60 TRAVELwww.volkswagencamper.co.uk
Campsite
neighbours
from Russia like
their VW - 4
kids - 2 adults
Nida
architecture
From bus to
splash was a 15
second dash
Village shop
Hill of crosses- a must see
It was on that beach that Gray the bus began to dig
himself into the soft sand, when I realised that I hadn’t
packed any recovery equipment. Oops! We reversed out
very carefully, trying to avoid any wheel spin. The tricky
bit is that the 4WD kicks in automatically but only when
the rear axle spins. Only then does the viscous coupling
engage the front axle. We took some photographs on
the beach and I was proud of the bus and its abilities. It
reminded me that it was close to its limits and packed
heavily weighing almost 2,500 kg for the holiday.
We continued west on empty C roads, mainly gravel
and sandy forest tracks at a good speed and produced
massive dust trails in our wake. We followed the
Lithuanian camping map which signposted small sites
near to lakes or rivers. We found a nice spot every night
where we could chop our firewood, start a fire, have aTRAVELBALTIC BLISSBBQ and sleep well. After many free wilderness pitches
(many offered covered seating and daily cleaned chemical
toilets) the lust for urban life dragged us towards Vilnius.
En route we halted for the mountain of crucifixes, near
Siauliai. The Russians didn’t tolerate crucifixes in the
1970’s and bulldozed the hill several times. However, the
Lithuanians rebuilt it until it was finally left untouched.
It was pouring with rain when we visited, resulting in
very few other visitors. Walking through the hundreds of
crucifixes in the howling wind and hearing the clanging
sounds as they bump into one another sends a shiver
down the spine...
Afterwards we headed rapidly to our next stop, the
water castle at Trakai. The village was packed withOnly when the rear axle
spins, does the viscous
coupling engage the
front axle.