The night was windy and rainy – and cold. I do have my wonderful Joutsen’s down sleeping bag, but I had to tighted the hoodie and keep a long-sleeved shirt on to stay warm. In the morning, it was still rainy, but it warmed up so that I could pack an almost dry tent. It was almost 12 o’clock as I head off from the camping ground.
I chose to ride smaller roads towards the Rouge village. It started with a climb – and some more climbig. It was still quite heavy wind from the west, so it made traveling a bit harder. But the Vorumaa landscapes are beautiful: hills, farms, forests. Vorumaa is the land of smoke saunas, unfortunately a lonely cycling tourist is not really able enjoy them. That’s a pity, but I can understand that as the heating takes several hours you won’t do that just in case someone happens to stop by.
I joined the main road Voru – Valga at some point. It was because I wanted to avoid the gravel, but definitely the main road was boring as hell. And strong head wind. At Moniste I turned south-east for Ape in Latvia, and from thereon, I could enjoy the comfortable ride helped by the nature. Ape felt and looked like Latvia already. You can see the difference between these two countries in architecture, construction and general cleanliness. But that is not merely negative notion, it’s different and that makes it interesting, too.
I didn’t really make a stop in Ape, just headed on. There was really enjoyable cobble-stone street in Ape, real welcome to Latvia. Nevertheless, the Ape – Aluksne road has been renovated about 10 km, so along with the tail wind it was a smooth and fast ride. It changed at some point, however… There isn’t much to see on that stretch either, so fast travelling was appreciated.
I reached Aluksne early evening. I had checked from various sources, that there is two campings near Aluksne. The town is nice with parks and historic sights, like a Livonian order castle ruins that I didn’t visit. Next time… Again, some shopping for the dinner and off we go to the camping. There was a nice old fellow, speaking some German, showing a place for a tent and asking if alles ist in Ordnung. And sure it was. There was a shower with warm water and at garden table to prepare the camping-gourmet dinner. Salad with tomatoes and cucumbers with mayonnaise for a starter, Estonian buckwheat dish with sausages and Polish cherries for a dinner.
Even though there were a group of Latvians in the next cabin and German-Dutch accompanion a bit further, I had no problems getting a good sleep.
Kristiina Ullgren 