Friday 20 August

A week of temperatures around 90 degrees F made cycling a very unpleasant proposition and I was very saddle sore after my Wednesday jaunt. There were no thunderstorms to break the heat. But fortunately a break in the weather did occur the next Wednesday and temperatures dropped gradually from 32 to 25 degrees. Thursday was accompanied by continuous, torrential rain and now the thermometer is hanging around 22.5 degrees.

Svente Ezeres

When I got back on the bike again (Friday 20th August), I explored west of the city. Along the Daugavpils and to a large lake near Sventes. I really enjoyed using the eTrex Vista. When it had accurate data it was a dream. I constructed two routes - one there and one back. But I overshot my mark and was unable to follow the originally planned route. Use of way points, however, got me successfully back to Daugavpils. 35 miles on the clock, half of it off road. Nice route, though. I’m beginning to appreciate these quiet sandy tracks. Many people like to have a dog chained up outside their property, but so far they have been securely tied.

Saturday 21st/Sunday 22nd August

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Off to Riga. The luxury bus left the station at 8.50pm to tackle the dilapidated Latvian roads. The trip along the Daugava River was uninspiring. Riga with its 750,000 inhabitants was a huge contrast to Daugavpils. Our first task was to find a hotel, because the plan was to stay two days. The first hotel we looked at was asking £80 a night and the second £100 – more than the amount of money I had spent in the four previous weeks. As it turned out Sergei knew about student accommodation at the college he had studied at in Riga, and we got a decent room there for £2 each. He said foreign tourists were constantly taken for ride in Riga because they didn’t know where to look.

Old Riga

On Saturday they were celebrating the 20th year of independence from Russia. The city was buzzing. People were out for fun, adults and children dancing alike to the music of the bands that had in some cases come from far away to Riga especially for the occasion. One jazz band I listened to was from Cuba, I think.Proceedings ended with an excellent firework display. Travelling back to our lodgings was an interesting experience with everyone descending on the trams at the same time after the display. I didn’t believe there was room for anyone else after I got on, but another two people managed to squeeze themselves on much to the disgust of the tramway doors which concertinaed aggressively back and fore until the last ounce of human flesh was safely aboard. Spirits were high and youths raucously shouted jokes to the amusement of the other passengers across the heads of people to friends they could no longer see in the crush.

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A poignant highlight of the visit was the Riga War Museum. For much of the 20th C Latvia was occupied by either the Germans or the Russians. A comprehensive exhibition of photographs traced the appalling misery caused by war.

Dead soldiers frozen in the snow

Monday 23rd August

Back to Sventes. Where had I missed that road? The route out went fine. The route back took me left alongside the lake, though you couldn’t see it for much of the time because of trees. I still didn’t manage to follow the route I wanted because the satnav indicated a road where there wasn’t one. I returned via Smilgas and Birkeli. The road was very sandy and rough, but for the most part do-able. I felt very isolated on these remote tracks, with nothing but horseflies and my satnav for company.

Tuesday 24th August

Met Sergei in front of his school at 11.20am, more or less as planned. I had a long and interesting conversation with Tatiana, Deputy Head at his school and teacher English. We talked about living conditions in Latvia.

Wednesday 25th- preparations for the return journey.

Thursday 26 AugustLeft Daugavpils at 12.00pm, arriving at the airport at 13.40. Although I had specified that I was taking sports equipment with me, there was some error and my bike was registered as a second bag. It was 10 kilos overweight and would have cost 200 GBP extra to transport back to Britain. After talking to the handling company manager I was allowed on. The stupid thing is that it costs exactly the same to transport a second bag (80 GBP) as it does to transport sports equipment but the weight restrictions are different – 15 kilos for a bag and 30 kilos for sports equipment. My bike weighed in at 25 Kilos. Be warned, if travelling by Ryanair.

The bus was 1hr and 30 minutes late getting back into Plymouth because of a pile-up on the A38 on the north-bound carriageway and delays around Birmingham. It said 12.30am at Plymouth bus station but because of the time difference between Latvia and here, it was 2.30am for me.I enjoyed my trip to Latvia for the few cycle rides I did but it would have been much less enjoyable had it not been for the people I met there. I was quite overwhelmed by their hospitality. I have thoughts of returning next Easter or thereabouts but without the bike and with only one extra bag.

The lack of decent roads makes long distance travel by bike dangerous, not to say impossible. The alternative is shorter off-road rides and there are plenty of tracks to explore. With Sergei as I guide I found all sorts of shops, cafés, shopping malls, restaurants and clubs. Daugavpils has considerably more to offer than I originally thought. For the local population lack of money is the main problem, but it is certainly a town with potential.

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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.

The fine weather on Friday was followed by every humid and cloudy on Saturday, eventually developing into a full-blown thunderstorm which lasted for hours and drenched Daugavpils in torrential rain. So much for any plans to make another foray into the surrounding area.

