Speeding Along The Spit

KLAIPEDA.

A minor panic this morning when Rosie couldn't boil the water for her coffee. Have we run out of gas? No, we forgot to turn it on last night.

It is May Day and thus a bank holiday locally. The ferry is busy as a result but, we learn later, the roads are very quiet.

2 euro take us and our bikes across the short strip of water over to Smiliyne on the Corunian Spit. The ferry lasts 10 minutes. We later learn that the fare is a return. The guidebook promises us lots of wildlife. 4 hours' and 26 miles of cycling later, we've seen a fat rabbit sunbathing and a swarm of flies. We stopped at Juodkrante for coffee and you couldn't move for the wretched things. The waitress tells us that they exist for 2 weeks' every May then die off. We started outside but were forced indoors. We commiserate with pancakes stuffed with bananas and dripping in honey. Delicious!

We call in at a couple of beaches on the return leg. The sun is shining but there is a cold wind blowing in from the Baltic.

We're back on the mainland by 4pm. Call at the shopping centre for provisions. Our final destination is about 10 km along the coast, at another beach. Rosie finally gets to see all the wildlife she has been hoping for; wild pig, fox, beaver, deer, cormorant and weasel. Unfortunately, they are all stuffed on the wall of the local bar!