Last night we went over to eat stew with our Lithuanian neighbours. It was very kind of them to ask us over. The stew was delicious and was washed down with Lithuanian beer from a wooden tankard passed around the table in turn. It was interesting to talk to them and we learnt more about the Lithuanian people and their way of life. Thank you! It turned out that they were in Latvia to take part in a battle reenactment and were taking the opportunity of doing a days canoeing. They hoped to do 40 km on the Gauja the following day.
In the morning we exchanged contact details and took a few photos to remind us of the meeting.
Graham even got to try on one of the helmets while Marjool just giggled!!
Marjool was then given a gift by Egle (the pretty young lady!) which she had made herself including weaving the strap. It was lovely and so touching. We hope that they keep in touch and come and visit when we get home!
We were also sad to leave the campsite because the young lady (Lelde) who looked after us there was so nice too. We have invited her to visit us at home too. We hope she keeps in touch! Marjool forgot to spruce up her hair (no easy job!) before the photo … oh well you give up after a while don’t you?!
We finally left late after the goodbyes and headed onto the B roads towards Cesis. As soon as you get off the main trunk roads in Latvia, you are straight onto unmade roads. I wonder if they require less maintenance in the extreme cold. Lelde said that last winter it got down to -40c.
As we drove we saw so many nice old farms and buildings that we wanted to photograph …. far too many to put on the website.
Our next camping spot was again an empty campsite. It is right on the river again and has 5 volleyball courts on the sandy beach and you are provided with wood and free but slow wifi. This site was 10 Lat per night and has lots of lovely tracks along the river. One goes to an ox bow lake and is fed by a spring. We will go there tomorrow and fill some bottles of drinking water. It is nearly as good as Phil Harvey’s …. but not quite! After a walk we cooked dinner on the campfire … somehow it always tastes better!
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