Aseri Vald, Estonia to Sigulda, Latvia

1st August 2016

After a very quick dip in the sea and a walk along the beach we made use of the campsite facilities before packing up to move on.

Lucy had been asked not to get covered in clay on the beach so when she returned totally covered in it she was promptly placed in the cold outdoors shower. She only briefly screamed as it was too cold to make too much noise. She did tell anyone who would listen after that about the child abuse.

As we were now a day ahead we took the opportunity to visit Sigulda. We had seen an advert for a bobsleigh track near there and then Vickey spotted a go ape type Tarzan climbing park with a campsite.

Close to the Russian border we spotted a supermarket type shop, the Blachfords had again run out of fresh dinners so we pulled into a huge carpark. Neil was not convinced it was the safest so the men folk stayed to guard camp while us ladies ventured in.

The shop was not the best and whilst looking for meat I stumbled upon a freezer full of joints with pictures of dogs on, we hope it was to feed your dog and not dog meat. After about 25mins Neil appeared in the shop saying we should head to the checkout as we WERE leaving, him and Michael were feeling very unsafe in the carpark with groups of men looking at them. We promptly paid and left.

The road out of Estonia was great, we flew along for a hundred miles and then suddenly we hit Latvia and the road works began.

The road works saw miles and miles of roads taken right down to gravel with more pot holes than road. A bumpy few hours followed.

We finally arrived at our site on a rivers edge in a national park. The kids could see the Tarzan ropes and trampolines and were very excited.

We went into the reception to pay, it felt and smelt like a youth hostel, the whole site was full of Wilderness Explorer Scout type people with lots of tents and communal Gala type marquees.

After dinner we set up our horse shoes and a small tournament took place, we had a few spectators and one friendly older German man took a turn, he was rubbish! After initially beating both Michael and Neil I were eventually beaten and Michael who went to bed the winner.