We were up and on the road by 8am this morning as without gas there isn't the luxury of a hot drink to slow us down. Heading towards Latvia I was a bit sad to be leaving Estonia so quickly as it looked like a good country to spend some time in. However, getting the gas sorted has to be a priority.
Approximately 5 minutes into Latvia we were stopped by a police officer at the roadside. He wanted to check our passports, a relief as we haven't got a copy of our insurance with us. The policy has been renewed but we haven't had it sent to us yet. Our tax disc is out of date as well, again waiting to be posted to us from the UK. Luckily his main concern was that Mike was only wearing a T shirt and why wasn't he cold? Having just had over a month in Belarus and Russia, countries where we expect to have documents rigorously checked regularly. 5 minutes in Latvia, we had been pulled over! In the short drive to Riga we saw 2 more police cars checking people and a motorbike squad.
We found City Camping Riga and the guy at reception made an appointment for us to drive over to a motorhome repair specialist in the morning. Following lovely hot showers we walked over to the old town, on the other side of the bridge. Another very nicely restored town, with more of a buzz to it than Tallinn as there were more locals about.
We had a great day exploring the town including walking to the market, housed in old Zeppelin hangers. We also really liked the Art Nouveau buildings. The war museum was very informative but the rooms were a bit haphazard and not arranged in order. I have learnt so much war history on this trip and I keep thinking how fortunate we have been as an island nation. The people of these mainland countries have suffered so much over the course of history with wars, the despostic behaviour of their leaders during both the world wars and then the Soviet regime after that for the Eastern Bloc.
Approximately 5 minutes into Latvia we were stopped by a police officer at the roadside. He wanted to check our passports, a relief as we haven't got a copy of our insurance with us. The policy has been renewed but we haven't had it sent to us yet. Our tax disc is out of date as well, again waiting to be posted to us from the UK. Luckily his main concern was that Mike was only wearing a T shirt and why wasn't he cold? Having just had over a month in Belarus and Russia, countries where we expect to have documents rigorously checked regularly. 5 minutes in Latvia, we had been pulled over! In the short drive to Riga we saw 2 more police cars checking people and a motorbike squad.
We found City Camping Riga and the guy at reception made an appointment for us to drive over to a motorhome repair specialist in the morning. Following lovely hot showers we walked over to the old town, on the other side of the bridge. Another very nicely restored town, with more of a buzz to it than Tallinn as there were more locals about.
We had a great day exploring the town including walking to the market, housed in old Zeppelin hangers. We also really liked the Art Nouveau buildings. The war museum was very informative but the rooms were a bit haphazard and not arranged in order. I have learnt so much war history on this trip and I keep thinking how fortunate we have been as an island nation. The people of these mainland countries have suffered so much over the course of history with wars, the despostic behaviour of their leaders during both the world wars and then the Soviet regime after that for the Eastern Bloc.
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