A holiday for OurTour at Kemping Apalkalns, Raiskums
Zagan the motorhome is having a little holiday, parked up on the grass on the shores of Lake Raiskuma at Kempings Apalkalns (N57.31756, E25.14966) in Latvia.
I know what you are thinking, a holiday? Why do they need a holiday? Aren’t they on a permanent holiday? Well we’ve been on the road now for a little over four months, and we’re finding it much harder than we did last time. Not physically harder, I mean let’s face it we’re rarely up before 8am, but mentally we’re struggling a bit to find meaning in what we are doing.
So, after Riga, we decided to take a little time off from sight-seeing and headed an hour north to this great campsite, which was highly recommended by Catherine and Chris. Those guys blogged while they visited every country in Europe, inspiring us while we were planning our first trip.
Zagan and friends
While we were parked up in Riga, stinking of garlic (we’ve now uploaded the video of our garlic challenge) two familiar faces appeared at our window; it was Richard and Gemma who we’d met at the backpackers in Vilnius. They had arrived as we were leaving and we didn’t have chance for a much of a catch up with them, so it was great to see them again. They’re also heading to Nordkapp, only on a quicker time scale than us; two months instead of 10. Excusing our breath we sat and chatted for a while and realised they were heading for the same campsite as us, so a rendezvous was set.
Richard and Gemma
We arrived at the campsite around lunchtime and after a look around we opted to park down by the lake – although the pitches further back have their own decking area and BBQ, it was the fire pits that we fancied firing up. With a huge shed full of wood, and a wheel barrow so you can help yourself, it wasn’t long before we were settled in. Washing on and a good clean for Zagan on the inside, as we’re hoping the forecast rain will soften the massive bugs stuck to his front before we attempt an outside clean, we felt we’d earned our fire.
Charlie seems to like a tin of ‘English Ham’
When Richard and Gemma arrived we pulled together a mean BBQ between us and cooked it on a griddle over the open fire. Washed down with a couple of bottles of wine and several beers, the light skies had us sitting out until well after midnight. This morning there were a few sore heads on the campsite, but I managed to drag myself out for a run around the lake as for some reason I thought it was only 4 kilometres. I figured I could just about manage with a bit of a hangover, but it turned out to be 7! By the time I realised, it was further to go back than carry on. While there isn’t a shop on the campsite, and the nearest supermarket is 10 kilometres away, there are ice creams for sale (63p!), which I felt were a suitable reward for my efforts.
2.5 km in and I’m at the end of the lake – beautiful
5 km in and that’s our campsite on the other side of the lake – not good!
Richard and Gemma headed off to a hotel spa for a couple of nights, my kind of travelling, just before the rain started. It’ll only be a weather glitch for a day or so, but it means no fire tonight. Around us there are sights to see, but we’re staying put and taking some time out to relax, recharge and enjoy the view of the lake.
Exploring the campsite
Little Glamping huts
OK, so it’s a children’s play area but they weren’t using it!
Ju x
Hey guys. Nice to see that you are infact human and occasionally have to stop and ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. I think that anybody who has done this for any length of time has had the same moments.
The answer, as it seems you’re already discovering, is just to slow down and stop still for a bit… and just ‘live’. Visit places more than once.If you like the view, or the vibe, enjoy it until you fancy something different. There’s no rush.. and going slower works out cheaper too!
Latvia’s looking good for a chill and a ‘be’.. and do I detect a possible northern winter for you guys? “10 months to Nordkap?
Best wishes. Cheers, Peter and Elaine
It’s a learning curve for us as this is now life and not a trip of a lifetime – strange how similar, yet different they are. Nice to know it’s not just us too. I think things will change once we get this trip done, it’s been on our list and getting the timing right is why we are constantly on the move at the moment. Don’t worry though, it’ll be 10 months from when we set off in January so we’ll be back south before winter sets in. Charlie isn’t a big fan of the cold :)
Ju x
I can totally identify with the need for a holiday when travelling and you guys definitely deserve one. The day that we crossed into the French Riviera (about 2.5 months into our trip, I think) will always be remembered for what we now call my “meltdown”, when Kiri recognised (and I begrudgingly acknowledged) that I was really struggling with the constant changes as part of this lifestyle.
