01.06.25 Day 25 - Riga-Limbaži. Negotiating the A1/E67 and meeting another colleague.

For everyone cycling the Eurovelo 13 through Latvia, the question is how to come from Riga to the border with Estland. Therefore I describe my route in some more detail than I use to, hoping it may help others.

One should try to avoid the A1/E67, which has much traffic, many lorries and becomes two-lane with little space for bicycles. My original plan was to cycle further east, but I ended up in Riga anyway. I saw two options:

1) Follow the route suggested by OrganicMaps (based on OpenStreetmap, same as several other apps like Komoot).

2) Follow the Eurovelo 13 GPX track.

These partly coincide, partly diverge. 

Red shows my route, violet Eurovelo 13

Out of Riga, EV13 turns west, while my route initially follows the A1, however there is a good bikelane all the way, almost.

More detailed view of first part of route

In Adazi, the route leaves the A1 and takes a parallel road, until it returns to the A1. From here, there is no bikelane anymore. I saw there was a road going to EV13, which I took. This is a nice and quiet road to Gauja. Here I started following the EV13. That is, the GPX track. The part through Latvia is a red dashed line, which means "under development". I think this is a bit exaggerated, I would rather say "under planning". The track is some places just a line on the map, there may be no real road or even a track, just nothing. I came out for this rather soon, and therefore had to return to the A1, there was just no other option. Therefore the strange detour on the map. 

Here the A1 has a broad side lane, no problem, a lot of noise but feels safe.

And here I met Tato from Finland, on his way south, nice to exchange experiences.

Tato, if you read this, let me know in a comment

Soon I rejoined the EV13 GPX track, and there is a nice stretch along the coast. 

Meeting the beach again

In Skultes Muiža the OrganicMaps route and the EV13 again diverge, the former turning inland for many km. I decided for the inland route, did not really trust the EV13 here anymore. The route to Limbaži was really nice, a varied landscape with meadows, forests and small lakes and not much traffic, so I consider this a good option so far. What the EV13 alternative might have been I don't know of course.

Solar panels here also

In Limbaži Google finds "Hotel Lumbazi", which appears to be a Youth Hostel. I was there, the door was open, but I saw no one. Got the impression of a ghost house 😬. So I found a nice apartment in the center of Limbaži. A bit expensive, but it was the only option I found. There is a camping 9km before Limbaži, but that would make tomorrow's trip to Pärnu too long. Expecting rain, the tent was not a great option anyway.

98km, including a bit back and fourth in  Limbaži. 7:45 hours, active time 5:40.

Total 2447km.

Link to GPS track.