Paddling in the Baltic – Hello Latvia!
Zagan the motorhome has done it. Four weeks and one day since he waved goodbye to the Adriatic Sea in Croatia, he’s now parked next to the Baltic Sea in a car park close to the resort of Klapkalnciems in Latvia (N57.03836, E23.40254).
That’s what we like to see, an upright barrier and empty cash office
Last night at the Hill of Crosses, once the air started to cool we headed for bed. It’s light now until around 11pm so it is easy to stay up, but, as I found out this morning, the sun is up before 5am lighting up Zagan and waking us early. Still, we got plenty of sleep in the winter when it was dark most of the time. We have blackout curtains on the windows, but when it’s this warm we leave the skylights open and the daylight pours in. It gives us plenty of hours in the day.
This chap was pecking around at breakfast this morning – any ideas what it is?
We were on the move by 9.30am, excited by the thought of seeing the sea again. We’d originally planned to stop in Jelgava, but it was only another 40 kilometres to the coast, so we ploughed on. Our only stop was at a petrol station, not to fill up as we did that yesterday (fuel prices are about the same on both sides of the border), but to buy a Latvian SIM. As you are reading this, we were successful! Taking an old SIM in with you really helps to narrow down what you are after.
€4.99 for 5GB which lasts for 10 days – cheap as chips!
We turned off the main red roads to cut a big corner and found ourselves on filling rattling ‘yellow’ roads. I guess these would be A roads in the UK, not motorway or dual-carriageway but not B roads either, they are white on our map and after this little jaunt we’ll definitely be avoiding those.
Arriving at the posh beach resort of Jurmala we discover there is a €2 charge to drive into the place. Our guidebooks says this is where folks from Riga hang out in the summer and is home to Russian oil tycoons, we fancy chilling out for a while, so as Jurmala was to the right, we turned left and headed up the coast away from the capital.
To get to the coast we had to drive through the un-posh bit of Jarmala
A few kilometres along the coast road we spot a car park and pull in. The signs say it should be €14 for a motorhome for 24 hours, but we’re still in low season here (high season kicks in in 8 days according to the campsites), so the cash office is closed and the barrier up. A free night right by the sea – how happy are we? We wandered down to the beach along the boardwalk and were soon even happier as we were greeted with a huge expanse of clean, white sand – it even squeaks when you walk on it.
We’ve made it – I can see the sea from here!
Klapkalnciems Beach
It would say Baltic Sea – but Charlie jumped all over the A in Baltic to get at the stick!
There was only one thing to do having got here – shoes off for a paddle. The water was shallow for over 100m out, so sadly I can’t say it’s Baltic in the Baltic, it was lovely and warm. Charlie was a young puppy again chasing sticks for about an hour and is now happily putting out massive snores in the van. Tomorrow? Who knows? We love the beach so we might stay here for another night.
OurTour in the Baltic
Ju x
Looks like a lapwing – or plover or peewit – all the same I think. Unless it’s a different exotic bird in disguise!
Another vote for Lapwing here! Gotta love a beach, Kindest, Wayne.
I keep pondering about a sited Caravan in Benidorm and then I log onto your website and see the vids and photos/Blogs of the adventures you 3 are having and I’m back in the zone planning for the Motorhome…getting there saving and thanks for the advice re LHD, anyways I’m looking forward to my Europe Coach trip next month with a view that hopefully I’ll be back driving though at my speed (not fast) in a Motorhome called…………?, will have to think about that one.
how many day’s do you stay in one country it look’s like you wizz through them so fast
Hi Sean
Good question. We could (and have) easily spend a month or two in Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, France, Italy, Germany, Croatia and Greece. Other countries hold us for less time, either because they’re simply smaller, or because they have less immediate appeal to us.
The central and Eastern European countries seem to have fewer ‘things to see’ for us so we drive through them faster. There are huge swathes of forest in some of these countries, for example, which some folks could spend weeks hiking in. Not our thing, so we shift faster.
Also, we’ve been on the road for two and half years in Europe now, albeit with a gap between the two and the half. Where we might have happily spent a day at a castle/beach/village/forest/lake/river in the past, we’ve seen so many now, we prefer to drive past in search of new stuff. Norway is the big hitter for this trip, and we’re having to work a wee bit at not simply driving there, but enjoying the trip as we go.
Cheers, Jay
Sorry so late, trying to catch up with you but failing miserably lol. Amused me on the first video the speech to text when watching. Have you not watched it. Very rude in places….. lol must have been the bumpy road. Keep trucking.
Re the SIM card, how long does 5GB actually last if you are checking emails, browsing the internet etc? I know it says 10 days but is that maximum amount of time it lasts and does it just cut out if you use it all before then? Thanks!
Sadly it totally depends on what you are doing. We get through about 6GB a month updating the blog and replying to emails and comments. We’ve met folks who get through far less and ones who get through much more – I guess Internet use is a very individual thing.
We didn’t reach the limit on the SIM so don’t know what happens, I assume if you run out of data it would cut you off until you added another chunk of data/topped up.
Ju x