September 1, 2024
Day 62: Parnu to Salacgriva Latvia
Free Apples and Free Pears
“That lady on the bike saw you and turned around trying to catch you,” Patrick says catching up with Rachel she comments: “I said “Hi” to her.” Patrick continues: “She turned around and tried to catch you, then she saw me. She had a British accent.” Rachel says: “did she give you apples?” “No, pears!”
Patrick navigates us out of Parnu on bike paths. We don’t know where the Eurovelo route starts. The bikepath ends at the main highway but then jogs around to another smaller road. At 14kms, Patrick says as we cross the main road: “This café would have been perfect timing,” but it is closed.
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For a while we follow the Eurovelo road signs, and then they just disappear. Later we find the bikeroute signs again at a junction and it seems like we were off-route for quite a while on route 333 through Soometsa and a large nature preserve, a very nice road with barely any traffic.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56133-Quercus-robur
2 months ago
Just as the sprinkles start in Haademeeste we stop at a bus stall for cover. Patrick walks across to the coop and buys coffee and pastries. The rain has stopped by the time we are done with our food break.
The road is peaceful with very little traffic. “Free apples” are in boxes on tables at the side of the road. Since we entered Estonia via ferry we now get our photo with the border post as we leave. And then take the photo op with the border sign of Latvia. There’s a nice picnic table and tourist information. We eat sandwiches watching the other tourists taking the same pictures and reading the information board.
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As we ride through Ainazi we see they are proud of their town: old houses have plaques explaining the history. Then our nice quite sideroads disappear, the only option left is the main highway to Riga. There is a 2 foot shoulder that is sufficient to safely ride, but even today on a Sunday there are many trucks and quite a bit of traffic. We imagine it will be a lot busier tomorrow. This makes our decision on which route to take tomorrow easier: we will do the extra miles to avoid this highway. After about 6km on the busy road, there is a bike path on the other side. This was not easy riding as roots from the trees created many bumps.
We reach our destination about 230pm, it’s very nice apartment in a beautiful garden. A lady checks us in and shows a garage box where we can lock-in our bikes. Patrick walks back to the markets for supplies. Initially we planned to camp tonight, it wasn’t until last evening we decided to get this cheap room ($45) instead. Now we are happy about this decision: even though the forecast had clear weather it is raining tonight. We briefly walk to the beach only about a hundred meters away, then get back to our room and wifi internet.
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 3,088 km (1,918 miles)
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