Holed up from the rain in Valmiera, Latvia

Zagan the motorhome has his tyres in sand, only he’s not on a beach, he’s in the hard packed sand of a small car park by a river beach in Valmiera, Latvia (N57.54277, E25.45449), alongside Glen and Steve’s van.

Over the last 24 hours or so we have been truly spoiled, getting to spend time with Glen and Steve has been fantastic and came at just the right time for us. As we were thinking we were travelled out, along they came with tales of travels spanning almost two decades and made us realise just how much more there is to see and do out there.

The weather on the other hand has been miserable, winter coats are back out. While it has given us loads of time to sit and chat with Glen and Steve in our vans, learn a new card game, try the local Riga Balsam, it did mean that there would be no chance of getting the fire pit going again. As we were paying €19 a night on the campsite where we would just be sitting in our vans, we opted to move on this morning, ending our little holiday, and heading north for Valmiera.

Car park one aka back up car park for tonight

Several kilometres of de-surfaced road had us rumbling along at a slow pace and grateful when we reached the town. We found a decent-sized free car park (N57.54233, E25.43545) and headed off for a stroll around the town in a break in the rain. To be honest, there wasn’t much in the town to capture our interest, but we did find an international athletics meet taking place about 500m from our car park, and a huge soviet memorial and cemetery.

After a visit into the tourist office we were armed with a map and sought out slightly better hidden parking which is closer to the river and away from the concert now taking place in the sports stadium. Sadly there was no sign of any bars showing the football here, so we’ve made do with the BBC Live feed (89 minutes gone and I type ‘well done England’ – doh, too early – close one England!!).

Joining in the athletics fun

Who knew Shakespeare played for a side with Russians

Valmiera

We’ve arranged a horn beeping code should either of us feel the need to move during the night back to the previous car park as we are more secluded here, but so far we’ve just had a few men admiring each other’s car engine and taking a pee, and one fella parked up and playing ‘Cheerleader’ so loud his ears must have been bleeding inside the car. It’s raining again now, so hopefully that will help keep any more would-be DJ’s away.

This is a first (of many I suspect), still had three padlocks on the bridge though

Tomorrow we part company with Glen and Steve, as we both head in different directions, but I’m sure we’ll cross paths again soon.

Ju x