Parnu-Riga

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I'm a tad disappointed this morning, as today was supposed to be an enjoyable day of sightseeing in the renowned old city of Riga. Alas, some deplorable weather set in overnight, and to my dismay had not abated when I woke. So it looks as though I am destined to spend the day indoors at the shopping centre instead. Yet another reason to be disappointed is that my tent did not perform as strongly last night and my sleeping bag and thermarest ended up a little damp in the morning. I'm praying for some dryer weather this afternoon so that my tent and sleeping bag can dry out before tonight, it doesn't look promising though.

So, to the riding. After staying the night in Parnu, I had a solid sleep in due to the soreness of my legs. Before departing I had a quick browse around at a vintage car show that was taking place next to the camping ground (It explained the extremely noisy start to the morning), which was pretty interesting and seemed to be very popular. I've come to realise that motorsports are very popular in Estonia, especially rally car driving. From there I felt like I needed to see the beach at least once, so I headed towards where I thought it would be. I was right in a general sense but it took a little bit of what I like to call creative bike riding to get there. So once I had gotten my photo on the beach, I made my way back towards the city centre (or what they called the city centre). There isn't really much there but there were some nice leafy parks and fountains and the like spread throughout which made for a nice ride to warm up the legs and let the butt readjust to the uncomfortable position it must get used to. So I think I left Parnu, in hope of reaching the border of Latvia in time to set up camp. The day turned out to be fairly odd, exceedingly difficult at some points but I really found my legs once I had crossed the border into Latvia by mid afternoon, and made good progress until I saw the ominous looking clouds starting to roll in off the coast. So I decided to make camp for the night, my first stealth camp. I pulled off the road just outside a small town called Salacgriva and found a secluded spot in the forest to set up my tent. Turns out I pulled off at the right time as the rain came down in droves. The storm that took place was of a serious nature, the thunder and lightning felt as though they were just overhead. The consolation I took though was that I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing my stuff as they would be crazy to be out in the forest under such hostile conditions. The rain came and went in about two hours and I was able to stay sufficiently dry, getting a good nights sleep ready to push the pedals again in the morning, hoping to make it to Riga.

The morning brought with it the sunshine that I hoped it would. It was a brilliant morning, fresh breeze but a warm sun. I got rid of my jacket and after filling up my water bottles in Salacgriva, I started on the days ride. It was undoubtedly the easiest morning I'd had, the wind was occasionally at my back and it felt as though the terrain was mostly downhill. I was making good progress and by the time I stopped for lunch had covered over half the distance to Riga. But, as I'm slowly getting accustomed to the afternoon was a drag to say the least. As I was creeping slowly towards Riga my legs began to feel the collective strain of the last two days on the road. The biggest challenge though, was finding the campsite. Being tired and hungry doesn't always lead to clarity of thought and I found myself struggling to read the map correctly. It did take me through the old city (which was lucky as I'm definitely not going to see it today due to the inconsiderate weather). I did eventually find it and got my tent set up and the indulged in a shower and a kebab for dinner (again nowhere approaching Australian kebabs). Needless to say it only filled a portion of the hunger I had worked up so to the supermarket I went to acquire a focaccia and a beer to finish off the meal. I made my way back to my tent just in time to avoid the first drops of the rain which unfortunately fell all night.

As I said earlier I woke to but more rain. The chances of it are seemingly disappearing with every passing moment as the rain gets heavier. It looks as though I may be confined to the shopping centre, taking advantage of the free wifi. I'm looking forward to getting on the move again, maybe tomorrow or the day after. I'm really enjoying the trip so far although if I were to make one alteration would be to do it with someone else, it just makes things easier, and you can bounce off each other both in the good times and the times of slight disappointment or frustration. Although time to yourself is always underrated in my books, having said that.

Anyway, I hope you are all fine and dandy and enjoying the warming weather in Australia as it gets cooler here.

Cheers,

Tikka

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