Coastline Trek 2017

Little that I knew what this hike will be. My friends asked if I want to join them, so I did. It was the first hike in my life too. I was only worried about bad weather and rain. The hike took place in Smiltynė, the most part of the hike was on the coastline. The hike was called "Coastline Trek" and you had 4 options: 12.5km, 25km, 50km and 100km distances. We decided to take part in the 25km long one.

The weather was perfect. Nor was it too hot, nor was it too cold. The sun did shine a lot, had to use some sunscreen lotion on my head. The start of the hike was vivacious. A ferryboat took us to Smiltynė. In the starting position we were given our participant wristbands and a paper to put stamps on. There were 6 checkpoints in total. We also received a map with all the information and the route.

In every checkpoint there was a bus that would bring you to the start if you had no more strength to continue the hike. Some checkpoints also offered massages, food. In each checkpoint there was plenty of drinking water.

After passing half of the hike I understood that it is not that easy. The shoes were good, no blisters on the feet. The legs were ok for now too. The distance between the checkpoint varied, some were closer, some took more time to get to. We also hiked through some woods, sand and gravel and on bike roads.

The coordinators said that there were more than 7000 participants. Almost half of them have choosen the 25km distance. At the start the whole coastline was filled with participants.

So after passing more kilometers the legs started getting tired. Also after taking a break it looked like the feet forgot how to flex. I have also noticed that my shoes with a high top of boot were not that comfy when going downhill. Time passed the laughs were less and less. We asked each other from time to time how many kilometers were left. We were slowly approaching the finish line.

We have reached the last checkpoint and thought that the finish is not far away. But we later noticed that we were wrong.

Near the finish we saw other participants who happily took selfies with their medals. All of them had smiles on their faces.

As fast like turtles we managed to reach the finish too. The legs have became wooden by now. My back had also started aching, might be of the backpack. We received the awards and our smiles have also reappeared. The hike was fun, but the distance was quite long for the firt time participant.