Digital Wanderer

We live as long as we fly

☰

Bike trip to Saulkrasti and Sigulda, day 1

2010-08-27

Everyone knows Jūrmala, but not everyone knows that in the other direction from Riga along the coast is the settlement of Saulkrasti. Crowds of Rigans and other folks go there to chill by the sea too, because in places it's simpler and cheaper than Jūrmala. Also, a famous jazz festival is held there.

As for us, we went because Aux lives there in the summer, and he suggested taking the bikes from there to Sigulda, since it's close by. I had only been to Sigulda a couple of times before and hadn't really seen it, and I hadn't been to the seaside at all this year, so there were plenty of reasons to go.


View Saulkrasti Sigulda 1 on a larger map

It was really sketchy to attach the bike with a system from "Maxima" for 5 lats, but it seems to work okay, no worse than a punk one for several times the price.

Two men stand next to a green Volkswagen passenger car with bicycles mounted on the roof against the background of a multi-story residential building. The man on the right in a dark tank top and sunglasses smiles, holding a bicycle with his hand, while the man on the left in a yellow t-shirt and with a backpack looks at him. 

Here we rigged it with bungees for extra guarantee

IMG_0127 Close-up of the central part of a black mountain bike with yellow accents mounted on a rack. The pedal assembly, chain, wheel fragments, silver bottle cage, and black rack lock are visible.

Pudding, this is Alice.

 

A young blonde woman with a serious expression sits in the backseat of a car, holding a mobile phone in her hand. Outside the car window, the silhouette of a person in a yellow shirt is visible.

On the way, we saw the "city festival" in Lielvārde. We bought some "homemade" ice cream there for 0.80 Ls a cup. Looks and tastes truly homemade, but the Rūjiena one is still better.

In the foreground are two men in glasses: one in a yellow t-shirt is eating ice cream from a cone, the other in a blue tank top looks straight at the camera. Behind them, a blurred scene of a street event with people and commercial tents can be seen. 

My skeptical facial expression perfectly conveys my attitude towards the price/quality ratio.

In the foreground are two men at an open market: one is holding pink cotton candy and a bag of marshmallows, the other is eating from a waffle cone. In the background, commercial tents, other people, and green trees are visible.

The city festival in Lielvārde is pretty lame, mostly just Chinese textiles, and there's nothing to even look at, besides the ice cream above. Prices are low, though.

 A young woman with long blonde hair is picking out clothes at a summer street market under a white canopy. Goods, including socks and children's items, are displayed on hangers and in boxes, and trees and other shoppers are visible in the background.

Here is that very Rūjiena ice cream. If anyone lives in an underground bunker and hasn't seen it yet, I'm letting you know that it's one of the few brands that makes ice cream out of milk, not vegetable fats. Then again, here in Latvia they make it tasty even out of those, unlike the Russian one ("Russkiy Kholod"), which I didn't like.  I do like the Rūjiena one, but for some reason only in cups, and not in boxes. Though to be fair, I haven't eaten ice cream from a box in a long time — diet. But the cups are insanely delicious, by the way, crispy and perfectly toasted.

IMG_0186 

In Saulkrasti, civilization has reached unprecedented heights — street signs at intersections. I haven't seen such a thing in Latvia until now.

A navigation pole with several signs in Latvian directing to local attractions, streets, and the station. Dense green trees and roofs of brick buildings are visible in the background. 

Aux said that besides the main streets, there are no others here. Houses have their own names, like the one below.

A man in a yellow t-shirt and black shorts with a backpack walks past the metal gates of a house with a wooden sign 'Lejasbražas 1' and a mailbox. Behind the gates, a canopy is visible, under which a bicycle is parked and clothes are drying.

A man in a yellow tank top and a backpack on his back is petting a large red dog in the courtyard of a house next to a wooden doghouse. 

The beach is 50 meters from the house, but very rocky starting from the pier. Further on there are sandy beaches, beautiful ones, almost like in Liepāja or Jūrmala (but those are still a bit cooler, because of the dunes)

A sunny summer day on a rocky-sandy beach, where several people are swimming and relaxing by the water. A boat and a long pier are visible on the horizon, against the background of a clear blue sky with sparse cirrus clouds. IMG_0220

The beetle smelled the sandwich and didn't want to fly away.

