Revised route - From the start to Madona

Ziedonis has been busy over the last few days trying to arrange accommodation. There were a few problems and it has been necessary to significantly revise the route to Madona We now have accommodation for the first 8 nights. The ninth and eleventh nights will be near ski resort areas so there should be little difficulty finding a place to stay. Day 10 will finish at Esmeralda's property near Vecpiebalga. She was in Riga tonight and we have just come from dinner with her.

After we placed our order at the restaurant, a man entered, and sat alone. He ordered and received his meal and had almost finished before ours arrived. Not that the service was particularly slow for us; it was just that the Prime Minister got special attention. Then off he went with his two car police escort.

But back to our revised plan:

Start at Meikšāni where there is a marker supposedly at Latvia's easternmost point. It is not really, but has probably been chosen because it is the closest settlement near where the Latvian, Russian and Belarus borders meet. We plan to go to the equivalent marker in western Latvia at Bemāti about 20kms south of Liepāja. I am grateful to Michael of Geelong for carefully examining Google Earth to determine that Bemāti is the furthest western land in Latvia, although the end of the breakwater at Liepāja is at a similar longitude. The breakwater extends hundreds of metres into the Baltic Sea and used to contain a Russian submarine base. Apparently the breakwater is now accessible and in stormy weather is an exhilarating experience.

1st night - Pasiene (population 1,150) - 20kms (20kms)

2nd night - Nirza (on the lake) - 28kms (48kms)

3rd night - Kaunata - 34kms (82kms)

4th night - Dvarči (on Lake Rāzna), after diverting to Liepukalns (Latvia's third highest mountain at 289m) - 32kms (114kms)

5th night - Kozori (near Rezekne - population 37,600) - 32kms (146kms)

6th night - Jaunviļāni (population 2,600) - 26kms (172kms)

7th night - Barkava - 33kms (205 kms)

8th night - Madona (population 9,300) - 28kms (233 kms).

This is an extra 29kms than the original, but it cannot be helped. Hopefully we will see a fair representation of the Latgale region. I will try to post a marked map so that our route is a little clearer.