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Friday 6 August
Trip south of Dugavpils again, this time reaching Demene via Birkeneli and Varaviksne. No camera unfortunately. From Birkeneli to just outside Demene I was on unmade roads again, so speeds were down to 5-6 mph as I ploughed through sand. There is little variety in the scenery but it feels very remote and vast. There are people about, though. You do see the occasional person walking or riding a bike. Cars are rare, which explains why the roads aren’t made up. The demand hardly justifies the expense.
Sunday 8 August
Very hot weather was predicted for Saturday and Sunday and in fact temperatures reached 35 degrees C. The heat is made all the more unbearable by the humidity, making it feel very sticky and clammy. Condensation immediately collects on anything cold taken out of the fridge. It was so hot on Saturday that I spent the whole day indoors with the fan on full blast – also nursing a chaffed posterior from so much off-road riding on Friday, bringing back memories of riding along the Nantes-Brest canal with Sue Etheridge and Larry Clarke in 2007 . I doubt whether the thud-catcher would have been much use, had it still been on the bike. It would have absorbed every last ounce of energy on these horribly corrugated tracks. Bike Friday performs much better without it.
Hot weather or not, I worked out a nice little route along the southern bank of the Daugava via Sadnieki and Skrudalienas to the P68 where I had been the previous week on my ride through Kumbuli. I left at about noon. The weather was fair. The heat descended like an iron fist when stationary but there was a cooling, compensatory breeze once on the move. I set out with one and a half litres of water, which I had frozen in the ice box of the fridge (a trick I learned from Sergei). It thaws out over about 6 hours providing a constant supply on ice-cold water.
Lake at Silene
The weather was changeable. A veil of grey cloud hid the sun for a while, but by the time I reached Silene the sun was out again and the heat oppressive. People were dancing in the local pub to the sound of romantic Russian music played on the accordion. There was a store (Veikals in Latvian) where I was able to buy a litre carton of juice for 85p.
Water bottle now containing a delicious mixture of juice and iced water, I set off towards Kumbuli. The tarmacked road soon deteriorated into the familiar, tedious sand track. A few spots of rain fell. Not discouraged I ploughed on. Thunder rumbled. Clouds gathered. I found myself heading into a storm. I was only about 4 miles from Kumbuli when the storm broke. Simultaneously torrential rain gushed down and a sudden wind viciously tore through the forest. A tree, close to where I was standing, was sent crashing to the ground. With understandable urgency (!) I headed back along the track in torrential rain and was lucky enough to find shelter under the eves of a barn. No dog. I hoped my luck would hold. The storm lasted about 20 minutes after which the sky brightened and I was able to continue my way to Kumbuli, announced by the incessant barking of dogs.
Bright sky after the storm
Fascinating place, Kumbuli. What happened here? Just outside the village/town was a derelict factory. Having got round the fallen tree that blocked the road ahead, I passed between derelict, deserted blocks of flats with darkened windows and smashed in entrances. I found a place to have my sandwiches. In an incongruous concession to beauty there was a small bed of pink and purple Cosmos and riotous orange Nasturtiums, lovingly cared for by someone; there was some sort of sculpture – a split boulder held apart by a collection of smooth, oversized pebbles, now complemented by a number of empty plastic beer bottles. Close by was what seems to have been quite a large pub or social centre – empty, also falling into ruin. What happened to the people who once energised this empty place.
Derelict factory at Kumbuli
From what I gather, nationalistic Latvian politicians decided to dismantle Russian industry after the fall of the Soviet Union, as if this in itself would miraculously restore Latvia cultural identity. In fact thousands of Russian-speaking Latvian citizens were made jobless as a result. Apparently 2000 people were put out of work in Daugavpils when the chemical factories were closed.
The situation is compounded by the fact that the whole of south eastern Latvia is predominantly Russian speaking. But if you wish to see Russian as a written language, you must go into people’s homes because the language is publicly forbidden.
Viewed from this perspective it is easily to guess what might have happened in Kumbuli. It is a strange paradox that communities which apparently thrived under Communism now face extinction under Capitalism.
The plan was to head along the forest road to the P68 and then west along the fast descent back into Daugavpils and be home “in time for tea”. As I set off along the track, thunderclouds were gathering again menacingly to the east. It seemed another storm was brewing. I saw some of the frightening damage the freak storm had done earlier. Huge trees lay across the track, most of which had, by now, been sufficiently moved or sawn in the short term to make the track accessible again for traffic. It was amazing how quickly locals responded to the situation. It soon became obvious that a second storm was indeed on its way and the last place to be was in the forest. With only sand to hold the roots down, trees were easily uprooted. I knew there was a little hamlet just down the road and I sheltered there under the welcome eaves of a deserted house while the storm passed over. I was amazed to see hailstones the size and colour of Fox’s Glacier mints generously embed themselves in the grass before me like free jewels. The storm blew over and I ventured further along the track, expecting any obstacles to have been removed. At one point about five huge trees had been blown down in the same place completely blocking the road. So I retraced to Daugavpils via Demene, witnessing the trail of damage the storms had left behind – not just trees but blown off rooves and blown down overhead power lines. It was shortly before nine when I got back. 55 miles on the clock. Graham Black, it was one of those days!
As a sequel to all this, an acacia tree in front of my flat window was uprooted during the storms, damaging three cars. This evening’s TV news carried reports of widespread storm damage.
Monday 9 August: recovery
Tues 10 August:
Statue to the founder of Daugavpils in the parked names after him.
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Trip to City Centre to check out Sergei’s flat, which is will soon be renting. Visit to various shops, including Daugavpils’ modern shopping centre with a wide range of shops. It seems that food is expensive here, but household goods are cheap by comparison with English prices. I saw a pretty mean motorbike on sale for about Ј800. Pedal cycles are pretty basic, costing around Ј50. I really don’t know where anything other than a mountain bike would be of much use. Bikes seem to be used mainly around town.
Wednesday 10 August:
View over Daugavpils from bridge over river.
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The plan was to do a shorter route on the unmade roads taking in smaller villages and Lake Dervanisku, which I had passed on the way the Demene. It turned out to be an interesting day in terms of using my eTtrex Vista Hcx. It is amazing that the City Navigator Map I have downloaded onto the device contains such detailed information about such off-beat places. But sometimes the tracks detailed are so overgrown or disused that they have become impassable. That creates a problem when you go off route. Up to now I have planned circular routes, always from ‘flat’ to ‘flat’. Since the eTrex is trying to get you to your destination, it recalculates the quickest way back to the flat if I go off route. Since I had not put in any way points apart from “flat”, I could not tell the eTrex to take me to specific points on route, since the via points on the route created by Mapsource had vague names. The solution would seem to be to split the route into two parts – there and back, and to name specific way points along the route, so that I can direct the eTrex to go to specific way points if I am off route. It is possible to create way points on the device itself, but it found it very fiddly.Too hot again for comfort. Very saddle sore because of perspiration. August is NOT the best time for cycling in this sort of climate, though I understand that this year had been exceptional. Looks like back to last week in August and first two in September next year. 36 miles. Moving average: 7mph Overall average: 5.3mph. Elevation 278ft.
