Day 23 - Kolka, Ventspils to Klapedia

It was a lot cooler today, a nice riding temperature of 22C so I decided to go west along the coastline to the Kolka peninsula to see the Baltic as I have not really done that. must be over a hundred miles of pine forest and beautiful sandy beach. All mostly empty it seemed. Right at the end, someone wanted payment to park the bike for a few minutes.....they are catching on fast here.

Further south, the gritty port city of Ventspils is trying to re-invent itself as a tourist destination. Until recently, is was major gateway for russian oil exports but that has all gone in the last 10 years. What is left are lot of soviet era 4 story apartment blocks, a lot of dockside cranes and a big port.....and somewhere in the middle is an older cobbled street town with a castle. They are being ambitious, to say the least. Actually, the guidebook says this is the number one day trip destination for Latvian schoolchildren.

In the late afternoon, the weather started to close in. This seems to be pretty predictable here. I took shelter from the thunder & lightening under the porch of a shop in a small town and waited for it to pass. And I waited. After about an hour, a smart guy turns up in his car and starts chatting and tells me he has a KTM Adventure and invites me to stay and tell me about my trip. Seems I am the most interesting thing to pass through for a while. Like an idiot, I declined. For some reason, I thought I wanted to keep going, that the rain would lighten. I spent the next 2 hours riding south in the rain cursing myself. A golden opportunity missed to meet some locals with something in common. Plonker.

Instead I headed for Lithuania. I had spent all my Latvian money & given the last few coins to some local kids while I was waiting. By the time 11pm came, I was soaking and still no sign of a campsite so I played the Visa card and write this from the comfort of 4* hotel complete with wifi.....but it could have been so much better. Idiot. I will say yes next time.