We had found a nice spot in the city of Jelgava and decided to spend two days parked next to an artificial beech enjoying what has been in excess of 35c each day. We managed to keep cool with regular showers, knowing that water is available at every Statoil Fuel station to replenish our tanks.
We set off early on Friday to arrive in Riga and do some exploring, since the weather was forecast to be overcast on the Saturday (and indeed that is what it has been). Riga was very busy and the added heat made our usual tactic of looking for a wild camping spot a little more stressful. When we saw a Swiss registered motor home that had been clamped (on later inspection they hadn't even bothered to buy a ticket, so there goes Swiss impunity from prosecution!) we ended up at Riga City Camping for an eye watering £17 without electric - our most expensive overnight so far especially given that 95% of them have been free.
The Old Town of Riga was very small but pleasant and once we got hold of a decent map we began to navigate around all of the various sites. It was very difficult to photograph as there were few open spaces from which to get the buildings into frame (oh for a wide angle lens!). We managed to see pretty much everything we wanted to in an afternoon and for whatever reason the city didn't seem to invite us in for a second days touring as we have done with all the capitals so far on this tour, although I suspect the searing heat might have had something to do with it.
When we returned from Riga that evening we found that the site had been descended upon by about 10 UK and Irish registered caravan's with associated new van's, Range Rovers as a 'travelling family' set up pitch, squeezing their vehicles in-between the gaps people had left for their tables and chairs. Of course to the German and Dutch they were just 'English' and they were making their presence known. We made a hasty retreat in the morning - not before dismantling the fence behind our pitch so we could back our van out since we were blocked in by a 4x4! To add insult to injury a group of five French van's had found a secure guarded car park 500m closer to the city on the same stretch of road for just £1/day! I've made a note of it under "Riga City Camping vs Wild Camping Riga" for anyone wanting to learn from our experience. Still, it made us laugh (eventually) and will spur us on not to get lazy in future with our Wild Camping spots.
Post a Comment