and the kids and I had freshly cooked omelette's and bread with drinks all round. All of it was cooked to order – such a nice treat.

The trip was really grim because the rain just kept on coming. I had earmarked a campsite about 25km away from Vilnius itself, on the banks of the lake at Trakai and overlooked by Trakai Insular Castle. It was a fantastic setting. Due to the damp state of our tent and sleeping bags (again) we booked a room for the night. It was very basic – imagine a large box, walls and ceiling lined with dark tongue and groove, with a chocolate brown carpet! Still, it was warm and dry and there was plenty of room to hang up our wet gear to dry out.

We set out for the supermarket for provisions for the evening and by lucky chance, came across a DIY shop who sold polythene by the metre. We are now in possession of a 4m x 6m polythene cover for our tent – classy!

Tea and a movie saw us all ready for a well deserved early night.

Dune

Today dawned fine and, as usual I was awake way before the rest of the Fords so I took the opportunity to finish my book as Chris has been moaning that he has run out and wants to read it. Eventually, being a bit bored of my own company, I woke everyone else and we decided to forgo showers and head straight for the beach. The kids were straight in the sea but Chris was still tired and needed a bit of coaxing/baiting from Alex before he ventured in. Knowing it would be freezing, I elected to stay by the bags.

No sooner had Chris had his dip the heavens opened and it pelted with rain. We rushed back to the camp to take in the washing and put all the bedding from the tent into the car. Needless to say, we were not chuffed. Chris particularly is getting really down about the weather (it may have come across in previous posts!). We decided to gear up with our waterproofs and walk into Nida to have lunch and decide what to do from here on in.

We sat down at a nice restaurant we had seen yesterday and perused the menu. It was a bit pricey for lunch but, what the hell, we needed cheering up. Chris had catch of the day with rice and salad and I had squid and mussels with rosemary roast potatoes – it was gorgeous and made us feel much better.

We have decided to continue with our itinerary, despite the crap weather, but our first step in Vilnius will be the camping shop to buy a new tent.

[chris/]

The morning saw a visitor to camp Ford, a cicada (or we think it is, it's a big cricket anyway) who's chirruping days were over as it had lost one of its back legs.

After lunch we decided to explore the dunes that lay south of the town and stretch beyond the border into Kaliningrad which is part of the Russian Federation. The dunes below Nida tower above the footpath that leads out of town, perhaps 20m high.

The area was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 2000, and the authorities are keen to avoid erosion from tourism and climbing the dunes and straying from the paths is strictly prohibited. Vanessa had to return to camp to see to the drier and took Shannon with her. Alex and I continued along the path down to the lagoon shore which we followed around till we reached the border. Alex thought we could swim around to get past the post and chain link fence but I was a bit concerned with thoughts of mines and hidden border guards cradling their Kalashnikov's.

Around the headland beyond Alex is the border.

You can see the fence running in front of the clumps of trees.

Having worked up an appetite I settled down with a bottle of Arsenal beer.

And for pudding we shared a Swedish bar of Plopp which is a bit like a Caramel bar. 'Would you like a nugget of my plopp?' I asked, oh how we laughed.

Finally no camping trip in Europe would be complete without some story about the Germans. 'Das Rollende Hotel' pulled into camp, which I guess translates as The Rolling Hotel. The front is your normal coach that National Express use, but it pulls a coach sized trailer that contains 3 tiers of accommodation which must be like those coffin sized bunk rooms you get in Japan. Except in a tin trailer with a little tiny window. I may just wash in the bowl as there could be a run on the showers in the morning. And they laid out 3 bench rows of tables complete with plastic blue and white gingham check tablecloths and then barriered the area off with plastic warning tape in case anyone dared interrupt their Teutonic feast!

Curonian Spit

Our second morning in Latvia started with YET MORE FUCKING RAIN! Thirteen days so far and it didn't rain in England on day one and Holland/Germany on day two but we've had some form of rain every day since. Arrrrggghh!

On the plus side we'd managed to dry all our bedding, the tent and wash the dirty clothes and pack everything away.

One reason for coming to the Kuldiga area was to see it falls. They make the tourist books and after all the recent rain should be impressive. However the camp girl said they are down a very bad road in Kuldiga, and having briefly visited a good road there didn't fancy a bad road in a Volvo sitting low with all the camping gear in the back. Perhaps we'll come back next year in a 4x4.

As we were ahead of schedule trying to outrun the rain we decided to head to Nida on the Curonian Spit on the Lithuanian coast. This 97 km spit separates the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Bay. The top 52 km belongs to Lithuania, the bottom bit, just below Nida where we were staying, belongs to Kaliningrad which is Russian and requires visa's to visit.

First stop was Klaipeida and the crap nav directed us to the most run down, shabby city centre yet. I parked but really didn't feel like stopping, think high rise Lakes estate but with huge potholes, so we followed our own directions and ended up only a few kms away, but another world, in the old town. Vanessa went and got some cash out, and we ate lunch at Memelis, an awesome micro brewery/pub/restaurant where I had sausage and sauerkraut with a small lager, Alex had goulash soup and the girls had 'Zeppelins', potato dumplings stuffed with pork.

Sated we headed out and found the ferry to the spit.

The dense trees, sandy soil and chirping cicada's reminded us of Greece. That, the sunshine and the rise in temperature to a more respectable mid 20's instead of mid teens we'd had. Nida was packed but charming and we had a walk along the harbour on the western lagoon side of the spit, followed by a walk on the beach on the eastern Baltic Sea side.

Cowey and Mooey!

Sunday morning was sunshine and quietness.

We don't know whether our hosts were in bed or out but there was no sign of them when we packed up and headed to Ventspils. In Michael Palin's New Europe series he visited Venstpils as there was a huge radio dish built to intercept radio signals during the cold war. Unfortunately it wasn't on the tourist map and must be well tucked away in the densely wooded areas for we couldn't find it. What we did see, though, was a signpost to the 'Castle of the Order of Livonian Knights'. That sounded intriguing and vaguely Pythonesque so we decided to visit there instead.

This was one of the oldest medieval fortifications in Latvia, dating back to 1290, although it has been remodeled and extended through the years the central defense tower is still a key feature including an 'arms passage' which was a narrow brick stairway from the knights bedroom to the battlements.

In the grounds there was the opportunity for the kids to try archery.

And to put a rogue in the stocks.


Ventspils main function has been a busy port and the opposite bank to the castle was pure industrial.

The soviet era housing looked a bit severe too.

But to make us MK'ers at home there are a number of cow statues that adorn the town, maybe they should twin the towns.

We headed onto Kuldiga and passed a lakeside campsite on the way that Vanessa had previously got the details for. We tried Kuldiga first to see what it was like, it was a dump, not just potholed roads but dirt roads except for the in and out. So we turned round and headed back to the lakeside camp. As we were carrying wet gear again we rented a cabin, but first we had to wait for a function to finish. It must have been a village fete or similar; loads of locals and marquees, loudspeakers, pa's and europop. Still, the wait allowed us to set up the tent and it dried pretty quickly.