2023 Latvia

This was a short but beautiful cycling adventure through Latvia and southern Estonia, with fantastic weather, long summer evenings and a lot of time spent exploring off the planned routes. Latvia became the 14th country cycled, and choosing quiet alternative roads instead of the faster EV routes consistently paid off, even when it meant slower progress.

The highlights were the forests, marshes, river beaches, sandstone cliffs, bridges, castles and ruins, with plenty of gravel and eventually some welcome asphalt. Valmiera was a pleasant stop, while Valga felt surprisingly depressing and run-down. In contrast, the remote southern Estonian countryside was incredibly quiet, with almost empty roads and a memorable stay at a huge tourist farm where we were the only guests.

The trip also had plenty of spontaneous moments: a Georgian singing concert and Georgian food, an electro-acoustic music concert, beer by the river, cycling through rapeseed fields at 9 PM, and a freezing 10-second swim in a lake. Overall, the overriding impression was simple: Latvia is beautiful, and the best experiences came from abandoning the planned route and exploring.