Day 3 - Friday 23 July 2010

Klaipeda, Lithuania to Nida, Latvia. 49km; 10 hours 40 minutes
Weather warm with showers.

A marathon day. I knew it was coming but it was worse than I imagined.
There were a combination of factors – I have consistently underestimated distances, including today, Latvia’s Nida was a second choice because we could not book accommodation in Lithuania’s Sventoji (10km less), and it rained (bucketed down on 3 separate occasions).
There is not much I can do about the distances – they are what they are and I will have to walk them, and in as few days as possible because of the limited time available.
Finding accommodation has been difficult, though I have the tent at Jūrmalciems tomorrow night and hopefully more luxurious lodgings at Liepaja the next night.
The rain threatened from the start of the day. I left Klaipeda at 06:05, but the rain first came at about 13:30 or 14:00 so I couldn't have avoided it. Wet clothes are a nuisance, particularly wet boots. I have put my wet stuff in the bathroom next to the hot water service, so hopefully they might dry a bit.
Today's walking included bike paths, forest tracks, a main road, town streets, country lanes and along the beach. The first section of 20km or so to Palanga I did in one hit – mainly on bike paths.
There is a large influx of tourists into the few coastal towns in the 35km strip between Klaipeda and Sventoji and many people hire bikes and ride between the towns or to a particular beach. I saw only one rider with a helmet. The 2-metre wide bike path was a hazard when Jānis and I were walking side by side but easier today.
The weather started warm and humid, though overcast till about 09:00. I was walking along the beach towards Sventoji when the storm hit. It was preceded by about an hour of thunder and the sky clouded over. It quickly changed from a packed beach to an almost empty beach within about half an hour.
I moved back to the bike path and over the next hour as the storm continued I saw many bedraggled cyclists. I at least had a jacket though because of the humidity, the result without one would have been much the same. Sventoji was tacky – a carnival, souvenir stalls, inappropriate apartment blocks and little else except a newish church that looks like a skyscraper – weird. I should have been bothered to take a photo though Google probably has a million images of the church [Oh no it doesn’t! –Ed].
The last section of about 10km from Sventoji involved two storms. The weather cleared briefly as I arrived at the Latvian border. The Latvian and Lithuanian border posts appear to have been deserted, although two Latvian border guards were operating out of a van.
I want to commend the senior border guard (Mr M Zalitis) for his courtesy, thoroughness and good humour. He examined my passport and found that I had entered the EU on 11 July in Paris (and therefore had not needed a stamp when I arrived in Riga). He reminded me that I could only stay in Latvia for 90 days without a visa.
A very benign border control. I gave him my business card and he puzzled over my description as a "cross-country walker". He asked if he could assist me. I said, "Can you stop the rain?" Pointing up at the sky, he said, "I have done that".
My pleasure at being back in Latvia was short-lived, however. The land around here is very swampy and the insects were ferocious on the way in. Stopping is out of the question, and even fairly fast walking did not avoid the attackers. In one sense the rain was a relief as the mozzies and march flies disappeared. But so did any hope of remaining dry.
I also put the map in my pack. I went 400m past the turnoff before I realised I was going North and not South-West. Later, however, I had the map in hand when I walked about 300m past the turnoff to the accommodation. "Well sign-posted", Ziedonis had been told. In fact there is a large and attractive sign (Jūrmalnieki), as you actually enter the property.
I have been treated very well here – as I had been on the first two nights. Vida at Pervalka and Roland, last night, were very helpful. I must have looked pretty pathetic tonight when I arrived wet-through. Within 10 minutes, the saimniece (hostess) had a bowl of hot soup on the table – vegetables and mint (?) and a dob of sour cream.
Later, as I was eating my Hungarian Goulash and noodles (a dried-food bushwalking meal to which boiling water is added), Igor came in with a smoked fish which he insisted I must eat. It looked and tasted like trout and was superb.
Igor was appointed my interpreter when I arrived. Originally from the Ukraine, he has lived in Vilniius (capital of Lithuania) for the last 20 years. He studied English and French at university and has worked as a teacher. He invited me to stay at his house next year if I were to do the Eastern Baltics walk from Vilnius to Tallinn (capital of Estonia).
My hostess spoke to me in Russian, though when I was paying, she used her daughter-in-law as an interpreter. She said her mother-in-law's name was Lubovja (??) which apparently means "love" in Lithuanian. Hopefully Juris can clarify that [actually pa russki, in Russian].
Lubovja advised me about tomorrow's walking. The first stretch to Pape is 10km by the beach and 15km by road. The beach is about 100m away, just over a sand dune. Lubovja had not heard of tomorrow night's destination, Jūrmalciems. I will make enquiries at Pape, and hopefully the track near the beach shown as going through on the map will actually do so. Perhaps only 35km tomorrow and then about 25km the next day to reach Liepaja.