Day 7 and the final stretch of my 888 km cycling journey along Lithuania’s border: starting from a rainy forest with an empty pantry and soaked gear, I pushed through wet, cold conditions towards Druskininkai — the “City of Salt.” Riding across endless sandy pine forests, I covered the last 100 kilometers to reach the rehab center, surrounded by healing mineral waters. Despite the rain, cold, and hunger, the idea of rest, recovery, and rejuvenation at the finish kept me moving forward. A powerful end to an unforgettable adventure.
A new day, a new morning. My bike is in the woods and I’m coming out of the woods. It’s raining slightly. It’s a light [Music] drizzle. The cuckoo is out there. and I’ll start riding the last h 100 to finish this trip when I’m about to start. All things packed. Just uh the tent itself was left. It started pouring rain. I might just wait out an hour or two because I’ll be more efficient without that rain. The rain is over. The tent is packed and I’m going out of the woods. I am ready to go out of the woods. I’m out of food, out of water. Approaching campsite. And uh the nearest shop is about an hour ride. It’s about 40 actually more 40 kilometers. About 1 and a half hours ride where I will get some water and some food. didn’t have time yesterday and the shops were too early for me to take to carry and then there were no shops. It’s not a big issue because a day before I had a feast with my family and we had a very large table. There is a chance of sun in about an hour but right now wet conditions. It was not supposed to rain, but I’m back in a rainsuit. My rain coat will help keep myself a little bit warmer. I’ve done about half of today’s ride, about 57 km left. That’s around 40 miles. And the last drizzle, which wasn’t supposed to be there, started. It’s getting cold as well. My feet are getting cold. But just two more hours and I should finish. This whole region region is just sand and only pine trees are growing here. This area is about 200 kilometers in diameter, maybe 150. And all you can find sand and pine trees. in this pine tree sand inhabited land in the middle of this region. There is a rehab center to which I’m going to. So I’ll be surrounded by sand. and pine trees to get well and to rejuvenate. Sometimes a wildfire comes, it burns out everything and sand is left. That’s why they make those small trenches in the sand so the fire doesn’t spread. Duskin is the town where I’m going to and that’s its name is derived from the word salt. In Lithuanian Duska is salt. Duskinka is a town of salt. Why it’s called that way? Because hundreds of years ago, people found mineral water streams which could be used for rehabilitation, for drinking. And it’s actually having a lot of healing power. And it’s not just you think it’s mentally healing, but it is actually healing. So that’s why I’m going there to get as much salt as I can. I am entering the city of salt. Although Duskinga is not a salt lake city, but it sits on salty water deposits. on a sandy soil where just pines are growing and you can see that pines are just everywhere. Pine trees are everywhere. It is a very green town as well. Lots of [Music] trees. Drisking is not just soul city. It is city to relax and to rehab and to [Music] rejuvenate. It’s a city to recoup.