Day 20 - Lake Zebrus to past Saldus

47km (606km) - 10 hours 50 minutes - weather overcast and fine later

A huge day. It would have been long anyway but the decision to avoid the main road added about 6km. I had just started on the alternative route when a man asked me where I was going. When I said Liepaja, he was most perturbed, and said something like 'niksts'. I told him that there were too many cars on the other road and that, 'This way is longer, but better'. And so it turned out.
The walk was in 3 parts - 25km pretty much non-stop to Remte, 16km to Saldus and 6 more to the accomodation at Krustkalni.
At Remte, I was having lunch and talking to Anita on the phone. Two young girls wandered over to where I was and also sat down. I said to Anita, in English, that two girls had sat down. I then heard one of them say to the other, 'divas meitenes' (two girls), so I asked her whether she understood English. She said she did and we had a conversation, mainly in Latvian. Iluta is 11 and Amanda is 9. They go to the school in the old manor house, next door to where we were sitting. I think the substantial parkland at the back of the muiza (manor) was connected to it. There is a large oak tree 5.3m in girth which is known as the 'milestibas koks' (love tree). Lovers or those about to be married tie ribbons around the tree's trunk.


Broceni, near Saldus, has some heavy industry. Saldus is bigger than Dobele, but also seemed to have a good feel about it. A lot of work is being done, including major reconstruction of the main road I took out of town.
In Saldus, I bought supplies and had a meal - I was determined not to miss out again. The meal was surprisingly good - I was given the English menu where the meal was described as 'hot potty with chiken'.
At the accomodation, I was met by Aivars, the owner, who said that he had been told that he must feed me (Anna had made the booking). He asked me when I was leaving in the morning and I said, 8am. He said, 'She won't be able to get here by then'.
My Latvian was quite inadequate for this conversation so I phoned Anita. She spoke with Aivars at length, then with me, then Aivars with me. The upshot was that I had frikadele soup (loaded with, probably, pork dumplings) and rissoles (almost certainly pork). I only managed the soup. Breakfast is a little unclear still, but I think I am getting porridge. After breakfast, I am to wait till 8:30 when a female journalist from a local newspaper will arrive. She wants to interview me and then walk with me for 50km. I am doing just over 30km tomorrow, which should be challenging enough for a start.
Last night, Janis explained the importance of the sauna for Latvians. The sauna at Zebrus is wood fired and is part of the renovation. Janis demonstrated the use of birch leaves to beat and massage. The leaves seem to capture pockets of heat that are transferred to the body. The aroma of the birch leaves is released by the beating. It was certainly a relaxing and interesting experience.
It looks like Anita and Lija will stay on Wednesday night at Bernati and walk with me the next day to Liepaja. Anita (in a team with me, Tanya and Rosemary, with Reece in support) completed the 100km Oxfam walk in April this year, in 33 hours, losing 5 toenails in the process; they are growing back slowly. Lija joined us on some of the practice walks with her friend Amity (Tanya's daughter).
Anita and I also completed a long walk in July 1987, when she was pregnant with Jana. We decided that we would walk to Abrene. Abrene was a part of Latgale, but was appropriated by the Soviet Union when it reoccupied Latvia at the end of the War. There seems little hope that it will ever return to being part of Latvia.
In 1987, Austris Grassis, and others, established a cooperative and purchased a chateau in the Loire Valley in France. They called it 'Abrene'. We purchased 3 shares and after our trip to Latvia in June 1987, we set out to visit Abrene.
I had bought a book, 'Long Walks in France', which included a walk along the Grande Rondaneur (?) tracks, from Orleans to Chinon. We caught the train from Paris to Orleans and set out. We had a day pack and a few items, but no rain jackets. On the second day it started to rain, so we bought jackets. We walked 200km in 10 days, staying in a hotel or similar accommodation each night. We had a walk guide book that set out where you could stay and get meals.
I recall that the places we stayed included Beauchancy, Chambord, Amboise and Tours. The walk was clearly marked and followed roads, paths through fields and forest tracks. About 10km from Chinon, we went off the track and walked to chateau 'Abrene'. Whilst not as grand as Chambord, Abrene had a large chateau building from the 17th century and extensive grounds and other smaller buildings.
We returned to Abrene in April 1989. I completed a Latvian language course with Austris, and Liga Streipa from America. Brigita Strods was the saimniece (and one of the first commentators to this blog).
Austris is a very fine and inspiratiional teacher and my only regret is that he could only spend a small amount of time teaching us. Nevertheless, on the course, I made greater improvements in my spoken Latvian than at any other time.
In the years after we visited Abrene, I completed the Year 12 (VCE) course, on two occasions (the first time sitting the final exam at the Sorbonne as we were again in Paris), and then completing the 3-year university Latvian course, taught principally by Trevor Fennell, the Professor of French at Flinders University and a world-renowned expert on Latvian grammar.
'Abrene' only lasted a few years. Austris now lives near Mazsalaca, and on the recent 3x3 camp, an evening was spent at Austris' home. Anita described it as a 'Latvian idyll'.