Day 4 - Saturday 24 July 2010

Nida, Latvia to Jūrmalciems 39km; 10 hours 5 minutes Weather overcast, then sunny.

When I saw the sign 'Bike path - Jūrmalciems 16km', I thought I would make it here by 14:00. In fact, it was after 17:30 when I staggered in. My mistake was to keep following the walking track signs when I knew, from studying the map over breakfast, that the bike path went straight north to Jūrmalciems whereas the walking track swung east to go around Papes purvs (the Pape marshlands).


I kept referring to my compass and telling myself the path was travelling sort of north when in fact it was showing sort of east. My compass was also behaving erratically. I have heard it said that southern hemisphere compasses can't be used in the northern hemisphere. I don't know if this is just an urban myth.
Anyway, the real problem was the biting insects. The track was through close, damp, humid forest and had been maintained by mowing a 2m wide strip over a distance of 7 or 8km through the forest. Otherwise, the track would have been overgrown and effectively impassable. It is something I have wished Australian park authorities might do in some areas - but an 8km grassy pathway was something else.
So, there I was belting along to keep the biting insects at bay (which I was able to do because of the super highway. A brief stop to apply Bushman repellent was a great improvement but was not entirely effective. When I emerged from the forest nothing matched the map, so on I went for another couple of kilometres. Then I came to two signs – one a very comprehensive map with considerable additional information, though not the location of "you are here". There was also a directional sign, which by cross-referencing with other signs, seemed to indicate a viewing spot for European bison was 1.8km to the north.


A young couple drove up from that direction – they hadn't seen any bison, but they helped me orientate myself. I must go back the way I had come – at least 3 or 4km must be retraced. I lathered myself with Bushman, reported in to Anita who is getting a bit concerned for a number of reasons.
3km back (35 minutes on the watch), then NE for 1.5km (15mins), 1km N then another Km E to the beach. I did, however, see my first live Latvian snake. It was black and about 3-400cm long. I also disturbed a deer (a cute Bambi type), a couple of metres beside the track in a ditch.
6 or 7km to Jūrmalciems with further directions after I reached the settlement. My water was down to half a litre. When I reached Jūrmalciems, there was a telephone tower, a few boats tied up to the jetty or on the sand and a handful of bathers.
I walked up off the beach. A young couple from Riga told me there was probably a shop up the road about a km but may not be open. They very kindly gave me half a litre of water which enabled me to make it the further 2 to 3km up the beach where a green boat on the sand would indicate that I had arrived at my accommodation. But things were not as straightforward as that.
But this time it was a pleasant surprise. Accommodation was tight in this area and the host, Juris Jaunzems had only been able to offer me a blow-up mattress in a tent in the yard. Juris had apparently seen some of the media coverage of my previous walks, so according to Anita, I was to be upgraded to the house with use of all the facilities.
When I arrived, the accommodation appeared to be fully occupied and Juris was not there. Anita phoned Juris – he was in Ventspils. I was to stay in his house and he gave directions as to how I should get in. Juris had left a note in English. It starts: "Dear friend, Welcome to Jūrmalciems. Please feel free in this house and use all you see".
There are detailed directions for using the coffee machine – wasted on me. I have been drinking some of the bottled water I found. I am badly dehydrated.
I phoned Juris to thank him for his very kind generosity. It made my day. I went for a swim in the Baltic Sea and felt incredibly refreshed. I will keep going to Liepaja tomorrow – a mere 25km and all along the beach so I shouldn't lose my way.