IMG_0235 

A smiling man crouched next to a large reddish dog that gently licks his face. They are on a tiled area against the background of lush greenery and a doghouse.

Cautious cat is cautious.

A black cat with bright yellow eyes peeks out from behind a dense green bush and a metal fence. 

But it loves to play.

A smiling young woman in a white hat crouched at a metal fence reaches out her hand to a black cat on the other side of the fence. 

. . . cautiously.

A girl in a white hat and with long blonde hair crouched by a metal fence, reaching out her hand to a black cat peeking out from behind the greenery. A glass bottle lies on the grass next to her. 

It wasn't even getting dark yet when we hit the road (at 4 PM!)

Three young men in bicycle helmets and sportswear stand with bicycles on a dirt path and smile. Residential houses and lush greenery are visible in the background. IMG_0263

A forest landscape with a pond completely covered with thick yellow-green duckweed, and tall trees forming a dense background and framing.  A forest pond covered with light green duckweed is surrounded by a dense mixed forest and lush vegetation in the foreground. A sand quarry with piles of light sand and a small body of water, which reflects the sand mounds and the surrounding forest under a cloudy sky. A man in a blue sports tank top and a bicycle helmet stands by a forest pond surrounded by green trees that reflect picturesquely in the water.

Didn't get in here, there was a private party. Otherwise it's some sort of restored castle.

IMG_0294 

So that's where all these hordes of storks in Latvia come from! They breed them near Sigulda.

A group of white storks walks across a plowed field in search of food. In the background, a golden wheat field, a green forest, and a blue sky are visible. 

Near Sigulda there's civilization too. You can immediately see where the money flows. We don't have this in Latgale.

A wooden road sign with arrows pointing the way to various tourist attractions, installed on a green clearing among trees on a sunny day.

Or this either.

A wooden tourist sign with yellow arrows in Latvian points to various sights, such as castle ruins and a cable car, against a background of green trees and a blue sky. 

And not this either. The downhill, by the way, is simply excellent, almost like in Turkey, just a bit shorter.

A cobblestone paved path with a white dividing line goes deep into a dense, shady forest. A wooden fence stretches on the left, and two cyclists can be seen in the distance. 

The bridge at the entrance to Sigulda over the river Gauja. Right on the right is the Makars campsite, where we spent the night (except for Aux).

A cyclist in a helmet rides across a bridge, ahead a van and another cyclist can be seen against the background of a dense green forest bathed in sunlight. IMG_0330 A dense mixed forest covers the hilly river bank under a clear light blue sky in the rays of the sun. IMG_0356

We had to eat god knows what, and in the dark, because we didn't know where the supermarket was and stocked up at the village shop.

A man in glasses and a green windbreaker sits at night on a log on the sand and packs things into a backpack. In one hand he holds a package of food, and a turned-on pocket flashlight lies on the sand nearby.

And these are photos authored by Aux

Two cyclists in helmets and sportswear stand by their bicycles against the background of a field with reddish vegetation and a forest. The man on the right smiles at the camera, while the one on the left looks down, holding a water bottle. A smiling man in a blue tank top and a bike helmet stands on a wooden platform attached to an old tree with a pagoda-shaped roof, against the background of a dense forest and an overgrown pond. IMGP0881

Overall, the first day went not bad. We swam in the sea, ate some ice cream. We rode a bit too little, though, by my standards, but on the other hand, the hills in Sigulda are excellent, it's fun to ride both down and up. In the Makars campsite, by the way, there are plenty of Germans with motorhomes, many with bikes. One was on a recumbent, with a Vaude tent and Ortlieb bags. I would've been dying of envy, but soon I'll have all the same stuff myself, except maybe for the recumbent.

If you're not aware of what a recumbent is, here it is. It has many advantages compared to a classic bike, especially for tourers: your back doesn't get tired, you can see the scenery well, and it's less far to fall.

A smiling woman in a helmet and sunglasses rides a yellow recumbent bicycle along a paved path. Her legs are stretched forward, towards the pedals.

At the campsite, by the way, there's electricity, a toilet, a shower. The prices, however, are not Latvian, but German. What we didn't know is that if you paid for a spot, they apparently give out boats to ride for free. Don't repeat our mistake.

Ctrl + ←
Ctrl + →