We left Krapi Telkimisala, but not before a walk along the beach (with Suzie doing her bit to clean the place up — the beach was really surprisingly litter-free, so she just picked a but of flotsam that had come in on the tide), and a visitation from a German mega-monster of a camper van (more an expedition vehicle). The local lads just had to pull up beside it and take pictures!
Now we will reveal our alternate plan. Tallinn-Stockholm was a no-no, as was Rīga-Stockholm, but we had discovered a great alternative — Ventspils-Nynashämn, via a Stena Line ferry. They had space on all crossings! Ventspils (in Latvia) is about 150km west of Rīga, and Nynashämn (in Sweden) is about 60km south of Stockholm. It just meant that we got to see a bit more of Latvia!
We drove down the same back road in what was left to us of Estonia, and came out in Latvia at the same turn-off into which we had led the other cars only a couple of days ago. Driving southwards on the A1 we went through all the same pieces of road work that had prompted us to take our detour in the first place, and past the same 'art works' in the fields, and some cars that were even older than Gertie!
We got back to Rīga and drove through to its western outskirts, where we paused for a Macca's stop.
Dog-walking — never-ending, never thankless!
Dog-walking — never-ending, never thankless!
Leaving Rīga we were driving through beautiful tree-lined avenues — actually, more tunnels through the trees! — and out onto the road towards Ventspils.
On the way, the oncoming traffic was a continuous stream, and a lot of the cars were crowned with bike racks with two to four on- or off-road bikes on top. There must have been some sort of event near Ventspils, but we don't know what. The numbers on the bikes went up into the 2500s, so it must have been big!
We decided not to go the whole distance today, as our booking on the ferry was for one minute past midnight on August 18, so we had two days to get there. We aimed for a lakeside campsite at Spāre, about 30km short of Ventspils. When we got there, it looked superb — but there was nobody at home. We decided to simply park in the car park, and had a very pleasant evening surrounded by forest and near the lake.
Distance driven — today, 162 miles ( 261 km ); to date, 26,090 miles ( 41,988 km )
How fantastic holidaying along the coast of the Baltic Sea. Glad to see you are keeping up the walks on the beach in summer (on the other side of the world) . I just wish I was there enjoying it with you. Enjoy the summer warmth, it's quite cold in Melbourne.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see Neville and Sandy have joined your fan club again. I think you will get where you have to in Sweden and something especially good will happen because of the changed plans. Life is a great adventurre when you are not stressed out of your mind, I think. Gertie looks so happy. Keep safe, keep going and have lots of fun. Love Cathy and Sophie, who is with me because she's got the woozles and wheezles! Merri is just as bad, but bless her, keeps struggling off to work. I wish I could do it for her, but she is so much more capable than I am, even when ill. Little Astral is pure delight-David and I have quiet pleasure in resting her and just watching her when we are allowed.-we keep her apart from the 'woozley' ones!
ReplyDeleteWhy the chair in the paddock? Were they the same starlings on the line, frizzled? Yes Sue the PhD is all that is keeping me sane at presen and I have no time to let up at all. Love ya both Cathy
ReplyDeleteCathy -- go to bed! You need your sleep so the brain can tackle the PhD! Oh -- and happy birthday to Muff! As for the chair -- there were at least three of them, so suspect they might be some form of advertising -- we haven't yet seen any people large enough to sit on them!
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