Ignalina is a small town on a lake in the north-east corner of Lithuania, close to the borders with Latvia and Belarus, and it is the starting point for Aukštaitija National Park, the oldest of Lithuania's national parks. The landscape is glacial: the ice sheets that retreated ten thousand years ago left behind a rumpled country of hills, hollows, kettle lakes and long ridges, with more than a hundred lakes in the park alone, linked by streams and surrounded by pine forest. The air smells of resin, and in summer, of hay and wild berries.
Ignalina has a slightly unusual history for a rural town. The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, a Soviet-built station with the same type of reactors as Chernobyl, stood nearby on the shore of Lake Drūkšiai, and the town of Visaginas was built next to it to house the workers. Lithuania agreed to close the plant as a condition of joining the European Union, and the last reactor was shut down in 2009. The plant's decommissioning continues, and the district has had to find a new way of making a living, with tourism and forestry taking up some of the slack.
The riding here is quiet, flat to gently rolling, and often along roads that run between lakes and forest with long, easy curves. It is not a place for adrenaline, but it is a lovely region for a leisurely day. The surface is generally good on the main roads, with some patched sections, and the side roads can be gravel, particularly in the national park. Elk, roe deer and wild boar cross the roads, especially at dawn and dusk, so keep your speed down. In summer the evenings are long, with light lasting past ten, and the winters are cold and snowy.
The region has its own customs and food. The local cuisine is Lithuanian, with potato dishes such as cepelinai, the large stuffed dumplings, along with smoked fish from the lakes, dark rye bread, and cold beetroot soup in summer. Beekeeping is a strong tradition in the area, and a small museum in the nearby village of Stripeikiai shows the old hollowed-log hives. Honey and mead are on sale in the town and at roadside stands.
Ignalina is a real town of about six thousand people, with fuel stations, shops and cafes, so there is no difficulty in stocking up. Prices are modest, and card payments are widely accepted. Summer is the best season for riding, though late May and September are quieter and the forests are beautiful, with mushrooms for sale along the roadside.