With the Junior Inter-regional Championships cancelled due to foot and mouth, Colin and I made a late decision to form part of the East Anglian contingent competing in the World Masters Orienteering Championships in Lithuania at the beginning of July. So it was we joined our regional chairman Tim Eden and his wife Kim plus Clarissa Napier at Heathrow for our flight to Vilnius, the capital. On arrival, we had our first navigational problem of the week - find our hotel! A helpful tour guide who was meeting a Scottish O Tours group on our flight telephoned for two taxis for us. After some discussion over the piece of paper with the address, we set off in the direction of the city centre. A couple of circuits round the centre later, both taxis pulled up for the drivers to confer and have a smoke. Clarissa managed to locate another piece of paper with the telephone number of the hotel and the one of the drivers phoned and we were off again - this time to safely reach our destination a couple of blocks away.
Our next navigational challenge was to find a bar. This was accomplished with some ease and we rapidly discovered that beer was cheap - about 60p/pint. There are several Lithuanian breweries producing a number of decent beers of which we attempted to sample as many as possible during the week. This was helped by the fact that one of the event sponsors was a brewery and there was a beer tent in the assembly area on each day of the competition. Very civilised! Lithuanian society has a very definite beer drinking culture. Spirits are also cheap - there is little or no duty on any alcoholic drink. We saw virtually no wine during the week, although in the shops there were bottles from France, Italy, Moldova and Georgia. Tim, Kim and Clarissa had been organised enough to book bus tickets from Vilnius to Nida, the event centre on the coast 350 km away. The only problem was that it left at 7 am, so Colin and I decided not to try just turning up and catching it. We wanted a lie in. Our friendly hotel receptionist rang and booked us tickets on a bus departing at lunch time to Klaipeda, the main port on the coast near Nida. In general we found the Lithuanian people extremely friendly and very keen to help although language was often a problem. Thus organised, we set off to explore Vilnius. Vilnius has a distinctly central European feel to it with some beautiful buildings although in need of a coat of paint in some cases. It is reckoned to be the new Prague and is well worth a visit if you get chance.
The bus trip was a success. There is a good dual carriageway with the journey taking about 4 hours. The countryside was mostly grassland with the agriculture very extensive (as opposed to intensive) -hay making with horse and cart, raking into stooks, rarely more than 2 or 3 cows and then often tethered (including on the verge which is equivalent to tethering a cow on the side of A1!) There was some forest as well. From Klaipeda we had to get to Nida which is situated on the Curonian Spit. This is a narrow spit of land (ranging from 400m to 4 km in width) stretching 97 km down the Baltic Coast partly in Lithuania and partly in the Kaliningrad region of Russia, separated from the mainland by the Curonian lagoon. Our first problem was to get from the bus station to the ferry terminal. We were certain there was a bus but failed to communicate effectively so had to resort to a taxi. Even then we nearly finished up at the International Ferry Terminal and boats to Helsinki and Stockholm. There are two ferries that run from Klaipeda to the Spit and of course we got the wrong one! In fairness it was the one that we were advised to use for the competition but the public bus to Nida ran from the other one. This meant another taxi ride and this was the only occasion when we felt we had been ripped off. (It still only cost us £3 for the 5km ride). Anyway we caught the bus to Nida, a journey of 50 km south down the Spit, registered at the event centre and caught the bus 17km back north to Pervalka, where the campsite was. We immediately fell into bad company as the other 3 had decided to wait for us in a bar by the bus stop. A quick beer and we had the presence of mind to pitch our tent before returning for dinner and more beers.
Camping is not normally permitted on the Spit but special permission had been given for the campsite at Pervalka, a village of 40 households but boasting 3 bars/restaurants and a shop. This is holiday country and there were a number of holiday homes, many owned by Germans. The village had a Scandinavian appearance with wooden houses, many of them 80-90 years old. We were basically camping in the gardens. The Brits had been allocated the best spot on the campsite situated on the edge of the lagoon. No swimming though as the lagoon is heavily polluted. There was a block with toilet kept spotlessly clean and supplied with loo roll by the camp monitors, two showers and a kitchen equipped with 2 gas stoves, fridge/freezer, pots and pans. Positive luxury. The only problems were that the water smelt of hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs), so we drank bottled water and took a deep breath before showering. Being on the east coast, we got the sun first thing in the morning making it impossible to stay in your sleeping bag much after 6 am but at least it was cool at night. We ate out in the evenings either in Nida or in Pervalka. Food was amazingly cheap - we struggled to spend £10 between the two of us.
