Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

Latvia - bike trip to Aglona, report

2010-07-03

вылазки фото байк природа туризм спорт

This is about last weekend, now with photos. I posted the tracks earlier

A calm body of water, the left bank of which is densely overgrown with tall green reeds and grass. On the right, a large deciduous tree stands in the water, reflecting on the surface, with a strip of forest visible on the horizon under a cloudy sky.

A vast landscape with a dense green forest, through which a body of water peeks. A wide lake and hills are visible on the horizon under a cloudy sky.

This is the view from the bird watching tower

A stork and its chick sit in a large nest on top of an electrical pole under a cloudy sky, framed by tree foliage.

We saw an insane amount of storks, like 20 of them. I only snapped a pic of this one because the kid's head is sticking out.

 

A rural landscape with a pond and green meadows, surrounded by a dense forest. Several people are fishing by the water, wooden houses and a large deciduous tree are visible nearby under a cloudy sky.

There was a "Some-Church-Or-Other" sign here and we took a detour to check it out just in case.

Here is this masterpiece of brick architecture:

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The Aglona Cathedral is another matter

A white-stone, twin-towered Baroque Catholic cathedral, surrounded by greenery under a cloudy sky, with an asphalt road in the foreground.

 

A sunny summer landscape: a well-kept lawn in the foreground, beyond which a view of a blue lake opens up through a row of trees. A wooden pier and a moored red-and-yellow catamaran are visible on the lakeshore.

We stayed on the grounds of the www.malvines.lv guesthouse. The owner was right there with his family at the time, his name is Jāzeps. A name kinda like the Russian Yegor, a bit too hardcore for my taste.

They charged 4 lats for the tent, another 2 for firewood, and 5 for the boat. Not exactly peanuts, of course, but at least the firewood and the boat came in handy. In the middle of Lake Cīrīšs, which you see in the picture, there's a trail. It was built by my favorite government organization, Latvijas valsts meži. The trail is excellent, the only better one I've seen so far was in Pilskalnes Siguldiņa

A wooden pier, on which stand two logs stylized as cannons, leads to a densely forested shore with a wooden staircase and a "LATVIJAS VALSTS MEZI" sign.

The lens is dirty, hence the photos.

A man in glasses and a khaki jacket sits in a turquoise boat on the water's surface with reflections and reeds, looking directly into the camera.

Me in an Integral Designs hardshell jacket. The jacket is cool, though an adjuster on the hood wouldn't have hurt.

An information board of the Lake Cīrīšs (Cīrīša ezers) nature park with Latvian text about the Upurkalns hillfort, accompanied by old black-and-white and modern color photographs of the area.

A trail with signboards, first time seeing something like this. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were terrible, and I barely had time to read any of it. Plus, it's hard to read in Latvian when you're tired. Don't forget, by that time we'd ridden 60 km (partly on a dirt road) and rowed half a kilometer in a boat, and we still had to hike the trail for another half hour, dodging monster mosquitoes.

A young man in glasses, a cap, and a green t-shirt stands on a fallen tree trunk in the forest and shines a flashlight downwards. In the background, a forest path with wooden railings is visible amidst dense greenery.

They clearly maintain and clear the trail, but always quickly.

A narrow wooden bridge with railings laid across a dark body of water surrounded by dense green forest.

This is honestly the coolest spot I've seen out in nature in Latvia lately. It's hard to tell here, but the boardwalk goes over a swamp, the feeling is awesome. Almost like train tracks across a lake.

The anime Spirited Away:

Spirited_Away_Tracks

And here's where Miyazaki ripped off the idea from (clickable)

 

A freight train on railway tracks laid in the middle of a shallow lake under bright sunshine. Two people are wading through the water alongside the railcars, their silhouettes reflected on the sunlit water surface.

 

A wooden staircase climbs up a slope in a dense dark forest, and on the right, a wooden path with railings is laid.

This is us already back and I'm grilling sausages. I'm never buying this kind of meat products again, there's so much MSG and salt in them that they're completely tasteless. I've been eating natural stuff for several months now, and I've lost the habit of having this much salt and fat. We managed to get the fire going with great difficulty, by the way, zero experience. I'll probably cheat and buy some storm matches.

A man with glasses crouched by a night campfire, grilling a sausage on a stick.

