74.54km – 10H02’
Altitude : 80m
Rain – humidity – cold = 3 ingredients to plunge the morale to zero.
Even if we change from route A14 to 118 at km 6, we are still progressing in a straight line. We will have 160 km of straight road and no change of direction until km 60, as we approach Kupiskis.
A sour note for Serge: the shoulders are uncomfortable and canted, which bothers his knee; but he doesn’t want to risk running on the asphalt, even if the traffic is not too heavy, because the vehicles go fast and the drivers could pass and hit him.
At 10:30 Serge has a conference call with the 800 advisors of the UFF (Union Financière de France), who have a plenary session. He answers a few questions, in the shelter of the vehicle because of the rain.
There are a great number of ponds and lakes in Lithuania, tucked away in woods of pine and birch, the most common variety of tree.
The Lithuanian countryside is a mystery. We don’t see any farms or agricultural cooperatives but there are tiny farms with a few hens, a cow and/or horse. There are small parcels of cultivated land in the midst of green pastures without cattle. René thinks that these pastures are for growing hay. We ask ourselves about rural life here: no cattle and no crops like we saw in Eastern Europe. It’s true that 11.5% of the territory is part of different protected parks, in which one isn’t free to do what one wants, so nature and the ecosystem are protected.
Serge is worn out by this road, by the weather and his face shows signs of fatigue. Ludo is frozen, monotony overtakes René, who loves change, encounters and more than anything, sunshine, which has been sorely lacking since we arrived in this country on May 1. But it doesn’t keep the birds from singing, the storks from sitting on their nests and us from hearing the song of the cuckoo.
I tell Serge that he seems motivated today. He replies “I’m motivated every day, otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” just as there is a break in the clouds at the end of the stage!