I had a choice between a short ride, 50km, and staying in Riga or continuing for another half day. Decided for Riga. Found out I could allow myself a comfortable hotel, a little sightseeing and a good meal.
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| Entering Riga across the river Daugava |
Continuing on the P100 after Jelgava. First 6km with bike lane, which stopped in Olkenieni. From there, 30cm outside the white marker. But the road is rather broad, and on Saturday there were no lorries, so unproblematic. After a while you join the four-lane A8/E77. But here there is 3-4m broad extra file - so if you don't care for the noise, it's ok to cycle. Especially with a good tailwind.
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| Riding a 4-lane highway |
After 10-12km you leave the highway, and from here using relative quiet parallel roads.
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| Water tower in Jaunolaine. They are slightly nicer than in Lithuania. |
Generally speaking, I found the road into Riga unproblematic. I met a Latvian cyclist in Jegalva who said he avoided cycling around Riga because of the aggressive traffic, but for me it was no problem (only exception: road works). But it might have been better on a Saturday, with few lorries.¨
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| Red shows today's ride. Green the alternative Eurovelo 9, and yellow the continuation of Eurovelo 13, that I will try tomorrow. |
I've been speculating about tomorrow's ride to the north, but ended up with going for the Eurovelo 13, which, after all, is "approved" for cycling. I fear quite a lot of upaved roads. If too bad, OrganicMaps offers alternatives, also different from the A1/E67, which everybody says is horrible because of the lorry traffic. I'll keep you informed tomorrow.
49km in 4 hours, active time 3 hours.
Toital 2349km.
Fun fact: lorries passing is not nice, but there is an upside - a strong drag, representing 2-300m of tailwind! Coming the opposite way, they are less threatening, but you get 2-300m of headwind instead 😀.
Zo stoer Gerard!
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