The next morning:


A man in a bright green jacket and a cap stands next to a bicycle with camping gear in a green clearing. Behind him, a car, a tent, a lake, and a forest are visible under a clear sky.

The punk only carries the tent himself, he uses my jacket, and I carry the grub too. Freeloader.

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There's enough space at "Malvine" for twenty tents, if not a hundred. They also have cabins, 10 lats per person.

A small pond with blue water surrounded by a green meadow and a dense forest under a clear blue sky. On the far bank of the pond, a yellow tractor is visible among mounds of earth. 

This is when we saw the "King's Mountain" sign and turned off. Someone had told me about this place, but I'd never been there before.

A picturesque summer landscape with a quiet lake surrounded by a dense green forest, under a bright blue sky with light clouds. In the foreground — a green lawn with two small spruces, a wooden bench, and a decorative wooden structure.

People are walking around the green grounds of a landscaped park with a wooden house, a pond, and decorative plantings under a bright blue sky with clouds. In the foreground, a man in a light shirt is seen from behind, walking along the path towards the other visitors.A bright sunny day in a spacious park with well-kept bushes, flowerbeds, and wooden sculptures. People are strolling along the paths past a pond and a small house with a red roof, a forest is visible on the horizon.

A man in glasses and a cap takes a selfie, obscuring part of the frame. Behind him stands another cyclist in a helmet and glasses with a bicycle on a dirt road, surrounded by trees under a blue sky.

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Wooden carved sculptures of people are installed on a round flowerbed with flowers and greenery outdoors against the backdrop of a forest. A small wooden sign with an inscription is visible in the center of the floral arrangement.

A log gazebo on stilts is located on the bank of a small pond surrounded by green hills with paths and trees under a cloudless blue sky. In the foreground — a flowerbed with purple and pink flowers, a wooden bench, and carved wooden sculptures.

The King turned out to be of the heavenly kingdom. Accordingly, all these statues aren't pagan idols as you might initially think, but biblical characters.

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Adam and Eve, for example

A man with a bicycle stands on a gravel path in front of a massive wooden log sculpture, surrounded by blooming bushes. In the background, green hills with dense forest stretch out, and people can be seen walking under a clear blue sky.

These are the apostles

A wooden house with a red tiled roof is located on the bank of a wide body of water, surrounded by dense forest. On the green meadow in front of the house, blooming bushes, a large wooden sculpture of a hand, as well as a small pond and a truck with a trailer in the distance, are visible.

 

The interior of a waiting room with a ribbed heating stove in the foreground, tiled floor, seating by the wall, and a large arched window looking out onto the street.

The Trumpet of Jericho?

Pink water lilies with blooming flowers and buds float among round green and crimson leaves on the slightly rippling water surface.

On a green hill stands a wooden statue of Moses with the tablets, next to it — a sign in Latvian 'MOZUS AR 10 DIEVA BAUSLIEM'. Large stones, bushes, and other wooden figures are visible around under a clear blue sky.

Moses and the Ten Commandments.

After checking out the wooden beauties, we rolled on.

A blue wooden church with silvery domes and crosses towers among bright green grass and trees under a clear blue sky.

This is an Old Believer church, there was a tourist sign pointing to it. It's closed and not in use, which makes sense — there are hardly any people around, and tourists probably don't care.

A wooden church, painted bright blue, with a bell tower and a cross on the dome, photographed from bottom up against a clear blue sky.

A bright summer landscape: a lake with water lilies and a rusty metal fence in the foreground. Behind them, two wooden village houses are located amidst tall grass, and a forested hill is visible on the horizon under a clear blue sky.

 

A clear summer landscape with a dark blue lake, surrounded by dense greenery and forest on the hills. On the right, an old wooden house with a darkened roof stands on the slope near the water. 

A narrow wooden boardwalk runs through tall green grass and reeds. Sharp shadows from the plants fall on the path under the bright sun.

Somebody does walk here after all, since planks are laid over the mud. True, one of them has rotted through.

Here we rode in circles for a long time, but finally made it to a lake with a beach, and took a dip. The water's cold, but at least it looks pretty.

A blue lake under a clear blue sky, surrounded along the far bank by dense green forest. In the foreground, a grassy shore with reeds in the clear coastal water.

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