Gwilym's Adventure Blog

An early start this morning got me to the Latvia/Belarus border at 7.28am. It was nearly all going well as only one vehicle ahead of me in the queue and then when they checked my paperwork, they noticed I did not have an MOT certificate (I a impressed they even knew what one was as they said they had about 1 or 2 British people through a month) Anyway, I don't have a certificate because the bike is not old enough. The supervisor came over and disappeard with my documents. At 8.19am I was let out of Latvia. The MOT certificate issue seemed to have gone away. Then is was the Belarussian border. I had to temporarily import my bike (lots of paperwork), have it searched by 2 people, get my visa all stamped up and buy some insurance. Now, it was from a genuine lady, in a booth with the words "Insurance" in many languages above it. But at only 2 euro for 15 days cover I left wondering of what value it really was. At 9.23 I left the border and headed into Belarus...

Left my tent up to dry in the sun this morning and left site at 7.30, a bit later than normal as I had a shorter day. Still over 450km but on fast A roads with good tarmac and even some sweeping bends. About 6 hours in total followed by 4km of dirt roads to get to my campsite here less than 1 hour from the border. The slightly dodgy double hotdog tasted better than it looked but I am not sure I will be looking to have anther one. It was nowhere near as hot today but even so, a quick swim in the lake was required before spending the afternoon planning the next 3 days. The "package holiday" has ended. Since Calais there have been no passport checks, no hard borders, only 2 currencies to deal with and most people I have met in whichever country have had some level of English. Tomorrow the "adventure" starts. Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. All with real borders and a game of visas, vehicle import and export documents, customs, potential language...

Having left Lithuania early this morning, I passed through Lativia and into Estonia. I didn't follow my arbitrary rules (stopping for a meal or camping) so can't count Latvia today but don't worry, I will be back in Latvia tomorrow to make it count. I did however manage to drive through the outskirts of Riga, Latvia's capital due to a mis programming of the GPS! Again, I was generally following the coast and got a few views today. The roads are much better here with fast A roads with some sweeping bends. Only 2 rail crossings today as well so a much more flowing ride. My finish for the day was here in Parnu at around 2pm as I needed a supermarket to restock on food and get a few other bits and bobs. The first campsite I tried was in someone's back garden and a note which said, "pitch your tent, we will collect 8 euros later". I looked around but it was a bit crap really so moved on another 15 km to Solar Camping which is a whole site p...