Day 1 - Ainazi to Jumpravmuiza - 57km - 8hrs 52min

A very hard day - the longest distance I have ever covered in a day in Latvia. Breakfast was obligingly served an hour early so that I could make a start at 7:30 full of omelette and porridge. The first 2 hours to Salacgriva was largely along the main Riga-Tallin highway. The verge was easy to walk on but the noise of the traffic was off-putting. At one stage I tried a track parallel to the highway but within the forest. I was soon driven back to the main road by the voracious mosquitoes.

Salacgriva port

Salaca river

"Home of Bormanis" (nearly)

Salacgriva has a small port where the Salaca river meets the Gulf of Riga. Three years ago I crossed the river upstream at Mazsalaca (Little Salaca) on my south to north walk. Salacgriva has many attractive features particularly around the river and the port. I was taken by a small pub, the name of which I misread as Pie Bormana (the home of Bormanis - Anita's sister Mara's family). I was quite put out when my error was pointed out. I could quite imagine Anita's brother-in-law Valdis as the host of the establishment.

Entrance to B's home

Just past Salacgriva (after walking the first 15km in about 2 1/2 hours, I decided to run for a while and drank the bottle of water I had bought in Salacgriva (as it turned out, a wise purchase). I soon turned off the bitumen road onto a gravel road, which later entered a forest and became compacted sand and very pleasant to run on. I jogged for the next 15km in about 1 1/2 hours. Time seemed to go quickly, perhaps because there was more to concentrate on.


The map showed what seemed to be a couple of townships where I was planning to get lunch and more water. They were more like settlements of a handfull of houses without any facilities for travellers. It meant that I kept moving, pretty much for the whole day, as there was nothing to stop for. I ate my emergency supply of dried fruit and nuts "on the run" and eventually ran out of water a few kilometres before the accommodation. 


The last few kilometres were a struggle, though Anita phoned with about an hour of walking left. The accommodation was on a lake and there were other places to stay in the vicinity. I had been looking forward to a hot shower and relaxing in the sort of comfort I had experienced at Ainazi. I found Jumpravamuiza without difficulty. Muiza usually indicates a fairly grand home - usually the largest in the vicinity. 

Fisherman's hut at Jumpravmuiza (6am next morning)

The hostess at Jumpravmuiza was very pleasant, and very flattering about my inadequate Latvian. There were a number of outbuildings which I examined, wondering which would be my home for the night. My hostess set out with me on foot. As we walked the 400 metres or so towards the lake I noticed 3 wooden fishermen's huts by the side of the lake and a little wooden toilet up the hill. Three beds were squeezed into my hut with a small table. I was shown the small sandy beach Where I was told was the best place to enter to wash myself.


I retired to the hut and remained horizontal some a considerable time. It was warm and I was pleasantly tired. I had a series of exchanges of text messages with Janis Apsitis (Lija's second cousin). That evening, Janis and his brother Matiss were visiting the property where their sheep are and Janis had offered to drive the 30 or so kilometres to where I was staying to pick me up and show me the sheep and the property. It is something I had been hoping to do on my previous trips.

Inside the fisherman's hut

However, Janis picked up from my messages that I was pretty worn out so we cancelled the arrangement. I boiled up some water and added it to my "bushwalker's" meal, after 10 minutes, turning it into a double serving a pasta with a tomato based sauce. I followed with the fresh strawberries left by my hostess.