Leaving my lakeside campsite at the Žemaitijos National Park in Lithuania, I headed to the city of Riga in Latvia. It could have been a short and easy journey, but I took the long route instead…
I could of ridden a direct route and been in Riga by lunchtime, but I wanted to see what was on the coast so I headed across-country towards Leipaja and then North Sea coast. And I’m glad I did because the ride to Leipaja was perfect, with nice roads, small villages and the perfect scenery. I stopped when I first saw the sea poking through the trees as it was my first glimpse of the North Sea for over four months. After a quick break next to the sea I headed north again.
I stopped for lunch at Ventspils, which is a small and colourful town. Its also a ferry port and I was really tempted to jump the ferry to Sweden, but decided to continue the journey as I intended. After lunch – a Twix and a Bounty – I headed to the northernmost tip of Latvia, which is Cape Kolka. At the onset of WW2, Latvia invited Russia to build a garrison in this area, so in 1939 around 29,000 Russian Troops marched-in to help secure Latvia, building sea defences, batteries and airfields. The Russians maintained a garrison there until around 1991, and strategically it was quite important as it guarded the approaches to Riga.
After visiting Cape Kolka I headed to Riga, reaching my campsite on the outskirts just after 5pm. The traffic was quite heavy towards the end, especially near the campsite which is located on a major road. I couldn’t turn left so had to ride a few miles further up the road to make a turn. Also, there was a lot of military activity today, especially with several convoys of armoured vehicles on low-loaders. Some impressive kit.
I’m staying at Camping Zanzibara, which is 20km south of Riga. It’s 15eu a night but it’s a beautifully small and peaceful site with excellent facilities, and for an extra few euros, I could even have a sauna. I gave that a miss as I’ve had enough of heat for a while. Today’s ride was around 475kms, and took me most of the day.
