Team Lada had left the day before and was still on their way when we left for Latvia after an extremely rainy night. Our first destination was Pärnu, the next big city on the way to Riga. Here, in addition to the classic organization stuff, we also wanted to look for new running shoes for me - the old ones had given up after a good 900 km - and shoes/rubber boots for Jonathan. Interestingly, we found what we were looking for pretty quickly and there was a lot of shoes for little money. Jonathan's yield was also enormous. At the purchase and sale we found a pair of rubber boots and a pair of Crocs for him for 1€ each.
Then it was off to the laundromat. This made a good first impression. The washing went quickly and the laundry was reasonably clean. However, we needed a whopping 5 dryer cycles of 25 minutes each until the laundry was finally dry. This was due to the extremely dirty dryers, but unfortunately there was no alternative, because we couldn't possibly dry a whole load of laundry in the bus with the parking heater.
A little south we found a nice place near the beach before we drove to a small forest lake just before Riga the following day. Riga is definitely worth visiting. We drove with Zacharias to the bus station (where else...) and parked there in a parking lot. As soon as we arrived, a parking ticket controller wanted to issue us a ticket when I was just at the machine to pay. It started well...
We strolled through the city for a few hours and were able to see a lot, as the sights are concentrated in the old town. The weather had suddenly improved when we left the parking lot and there were only short showers, but with lots of sun in betwen. When we got back to the parking lot, Zacharias was still standing unharmed where we left him and headed into Guaja National Park.
For the night we found a beautiful spot right next to the Guaja. The next day we took a short hike to the Ērgļu klintis, beautiful sandstone cliffs just off the Guaja. And I have to say, almost a bit like at home in Saxon Switzerland 😉 After the short hike, we looked for something to eat in Cēsis and then continued towards the southeast. A self-catering farm was recommended to us by Sebastian and Alessa where you can just let your soul dangle, similar to Michael's, called Upes Dizvietas. And for the children, animals were of course a special highlight.
We arrived quite late in the evening and we were not used to driving in the dark. In Latvia there are almost no streetlights in the villages and the forests are dense and dark. We were happy about our lightbar - the 300W provided the necessary visibility. The next day the weather was wonderful, there were freshly baked rolls and homemade goat cheese. That's how it was for the next 3 days and it was exciting to get to know the farm, Sebastian, Alessa and Lillith. But finally after 4 days, it was time to move on and we said goodbye.
Our next destination was Vilnius. We did it similar to the last two cities and looked for a parking lot that was quite central. In this case directly at the Gediminas castle tower. From there, we explored the old town on foot. Vilnius is also beautiful, housing an incredible number of churches of different conventions and different eras. We felt very comfortable here, but had to move on again in the late afternoon and find a place to sleep.
We drove close to Senoji Varėna, where we went again the next day on the TET (Trans Euro Trail) to the Polish border. And it was worth it. The trail was very nice to drive, even if you had to shift into 1st gear from time to time. The only thing that wasn't so nice were the washboard track of the worst quality in between. About 30 km from the Polish border, less than 5 km from the Belarusian border, we found a beautiful place on the shore of a lake where we spent two nights. When I was overtaken by the third military vehicle of the Lithuanian army while running on the main track, it stopped and the soldiers wanted to know what I was doing here. I tried to explain that unfortunately I have my passport on the bus but the bus is at the lake and I only do sports. They suggested that I take the direct route back and have my pass with me in the future. Well, the round was a bit shorter this time 😉 The next day we drove the last part of the trail to Poland over long sand tracks without much washboard tracks.
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