This is Part 29 of my trip continuing the journey.Today I crossed into 2 countries, but 4 border crossings. How so? The first crossing was from Estonia to Latvia but through a small road that just had a simple sign-post, so I decided I’d backtrack a little back into Estonia (2nd crossing) and cross on a main road (3rd crossing)… and why not? The 4th crossing was into Lithuania where I spent the night. It was a lovely day of riding, stopping at at a couple of beaches along the way to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the Baltic
The whole journey took me through the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and into Norway right the way up to Nordkapp, the furthest point you can travel by motorcycle or car in mainland Europe and then back through Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France over a 7 week period late May – mid July 2023
I am back in the UK now, but please do add your comments and I’ll get back to you.
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All my best wishes, thanks again for watching
Nick
CB500X 2022 model
Hepco & Becker Tank bars
Rally Raid CB500X 2019-on Engine Guard-RRP 747
SW Motech Footrest Kit
R&G Kickstand Shoe-RRP 474
Outback Motortek Pannier rack and Rear rack (including exhaust heat shield)
Metzeler Tourance Next tyres
SW-Motech dry bag (60 litres)
Lomo dry bag motorcycle waterproof panniers -soft
Oxford tank bag (need to use rain cover in heavy rain)
Garmin Zumo XT GPS device
Rally Raid Billet Multi-Mount for 12mm (1/2″) Crossbar – part number RRP 643
GoPro Hero 10 (helmet mounted)
Adhesive universal helmet mount for GoPro
Purple Panda microphone (helmet mounted)
Sonicake wireless microphone (walking about)
Insta360 X3
DJI mini 3 Drone
Vango Tryfan 300 (3 person tent)
Sea to Summit Camp Plus Self Inflating Camping Mat
Trekology air bag (topping up mat inflation)
SLAAPLEKKER 800 Goose down mummy sleeping bag
Eurohike sleeping bag liner
Trekology Aluft pillow
Cyberlink PowerDirector 365 – video editing
RST textile jacket
RST textile trousers (slight seepage in crutch area in heavy rain)
TCX Airtech 3 Gore-tex boots
Nolan 80 helmet
Well I actually crossed into laia from Estonia on a little quiet Road I felt cheated so I decided to come back and go through this way hope I’m not going to regress it welcome folks it’s Nick here start of day 41 I’m 14 Kil kilomet short of the
Border with laia in a campsite I’ll show you in a minute it’s € 10 a night which included shower and electric which is pretty good uh and it’s in a quite a nice setting very small mini camping it’s called uh just about to have breakfast
Of made coffee and uh so I’m using these which is super really like those and I’m having porridge other varieties and brands are available anyway today we’re heading down to Ria not stopping there passing through continuing towards Lithuania not sure how far we’ll get yesterday wasn’t huge
Huge amounts couple hundred kilm but it was far enough and I’m very pleased to found this little campsite anyway I’m going to have my breakfast and on this trip I’ve come to expect surprises and the unexpected you go around a corner and you see something different yet again which is super um
But this campsite here was a real surprise it’s € 10 mini camp it’s called I’ll put the name of the town up uh it’s very small it only goes as far as this fence and just behind me there a little bit further back over there got some
Cabins it’s only got a small toilet block one shower cubicore and two toilets but for €1 fabulous and the location marvelous the sea is just over there somewhere uh woke up this morning bird song in the in the Woodlands Etc it’s just a real surprise so if you’re
Doing a trip anywhere you know be prepared to uh see things which surprise you unexpectedly uh it was on Google Maps um but tucked away a little bit uh the only the only downside is and I mentioned this earlier is the color of the water it’s a little bit yellow I’ve drunk the
Water everywhere I’ve been so far but I just don’t like the look of this one so I won’t be drinking it I’ll get some uh fresh anyway uh 14 km from the laian border 160 km 100 miles from riger where we’ll be stopping passing through and then I
Don’t know exactly what the next bit is but it’s enough of my Waffle just enjoying the peace and Tranquility in this Woodlands right on the road see you soon I’ve stopped at a little Bakery a couple of kilometers away from that campsite C is the term and got a Cheesy flavored
Roll and a sweet flavored pasty heading off now to Ria I think I’ve probably said that before but just going took a slight detour backtracked a little bit into the village of caby to the Bakers and I was hoping to be able to get to the sea but you can’t
It’s all sort of private private property private roads this is quite a nice little route though rather than the four which is the main Highway such a lovely day I mean no hurry and this is where the campsite was mini camping real surprised €1 bargain Great so this is the Baltic it’s been tricky to get get to it having to shout at the mic phone on the insta and I think that sign there means it’s private never mind there were lots of these little crisscrossing Trails quite interesting just taking me back onto the
Four do I want to go back onto the four or should I just continue on these and go over right and then back down there if that takes me somewhere is that going to take me back to that little Coast Road I think so why not think the little Coast Road ends
