The first 8 days of cycling were done, the asses started to hurt and we crossed into Latvia, country no.3 of that cycling itinerary. Our plan for Latvia was to cycle inland until Riga, head to the Baltic Sea coast and enjoy good weather, swim in the sea & camp at beaches. Out of our 8 days of cycling in Latvia, 7 days were full of heavy rain and dangerous storms. It was by far the hardest part of that trip and there is nothing more uncomfortable than laying inside a tent where everything is wet.
Day number one started really nicely though! We met Antra and her husband Peter, a super lovely Latvian-Dutch couple with amazing dogs & cats. They invited us for a tasty dinner and we slept a night at their place. We learned a lot about Latvia and finally got a very good quality of sleep.
The day after we cycled through heavy rain to Riga where we spent 2 days. The capital of the country really is a beautiful city with one of the prettiest old towns in Europe and amazing architecture. It was my second visit after 2015 and the city changed a lot within those years. Alberta Street is my favorite part of the capital!
We headed to the coast then, where we had to fight constantly with terrible weather conditions. We did a mix of wild camping and campsites, the latter was a safer option and helped us to hide from storms. One later afternoon when we were about to set our tent in a forest, a huge tree fell because of the strong winds just next to us. Sometimes the wind was so strong that we did not sleep in the night, the tent was literally flying away with us inside. Unfortuenelty it got some damage as well..
I think it is needless to say that the cycling itself was not much fun either. We were wearing our rain jackets constantly and whenever the rain was so strong we couldn't see anything, we were hiding on the side of the road under our plastic tarp. The landscapes were actually beautiful, an interesting mix of empty (not only because of the weather :D) beaches and thick pine tree forests. I guess with good weather it would have been an amazing section of the route.
Despite the constant fights with Mother Nature, it was an interesting experience and we valued every dry hour with appreciation. Don't get fooled by the photos, I only took photos when it was dry or sunny for an hour a day :D
3 Highlights:
- Riga, a really beautiful European capital
- Wild beaches and empty coast section of Northern Latvia
- Staying with Antra and Peter in Jelgava
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| Visited places in Latvia |
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| Day no.1 at the border, the only sunny day |
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| Sun flower field in a village |
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| Blankenfelde |
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| Every former USSR had a nation drink, this is Latvia's |
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| With Peter & Antra and Chico on my arm |
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| Chico, the over-friendly American Bulldog |
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| In Jelgava |
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| Entering Riga |
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| Freedom Monument in Riga |
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| Indians doing Indian things :D |
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| Riga Old Town |
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| All towns of Latvia |
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| Alberta Street |
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| Blueberry pancakes with Twarog |
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| Reaching the coast |
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| A sunny hour in Tuja |
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| Campsite just next to the sea |
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| Finally able to dry our stuff |
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| There are maaany wild beaches like this one, the plan was to camp there |
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| Camping on a football pitch |
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| It was too rainy and windy, we had to cook on the toilets |
