I woke at 5:30 am as the wind pummeled my tent. Muzzy with sleep, I thought how much easier my day would have been if I could have packed up dry. It took me a while to realize, “It’s not raining yet”. Eventually, I slowly burst into action. I packed my gear and relocated it to the shelter provided with the camping area. Then I unstaked my tent and carried it as a kite to the shelter. The rain started 10 minutes later while I packed and ate breakfast.
By midmorning others moved about. I spent most of the morning (and into early afternoon) chatting with them as we all waited for the rain to stop. One couple was from South Africa. The other woman was from France. They had all arrived via the same route I had followed. We all agreed that had been terrible, and that we didn’t want to do it anymore. In tinkering with OSMAnd, I found an option to display road surfaces, and even the larger highways occasionally have poor unpaved sections.
After a lot of discussion of cycling history, favorite apps, and routes, we all changed our plans. Arielle (from France) will take a train south to Lithuania. I and the South African couple will leave Riga headed southwest along the southern bank of the Daugava River. I’m staying in Riga today and tomorrow, while they likely head out tomorrow. They cycle 50-60 km / day, so I might well catch up to them. We traded contact info so whoever rides in front can feed data to the other.
Another challenge comes from the river having few bridges (but a few ferries!). Most resources are on the north side, as well as the large highway we’re all trying to avoid. The highway that large trucks drive.
Another realization came to me. I originally planned to cycle to Warsaw. My revised plan before we left home became cycling to the border of Lithuania and Poland, and taking a train to Warsaw. But I suspect at this point I’ll be doing well to get to Vilnius (capital of Lithuania), especially if the roads match our expectations.
When the rain stopped, Ariella and I headed out. Her to the train, me to my hostel. Before I went there, I had one place to go first.
From there I checked into the spectacular hostel, with the entrance literally located inside a McDonald’s. In fact, a different hostel resides on each of the three floors above.
Once settled. I set off for some preliminary scouting for tomorrow. While not the most incredible of European capitals, the city center is typical, with a large number of parks (common to many European cities), but not as much history as I prefer.
I’ve made a hostel reservation for the first night out of Riga at roughly 100 km (mapping estimates vary from 95 km to 130 km). Now to learn if the roads let me get there.
I should’ve planned to leave Riga early afternoon. I spent the late afternoon and evening doing a variety of life housekeeping back home.