Fairly shortly anyway this is quite Pleasant I think we’re just about to cross the laian border yes there we are then laa it’s a simple enough Crossing feel sort of cheated thought it’d be a border but then I think it’s because we’re on a little tiny Road there’s no border crossing or
Such Maybe I’ll go back and do it again well I actually crossed into Lavia from Estonia on a little quiet Road I felt cheated so I decided to come back and go through this way hope I’m not going to regress it this is the official border crossing about 1 km to the right
Parallel with this it’s just a little road which took you through anyway we just see there any difference here no nobody there LV I was driving along the A1 but it’s say 100 km an hour road it’s very straight again so decided to come off see the day is nice and the
Time is mine wasn’t like yesterday yesterday I set off so late after the service that I just like to sort blast through today I want to go left I go left or right if it doesn’t lead anywhere then just turn around I well this is nice wandering along the little back
Roads seems difficult to get off that A1 and find anywhere which leads in the general direction to be Gates down over things oh exciting now I’m heading in the wrong general direction again on the little road I was on peted out to a dead end and this is the the alternative very
Exciting not sure if it leads anywhere I might have to turn around in a minute and go back well technically this is rer I’m not going into the actual City itself it’s already 3:30 due to my continual need for detours and I’m heading off towards Lithuania to a city count k n
Us so we’ve hit rush hour in Ria on a Friday after afternoon it’s nearly 4:00 and the traffic is quite abysmal well that was Dreadful I filtered as far as I could it wasn’t very far cuz the amount of traffic coming the other way solid white line la la la
B more of a diversion on the A7 well true to form the well my form the GoPro battery expired just as we reached reached the border with Lithuania so hopefully caught it on the insta got waved through it looked like they were waving the trucks through stopping the cars whether that’s cuz there’s
Vignettes on these roads I don’t know but they waved me straight through with a little British Z4 car behind me they had a chat with him don’t what the conversation was maybe it was well that’s an odd choice of color for a car isn’t it
Sir we’re in Lithuania now 170 km to my next routing Point Google Maps says there’s something up here it’s so far off the Beaten Track I find it a little bit hard to believe you’ll see that well it does look like it was something at one point
Point or will be something at some point but now we’ll just the building side I made a very bad miscalculation I thought I’d find camping sites along that road but it’s not the sort of camping type of places along there there weren’t lakes or whatever so I’ve had
To change my plans the next set of campsites are about 45 minutes away and it’s already 9:15 so I’ve gone for a hotel which is €38 for the night and5 for breakfast which doesn’t sound too bad I’ll try not to make it a habit of this but it just doesn’t make
Sense trying to get to campsite for 10:00 and then erect the tent assuming that there isn’t issues with getting there that late anyway um I’ll let you know how it is in the morning it’s quite a pretty setting some Fair ugly buildings I must say Shel be somewhere Here Maybe this isn’t here yep Hotel SGA that’s us don’t know whether they have parking I’ll find out okay so I’m checked into the hotel there is parking around the back but it means lugging all the luggage around um so I’ll move that now anyway uh I shall
Leave it at that quite a good day though stopped a couple of times at the beach and saw those stalks up in the nests in their Telegraph bowls Etc so yeah that was good anyway all that leaves me to do is say back Out
6 Comments
I do enjoy your sense of adventure, you managed to find some interesting roads.
Kabli -5 as I type…😱😨😰
I would have put up my tent outside that closed campsite, I don't suppose anyone would have bothered you.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for posting! I always enjoy your videos, in fact they have become part of my Saturday routine! Question for you, as it appears you switched back to the stick tires for your Norway trip. Why so?
Best,
Peter
13:56 I believe it's because Latvia's external (non-EU) border wall isn't finished yet (or wasn't as of last summer). Ever since ours was completed (I'm Lithuanian), the migrants have been making a detour and pouring in from the north as they continue on their way towards Germany. I remember reading about us dispatching border guard reinforcements into Latvia to assist, and we must've reinstated temporary checks in the meanwhile.
These were the articles I was able to find in English: "Number of irregular migrants from Latvia on the rise in Lithuania – minister", "Lithuania to send more border guards to Latvia to deal with migrant flows".
I wonder if it may be peat in the water as we get a lot of that in Scotland, however without knowing better safe than sorry , dicky stomach is not waht you need on a bike tour urghhh the thought of it. Great vid thank you for it.