Friday 01/06/2018
-----------------------------
Slept really well as the night was cooler than it has been of late. Got bitten by lots of mosquitos walking back from Nida last night so my legs, arms and neck are itchy and covered in lumps.
Had a very slow start this morning. Everything was fine but I just felt tired and fancied a lie-in. Went back up the Curonian spit and caught the ferry back across to Klaipeda. It was my favourite price (free) on the return leg.
After Klaipeda the road was dull. Miles and miles of empty plains and very few hills or other features. I actually found myself almost dozing-off a couple of times. Nothing of note really, but by 3pm I had crossed over another seamless border into Latvia. The roads, in the main, are noticeably worse than Latvia - all like B roads in the UK but with a bumpier road service. Got into Riga without issue, but got there just in time for the 5pm rush hour and I think that the entire city was busy evacuating to some lakeside retreats as the traffic was shocking. My filtering skills came in handy but I was sweating buckets. Drove around quite a bit, but again chose not to take photos and decided to take a gamble on finding a campsite North of the city in the Guijda National park rather than staying in the city.
I stopped and programmed some co-ordinates into the Sat-Nav and headed off. Pretty quickly it had me going down a rocky track. After 4 miles I bottled it and turned around. With bald tyres and a sportsbike, I would have come off eventually or got a puncture. I headed back to tarmac and stopped to re-programme the route to take me on the direct road to Sareema island in Estonia. I ended-up doing 20 miles on sand and rocky tracks trying to get to me chosen road. I thought that I'd never see tarmac again and it was getting late.... I searched for any campsites along my chosen route and the next one was 95 miles away and I was starting to regret my decision not to stay in Riga.
I rode on hoping that something would eventually turn-up. Sure enough, after a few miles on the tarmac I spotted a camping sign. I went for it, only to have to ride another 2 miles down another sandy track to the middle of bum-f@€k nowhere. I wish I still had my Tenere - it would have lapped this up! Finally got to the campsite which is actually kind of amazing (ignoring the mosquitos). After much misunderstanding I was finally allowed to set-up my tent - €6.
The campsite is situated right on the beach - it has a restaurant with stunning views. Enjoyed another neck-pork meal with some lovely dark ale. Perfect end to a very long day. I may have missed-out on the Riga night-life, but this is what it's all about. What's more I can now go direct to Sareema tomorrow and potentially save a day?
Mileage: 2190
Country count: 8 (GB, F, B, NL, D, PL, LT, LV)
Beers: 21
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 3/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (well 1 that didn't involve me)
Coldness: 0/10
No comments:
Post a Comment