Sand dune climb

Day 8 - Dead Dunes and Soviet nuclear missile base

We left our lovely quiet parking spot and had a quick drive round the nearby town Nida which had colourfully painted houses. We got back on the only road out of the spit, heading north.

We parked up to walk to Dead Dune, the designated area to view the dunes. The young man charged us €2 senior price for the walk. At first it was boardwalk which gave way to the dunes, then we had to adhere to a roped off way through and up the dunes, to minimise our environmental impact on their fragility. It was a mile which left my legs burning - it’s a while since I walked so far uphill in sand, in the rain. (Forecast is rain for the next 10 days so I hope that is wrong as we have lots we want to see). The view down to the lagoon and over all the dunes to the wooded areas was stunning so it was worth it.

We then headed for the ferry and after that Lidl for bread, salad, fruit. Our next stop was over an hour away on country roads. Google thought an untarred dirt road with lots of tramlines would make a nice shortcut - luckily only 6 miles as everything in the van was shaking.

Our day continued at the Soviet Cold War museum. We paid €10 for entrance to the museum, Saltojo Karo. It was surrounded by forests, now a national park. There were 4 silos which had contained nuclear missiles and we saw underground where everything was. Mr C was very interested and luckily for him everything was explained in English as well as Lithuanian. One room was dedicated to propaganda and displayed various posters. They also had the leaflets from many countries, including UK, which were sent to households to inform them of what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. I remember ours “Protect and Survive” it was called. While Mr C was in his bunker I and the children had to take the door off a cupboard and prop it up in front on the stairs. There we’d stay with water, potty and tins of beans till it was all over. The ridiculousness of it all prompted me to join CND. (If the children were at school they had to hide under the desks).

When we came out the sun was shining and we headed for our third visit. However we reached rain which was so heavy we decided to leave that for tomorrow and then find a P4N. The route took us for 10 miles over dirt tracks then we reached a pretty village with a lake, sandy beach and strange sculptures. It was almost 7pm when we arrived so it’ll be a quick pasta dinner tonight.

167 miles today. And 10,670 steps which is surprising.