Sunday was the model event. On competition days an efficient fleet of buses ferried competitors from accommodation to event. The model was around Nida itself-a number of controls hung in the forest and a master map for you to plan your own course. The EA Famous 5 agreed to spend an hour in the forest before heading for the beach. For me this was a question of remembering what a map was and how a compass worked. The forest was lovely in the open but a bit East Anglian around the settlements of Nida itself. The beach turned out to be a long stretch of glorious sand well populated with holiday makers and orienteers. The Baltic is however COLD. After a refreshing swim, sandwiches and a spot of rest and relaxation in the sun, we decided it was time for..yes you guessed, a beer. We headed for the event centre to dump our gear and quench our thirst before the opening ceremony. We duly paraded behind the Union Jack carried by an upright member of the Lithuanian Navy. After the usual speeches, folk music and dancing, there was an absolutely breath-taking air display from a Lithuanian World Champion Stunt pilot. Monday was the start of serious competition. It had rained overnight and was overcast making good running conditions. Both qualification days were held near Smiltyne, close to the ferry terminal with the same assembly area for both days, separated from the sea by dunes. The forest was wonderful-open and runnable. I was pleased with my run but it was still about two thirds of the way down the field. It was such a fast area. The top 10 W65's were doing sub-10 minute k's! The second day was a bit of a disaster for me. I just could not get in touch with the map and was almost the slowest time of the day on my course. We started off north of the assembly area and then crossed the road into some nasty green areas. There were some complaints from those on the longer courses but I had a dead leg of over 1km which took me through the worst bit. It was a long track run in the heat but at least the forest on either side was pretty to look at. There were ample water stations - all supplying bottled water.
Wednesday was rest day. We opted to take a tour visiting the dead dunes-an amazing area of dunes devoid of vegetation which are gradually shifting. The views of the sea in both directions were spectacular. We then crossed to Klaipeda and a walk round the old town. The most spectacular building is the interior of the Post Office. A grotty tourist lunch followed and then we headed for Palanga and the amber museum. Palanga is a seaside resort on the Baltic Coast and is starting to become popular with the Germans. There are plans for high rise hotels and I suspect it will be ruined in a few years time. The amber museum is in a spectacular palace set in splendid forested parkland (mapped of course) running beside the beach. The area produces a lot of amber. It is apparently washed up on the shore and is mined in Kaliningrad. Everywhere there are stalls selling amber products of varying quality. There are 25000 pieces of amber in the museum - and I'm not sure I really want to see another bit.
And so to the final day. The finals took place at Juodkrante which my guidebook tells me is an splendid elk inhabited piece of forest. However, we saw no elk, only carved wooden statues which form part of a park known as the Hill of Witches. It seemed to have put a curse on the Brits as almost everyone dropped down the rankings from their qualifying position. Except for me but then I started nearly bottom so could only go up! Kim and Clarissa both qualified for their A finals and Tim was pleased to qualify for M45 B final. Colin just missed out and we had hopes that he might win the C final but in vain. The forest was again a delight to run in although the bilberry under foot made the going slower.
And now it seems a long way away. It was a great holiday. The orienteering was really enjoyable and it was so good to be out running again after all the months without orienteering. The weather was hot and sunny - reaching 30ºC by the end of the week. The proximity of sandy beaches and sea to the assembly area gave a real holiday atmosphere. I swam every day after orienteering. The Lithuanians were friendly and efficient hosts. The events were run professionally with an army of helpers wearing bright yellow organisers T-shirts. There were also control guards wearing green T-shirts to prevent vandalism of controls. It really was difficult to fault them. Colin and I had to leave straight away as we had to get back to the UK for a family gathering. Tim, Kim and Clarissa stayed for the closing ceremony and banquet. We had dinner in Klaipeda before catching the overnight sleeper back to Vilnius and our flight home.
But before I close I will just tell you the story of the left luggage lockers. We wanted to leave our luggage at the railway station for about four hours while we explored and dined, but could not fathom the mechanism of four knobs on both the inside and outside of the luggage locker doors. We did guess that the 15K written next to the coin slot meant fifteen kopeks, from days of Russian rule, but imagined that a conversion into litas would have taken place. A large railway lady with neither English nor German mimed and instructed in slow, loud Lithuanian that we had to buy a 15K piece from her, set a 4-digit code and slam the doors of the two lockers. Off we went for a blow-out meal, still not able to spend more than a tenner. Back at the station, Colin was sent to fetch the bags, re-appearing with a solemn countenance - neither locker would open. Convinced that a man must have made a mistake, I tried again - same result. At that point, a smaller railway lady arrived with a simple key, and unscrewed the barrel of the lock - setting off the alarm - to open each locker for us to retrieve our possessions, and then replacing the barrels for the next unsuspecting user. Another facet of underinvestment in a potentially thriving economy and beautiful country!
Lithuania stretches from central Europe to Scandinavia and has the characters of both - truly a memorable destination that would not have been on the West's itinerary without orienteering taking us there.
Lyn West (SOS)