Sunday and I still had no pictures of Daugavpils. Since the pattern seemed to be sun in the morning, thunderstorms in the afternoon, I set off in the morning on foot to take some pictures. Daugavpils is the second largest city in Latvia with just over 100,000 inhabitants, but it is hardly photogenic.  There is a large, well-laid out park, seems popular with locals who use it to rest and shelter for the sun.

 
Park in Daugavpils

  
Modern central avenue in Daugavpils

There is typical slav architecture, and an impressive modern central drag, an open air market selling clothes, fuit and vegetables. Shops seem few and far between with no tea shops or cafes to talk of.

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On returning to the flat I greeted the few people sitting on the wall in front of the flat. Sergei, one time Latvia decathlon champion and now sports teacher at a local school, keen to learn English, seized on the opportunity to try out his English and offered me tea in his flat.

Hence a cycle trip on Monday to visit his mother-in-law, who owns a farm about 15 kms outside the side on the Daugava River.

 
Lake by Daugavpils River

While the farm consists of some eleven acres of land, only a plot about the size of a normal allotment is under cultivation. Latvia seems to have suffered more than most countries from its separation from the former Soviet Union. Money is in short supply, jobs – if available at all – are poorly paid (ca. 160 GBP per month) with taxes running at about 50% of the gross income. If a community is lucky enough to have one inhabitant with a tractor, a little more cultivation can be achieved. But this is the exception rather than the rule. Many young people, in desperation, prefer to try their chances elsewhere.

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Tuesday – trip down to the lakes around Demene, not from the border with Belarus. Interesting to see the area beyond the border shaded out on the satnav. Excellent quiet road as far as Demene but then again, dreadful unmade roads off the beaten track, but pretty undulating countryside interspersed with numerous lakes of varying sizes.. Kumbuli caught my attention. A small community, some older type wooden houses and dilapidated blocks of flats built under Soviet rule.

Today Wednesday 4 August – up at the crack of dawn for morning ride with Sergei. Conversation is limited but he is a very agreeable companion. We cycled to Kauja, east of the town, taking a variety of roads and tracks, passing lake and enjoying the shade of the forest. It was hot! I just saw in a newspapers that temperatures have exceeded 37 degrees C. The humidity makes it all the more oppressive.

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Well, I got here safely on Monday after a gruelling trip. The plane left at 7 in the morning, so I travelled all night and was pretty jet-lagged when I arrived. Early days yet, but impressions will change.

Daugavpils is in the SE corner of Latvia and has a population of about 100,000 people. It is the second largest city outside Riga, so Latvia is really quite a small country.

The area to the north-west has numerous lakes, so my first major foray was yesterday (Friday). I used the satnav, so that was fun, but I took a map in case. Just as well!  The two main roads out of D-Pils would seem to be the A13and the A6. They carry relatively little traffic, but they are quite narrow for arterial roads with just enough room for two lorries to pass. It was quite hairy cycling back yesterday afternoon and in the end I kept on the sandy cycle path alongside the road.

I was surprised to discover that almost all roads except for the main ones are unmetalled. Cars and lorries can negotiate them quite well, but the surface consists of an inch or two of sand, so there was a constant risk of skidding and I kept my speed to the minimum.

The countryside is quite flat with long gentle slopes. The main roads are straight for miles and can be rather monotonous.  Unless you’re really into off-road cycling it is hardly a country I would recommend (at this stage) for cycling.  40 miles really does mean 40 miles of pedalling, unlike Devon where I am either walking up steep hills or free-wheeling down the other side. I seem to remember Sue finding Norfolk rather strenuous for the same reason.

I’m paying a total of about 100 GBP for accommodation - all four and a half weeks, which is good value. I also have plenty of time during the day to spend learning Russian.

More posts to come when and as occasion arises. Otherwise I’ll see you on the first Sunday I’m back for the Kingsbridge ride.

Graham Black strides out towards Fur Tor

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As a preliminary to the usual Sunday ride Graham Black and I decided to test out our sat-navs on Dartmoor. The route was ambitious - some 18 miles - starting at the car park in Postbridge and thence almost due north to Fur Tor. The Moor was dry under foot for a change but in places tussocky and challenging. Lunch at Fur Tor. Then to Great Kneeset, where we decided to cut the walk short. The trek to the Logan Stone entailed steep climbing on the western valley below Yes Tor and a steep descent to Steeperton Tor. So it was that we made for Hangingstone Hill, passing Cranmere Pool on the way. From there to Post Bridge was relatively easy going, taking us past Teign Head Farm and Grey Weather Stone Circles. The weather was fair though chilly with excellent views over the Moor. Although the final distance was 15 rather than 18 miles, my poor old knees and feet were telling me that maybe you can have too much of a good thing. The last 200 yards back to Graham’s van were the hardest!