Day 7 - Barkava to Madona

30km (227km) - 6 hours 50 minutes - weather fine The big surprise tonight was that Ziedonis drove Mark down, and Anita came along for the ride. Unfortunately she and Ziedonis have now gone home. Mark will walk with me for the next couple of days to Vestiena tomorrow and Esmeralda's near Inesi the day after. The 'Dienas bizness' journalist will join me later in the week. Today was 30km of road walking. For the first half, there was only a narrow, gravelly shoulder to walk on, but later the going was easier. My blister has enlarged, but Mark brought some blister pads with him and I am hoping it won't develop too badly. I walked each 10km straight through with a couple of 10-15 minute stops in between. The traffic was constant with lots of heavy trucks. The roadworks between Jekabpils and Varaklani (which held us up on the way down in the car) no doubt contributes to the volume of traffic. I walk on the left, facing the oncoming traffic. I still have trouble crossing the road and invariably look the wrong way. Facing oncoming traffic, you can see what is about to hit you. However, that does not take into account the cars overtaking as they come up behind - with the faster, overtaking car suddenly appearing, what seems like inches from my right shoulder. It happened a number of times and it is not something that grows on you.

Anita asked tonight what keeps me going during these long stretches. I just seem to retreat into a very contained space. I can spend long periods thinking about specific matters, not particularly productively, in the sense that I don't necessarily think about deep issues or come to any specific resolution.
But the hours and kms roll by and it tends to shut out the incredibly loud traffic noise. Because it was a main road, there were markers at each km. I counted down 29 markers. It seems to help the time pass. It is still necessary to concentrate on the task at hand. I started the day having eaten only mixed nuts for both dinner and breakfast. I was able to find something more interesting for breakfast and to carry with me for lunch. There were absolutely no shops along the way. Just more farmland - mostly cropping, and pretty flat. I did cross a substantial river, the Aiviekste - it was about 40-50m wide. There is a very significant wetlands area not far to the north-east from where I was walking. In Madona, I had a task to undertake on behalf of Ansis and Nora from Melbourne.

I was to contact Dace at the local museum. Dace wasn't there but I met her brother, Indulis. He is a historian and he gave me a copy of the local history for which he had written the text. I rather disrupted activities at the museum, but declined a tour as I was desperately in need of a wash. One week down and I am still on target. I am finding it very hard. My feet are sore and the blister worries me. I removed about 7 or 8kgs from my pack and sent it home with Anita. In my listing of items I am carrying, I didn't mention my Teva sandals. I have kept them with me. I am critically looking ahead at each day's walking to see if it is necessary. Liepaja still seems a very long way away.