Find every Lithuanian campsite in one place.

Over a 7,500 km bicycle journey from Norway to Portugal, almost every day ended with the same question: where do I stop for the night?

I know the feeling when it's getting dark and you still don't know where you'll sleep.

In Sweden it rained for most of the ride. One evening, crossing a remote stretch, I got soaked through. It was only a few degrees above zero, the wind was strong, and I was shivering with cold. All I could think about while pedalling was dry clothes, hot tea and the warmth of a fire.

Then I saw a shelter. I changed into dry clothes and got straight into my sleeping bag. Everything around me was wet, but I found some birch bark and a little dry firewood, and got a fire going under the roof. An hour later I was sitting there warm, dry and happy. That evening I needed nothing more.

Another time, near Albacete in Spain, the evening was so beautiful that I stopped too late. The sunset was unreal, so I kept riding until I could see barely fifteen metres ahead in the dark. Then I noticed flashes in the distance. At first I took them for a plane, or a factory, but they had no rhythm and kept appearing in different places. I checked the forecast and understood that a huge storm was chasing me.

There was almost no internet. Some apps showed nothing, others showed everything except a place where I could safely spend the night. In the end I started going through the photos of places marked along the road. In one of them I spotted a shelter with a roof, tables and a water source. It was enough. I pitched my tent, watched the storm flicker across the sky for a while, and fell asleep almost at once. In the morning the tent was dry, I was rested, and the weather was calm again.

Nights like those taught me how little you really need: a place to sleep, food, water and beautiful surroundings. Outdoors, many of the things we tend to complicate every day become simple again.

But finding the right place wasn't always simple. I wanted one map that showed every place to sleep around me and further along the route. I wanted to see photos and know what to expect before turning off the road. More than once I rode an extra five kilometres only to find that a marked spot was no good for the night, or already taken.

Back home I understood one more thing: you don't have to leave your work, your family and your daily life for three months to experience what that journey gave me. Sometimes one free day is enough. Ride out to a lake, light a fire in the evening, fall asleep under the stars, wake up to birdsong and drink your coffee by the water.

That's how Uosis came to be. I want it to help a traveller on a bike find a place to rest, a hiker find a campsite along the way, and a family find a forest or a lake to spend a day by with the kids. And I want anyone to be able to leave a useful place behind for the next person.

Not so that every trip becomes a big adventure. So that it's easier to set out on a small one.

Mantas