Its an absent minded day. I packed up and couldn’t find one glove. I looked everywhere. I knew there was a Decathlon just off my intended route, so I plotted a route there in Komoot.
Then I couldn’t find my shaver – when I grow a beard i look at least 20 years older, so i usually give up after a while. Again, I looked everywhere, so I got onto Amazon to see if they had one similar. I checked a few out and decided on one. I’d just need to arrange an address for delivery, probably in Tallinn or Helsinki.
I was impressed with my efficiency in sorting out both of these issues. Then I found the glove and the shaver and tried not to be angry. Its funny, I was more angry about wasting time than thinking I’d lost the things in the first place.
I was slow because I haven’t slept well here. I had a great apartment in a super convenient spot in the old town, but over the road is a music bar that sells 50 shots for 25 euros. You can imagine what happens between 12 and 2am. About 11:15pm, everything was quiet and I thought a good sleep was odds-on.
Then the music started, the drinking games, the shouting, the screaming, aaaagggghhhh ! I was asleep by 2am. No wonder i was dopey today.
Finally, I left the apartment and began the crawl out of Riga. The plotted route took me along footpaths with lots of traffic lights.
I’d done nearly 10kms, saw a cafe / bakery and thought – why not ? It turned out to be great.
Eventually, the suburbs melted away and I was on bike paths and quiet roads followed by some lazy sandy paths through pine forests near the coast.
It was too good to last. I had to ride on a couple of busy roads with narrow shoulders and lots of trucks and crazy overtaking idiots from the opposite direction.
I finally made it to the Tuja turnoff, to be greeted by a sandy road which made me work hard right to the end.
When I hit the coastline, there were some beautiful modern houses and more traditional summer places scattered through the forest. It looked like an idyllic getaway.
The campground is close to the beach, really relaxed and full of families and has a restaurant at the beach. Lazy me decided not to go to the small supermarket but have dinner at the restaurant.
The evenings here are so long that I have to force myself to go to bed early. It’s still light until well after 10pm but the best thing for recovery is an early night.