Enjoy the chance to recharge – it looks like you’ve got a great setting in which to do it.
Ha! Beat you up north! Greetings from sunny Sweden :-) Ok, ok, I cheated… I flew and I’m only here for a couple of days on business. Not quite the same. But I did my own bit of relaxing, sitting on the beach this evening after the Lync sessions were finished. Very pleasant. The first time I’ve been here when the sea wasn’t frozen – it’s much nicer in June than February :-) Stay well.
Sounds good Craig, the non-frozenness of it all that is! Going to be a while before we hit Sweden, we’ve got over 2000km to go first, probably closer to 3000km, and at the moment we’re rolling along at 0km an hour… The fire pity’s stacked, and we’ve just got word some fellow travellers (far better travelled than us) that they’re just behind us, so we’ll hopefully have company tomorrow. Sweet. Right, enjoy/hope you enjoyed Sweden, back to the fire for me. Cheers, Jay
We reckon (The ‘Public that is) the whole point of ‘Our Tour’ is to be like Pioneers for the rest of us. Making an enjoyable record for others in the future to follow. Yourselves are an inspiration to us mere mortals who whole-heartedly wish were in your shoes!
The ‘blog’ is your meaning- it gives a small porthole to the dreams of the wishful.
Keep on doin’ it and never doubt yourselves…..
One of our concerns when we retire and spend more time travelling in El Nido is how we keep some purpose in our life. It’s one of the reasons we’re already doing some House sitting, so we can stop the journey now and again, put down some short-term roots and live like locals for a while (plus enjoy long showers and access to a washing machine!). We also plan to get involved with Workaway, swapping some physical labour for bed and board. It’ll keep us fit and active but we’ll also hopefully meet some nice people and be able to improve our basic foreign language skills.
Thanks Paul. We’re hoping to start doing those things next year too, which I think will help a lot. We’ve been looking at Helpex and Trusted Housesitters, but any advice and experiences you’ve had with those or others would be a big help. Ju x
We signed up with Trusted Housesitters last year and as I type we’re in a last minute weekend sit in a lovely valley in North Wales, overlooking the wild flower meadows and hills (and rain!). We plan to do these more when on long term trips in Europe, so for now we can only do the odd weekend due to still being wage slaves! Our experiences so far have been very positive. We pick and choose the ones we want to sit and I receive an email alert for new sits in the countries we chose. We took some time writing our online profile and often home owners contact us to see if we’re free, so I guess this helps raise our profile. Good references help too. One top tip, owners tend to search for sitters who live nearby first, so if you decide to sign up, change your location to the country you’re currently in, as it’s likely owners will find you easier. Here’s a link to our house sitting page; you’ll find links to our sit posts at the bottom of that page: http://www.vanvoyage.co.uk/p/trusted-house-sitters.html
Hope it helps,
Paul
Hi there! Me and my boyfriend are following your blog for some time! And we are pleasantly surprised that you are in Latvia right now! I’m from Latvia!
I would like to suggest a beautiful place where to stay for a day or two
http://www.krimalnieki.lv/kempings-Krimalnieki-T%C5%ABj%C4%81.php
Its our favourite place to stay when we do camping in Latvia!
Enjoy my country and let me know if you have any questions! :)
Inese
xxx
Hi Inese
Thanks for getting in touch and the campsite tip. Latvia is a beautiful country but sadly we won’t be back at the coast again on this trip. We have passed the campsite details onto fellow motorhomers who are heading that way.
We’re crossing into Estonia tomorrow as we continue on our journey North.
Cheers Julie
Hi again, I agree with Allun that the blog is a real job of work and that we all appreciate it. We have finally got under way after a few setbacks (mechanical and dental mostly) and I have reawoken our blog at https://snailtrails.co.uk/ After only three nights on the french roads I am three nights behind my blogging schedule! So I can see how much effort and commitment you put in. The work/house sitting ideas look great as ways of making a real connection. Good luck with finding the answer to the meaning of life. I believe it is 42.
Best, Robina