TravelFEB 5, 2018

We Went 151,000 Steps In 3 Days By Lithuanian Coastline. From Latvian Border To Russian Border

1 Day

03:00 a.m. - very first question comes to our mind: Why? Why do we do that? What forces us to do that? Instantly the answer comes up: But why not? We can do it!

After some time we’re sitting in the car and driving 215 km from Kaunas to Klaipėda, the third largest city in Lithuania. Here we’re leaving our car near the ferry (from Klaipėda to Smiltynė). We jump into our friend’s car and heading north to the city Šventoji, which is close to Lithuania-Latvia country border.

08:00 a.m. Our long walk begins from the mark of Lithuania-Latvia border. Suddenly it starts raining. We quickly put on our raincoats. The weather must be kidding — we thought. But just after a half a minute, the sun comes up. With such relief, we start our journey, finally...

After about 13 km Palanga bridge appears on the horizon. Palanga is the busiest summer resort supplying of entertainment and noisy, frantic nightlife. So it’s not surprising that it’s trendy among local youngsters and tourists.

That means that our first-day half-road point is not so far (at least it seems like that). We continue walking. We walk.. walk and walk.. but the bridge won’t get closer. We start kidding that this might be just a mirage. Luckily it wasn’t, and we reached it. Here we’re taking a longer stop.

After some rest we start another half of our route. Truly speaking the first part of the coast was not so interesting to hike: there was not so much wilderness, the beach was quite flat, time to time we saw people, houses — we always felt civilization around us. But now when we’re getting closer to Karklė, the beautiful beaches become more wild and untouched. We’re starting to feel a shiver down our spines, especially when dark clouds surround us. It’s an amazing feeling when you’re alone in the wild.

18:40 a.m. We’re sitting on the bench in Karklė beach taking some beautiful pictures, near the cliff of the Dutchman’s Cap (a parabolic dune emerged 24.4 m from the sea) which is constantly eroded by the beat of the waves and falls to the seaside by the slant of 20-22 meters height. The map shows us that 6.6 km left to our first-night stay in Melnragė city. We stand up to cope with the last kilometers and tiredness.

Every kilometer counts when you're traveling on foot. Feet are burning more and more, and tights start soaring, the mind goes crazy. The only wish – hot shower and clean bed :) Mmmm... The best feeling ever! We know that soon we will GET IT! And that drives us to go forward. With such an emotional boost, we finally reach our destination and enter the hotel room at 08:00 p.m.

But there is a thing. We need something to eat. And guess what? We need to go to the store. Luckily we thought about that in advance. The shop is just around the corner. So we crawl down the stairs and in baby steps we get to the store. We take two pieces of steak and some Lithuanian white salad.

Back to the hotel room. We’re so hungry that we eat these steaks by our bare hands. Soon we fall asleep — without any warning.

2 Day

09:00 a.m. We’re waking up. Taking our breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Today we plan to get from Melnragė to Juodkrantė city. To do that we do need to walk 5.5 km through Klaipėda city and take a ferry to Kuršių Nerija - the Curonian Spit, narrow strip of land stretching 97 km along the Baltic Sea in western Lithuania. 50 km of this Curonian Spit belongs to the Republic of Lithuania, the rest to the Russian Federation.

02:00 p.m. We’re now in Kuršių Nerija - the gem of Lithuania, but one thing bothers us. From the early morning, Skyler feels the pain in the hip joint. We were hoping that it will disappear after warming up. But even after a slow walk to the ferry, the pain didn’t go away. So having a clear mind Skyler is taking a bus to Juodkrantė as it’s the best decision in a given situation.
The bus stop is just a few steps away from the ferry, and it runs every hour. You can get to the last town of the Curonian Spit in Lithuania, which is called Nida.

Skyler gives me a wave from the bus window and goes away. In less than half an hour she will be in a hotel. For me - about 20 km of hiking just begins.

07:00 p.m. Skyler meets me on the way to the beach of Juodkrantė. We’re getting back to the hotel. I quickly take a shower to refresh myself. Now we’re going for a walk in Juodkrantė - second largest city in the Kuršių Nerija, and it’s just 2 km long. It’s opposite of Palanga. Here you can relax, feel inner peace, connect with nature. It’s a perfect place for a calm vacation.

3 Day

09:00 a.m. We’re going to the local store to get some breakfast. We buy buckwheat porridge, a bit of prawn, and of course - coffee to boost our energy level and mood :) Today we plan to reach resort town - Nida. Nida is something in the middle between Palanga and Juodkrantė. There is a balance between noisy nightlife and calm evening.

12:00 a.m. We’re checking out the hotel. Today is very windy so we decide to go not by the beach, but by the bicycle path through the pine forest. Skyler is rested and full of energy to finish our 3 day hike.

About 08:00 p.m. finally we’re in Nida. The very last short break and soon we will be at hotel room. Truly speaking the last two kilometers were exhausting and lasted very long.

We’re extremely happy as we accomplished our goal!

The next day...

Do you think our story is over? Of course not! We’re keep going :) There’s still left a few kilometers until Lithuania-Russia border. And we definitely reached it!

More info: expraw.com