PADDLER 106
The sandy cliffs characteristic of the River Ula
PADDLER 106
The sandy cliffs characteristic of the River Ula
(‘ the eye of the Ula ’) where the water could be seen swirling up through the grey sandy bed to feed the Ula , and Dasha tried out her Life Straw water filter ( thereafter using it for river water !). The Gruda is similar but narrower and more meandering . We saw many kingfishers , herons and frogs on both rivers and often heard woodpeckers drumming . These shady rivers were noticeably cooler than the more open and slower-flowing Merkys .
THE RIVER MERKYS
The Merkys is a much wider , mellow , straight-running river with occasional large , rounded boulders . With fewer trees in our way , we were easily able to cover over 30km in a day , although there were few obvious get-outs . Here , we saw an otter , an osprey , a great white egret and goosanders . We stopped to explore the historic village of Perloja , where there is a monument to Vytautas the Great ( 1350 -1430 ), a ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and revered as a national hero . There is a slalom course where the Merkys reaches the village of Puvociai .
SLALOM COACHING FROM LITHUANIA ’ S NATIONAL CHAMPION !
To our astonishment , the person driving us to the river each day turned out to be the Lithuanian slalom champion , Mantas Atmanavicius . After our paddle on
Fran leading the team down the Ula near Zervynos the Merkys , he returned in the evening and ran a slalom coaching session for us on the course .
THE RIVER NEMUNAS
The Nemunas is a major river that rises in Belarus and flows through Lithuania , then forms the border of Lithuania and Russia . It is Lithuania ’ s largest river and is navigable for most of its length . We paddled it for only a short distance after the confluence of the Merkys , ending our expedition at the ancient settlement of Merkine , a hill fort and the site of a 14th-century castle with extensive views over the river and National Park .
REFLECTIONS
It was a pleasure to paddle these relatively pristine , wildlife-rich lowland rivers , with a noticeable absence of plastic litter compared with many UK rivers . Our group was made up entirely of kayakers , although our club includes canoeists . We gave some thought to whether it would be feasible to paddle these rivers in a canoe . The large number of fallen trees and tight meanders on the Ula and Gruda would make this difficult . At the end of our visit , Pranas and Mantas told us that they wished more of their clients were enthusiastic paddlers like us .
THE SPA TOWN OF DRUSKININKAI
At the end of our trip , the group spent a couple of days in the spa town of Druskininkai . This town boasts a swimming lake , a water park with slides of varying degrees of difficulty , several spas , an illuminated musical fountain , and a cable car ride over the Nemunas River – a fitting finish to our expedition .