Great days riding. fast A roads, reasonable riding surface, sweeping bends and blue skies. In the saddle all day, 280 miles and bum numbness not withstanding a real joy.

Because of the required miles, we ate on the road (Hot dogs, Mcdonalds and chocky bars - just what your growing healthy biker needs !)

We had a few rounds of good luck...Saad sailed past a speed trap at breakneck speed just as the Policeman was busy booking someone else, I had a call that could possibly have required a flight home only for it to be a false alarm and of course there's the Honda dealership which Saad really will tell you about when/if he can be bothered.

Arriving in Vilnius was...unfortunate. We managed to come in up the "back passage" and I know that Saad felt that my judgement was poor - I was the one that said that Vilnius was a great place to spend our rest day. The run down roads, barred up shops and general feeling of destitution was not good. This was made a million times worse when we encountered "Stalag 4-4" our chosen accommodation for the stay. This, ladies and gentlemen, is where East met West (Slade prison met Cell block H). Fortunately the warden, sorry receptionist, made us feel so unwelcome - 280 miles only to be as welcome as a bucket of #$%. Joy.

With a heavy heart we checked in, de-loused and made Cell 7 our home. We are so confident that the bikes will be nicked that we thought better of lubing the chain "I dont want the thieves having nicely oiled chains" was Saad's comment.

Dinner and beer was in the stunning old town (there is no New Town - like a numpty I asked) which introduced us to the real Vilnius and today has been a mixture of strolling around, acting like tourists (see the picture below) and chatting.

We will do some basic maintenance on the bikes (assuming they are still there) and then its off to Latvia tomorrow.

Richard