Despite having seen a number of sights yesterday there was still much to do in and around Segulda before driving on to Estonia for this evening. After another very nice smorgasbord breakfast at our hotel we packed up and headed to nearby Ligatne.
Once there we drove just out of town to do the 5km Ligatne Nature Trail, a walk that offers the chance to see wildlife native to Latvia. What this means in practice is that during the walk you see fauna such as brown bears, wild boars, wolves, elk, red squirrels, racoon dogs and tawny owls in enclosures scattered around the walking trail through natural woodlands. Whilst most of the enclosures were large, open areas they obviously still weren’t big enough to allow the animals to follow their usual roaming lifestyle, and a few spaces were basically just cages. Sadly I don’t think some of the specimens were enjoying their accommodation too much; the red squirrel seemed to be just running back and forth around the branches in its small enclosure, the wolf was trotting back and forth along the same path in its fenced area and some of the bears seemed to be confined to an area that looked rather muddy. The owl and a larger hawk certainly had very little room to move around in their respective aviaries. One highlight of the walk was climbing the observation tower built on the highest point of the walk, which means you have panoramic views of the surrounding pine forests in all directions. I just hope that the tower continues to grow in pace with the surrounding trees!
Once we had finished the walk (it took 1h:45m) we went back to Ligatne to see if we could tour the secret Soviet nuclear fallout bunker hidden under a rehabilitation hospital. It was built to house members of the Latvian Soviet Government in the event of nuclear war and its existence remained classified until 2003. Once there we eventually found that it could only be seen as part of a group tour and the next one didn’t start until 2:00pm (it was by then 1:20pm) and would last 90 minutes. This was just too late and too long to fit our plans for the rest of the day.
However the effort to go there wasn’t wasted because we only found out about the tours after chatting to a Latvian bikie, who was there with his girlfriend, also looking for the bunker. He was also able to answer our query about the large bikie parade we had seen yesterday on our walk to the castle. It was to celebrate the official end of the bike season – apparently the bikies in these parts are not too partial to riding around in a Latvian winter on snow and ice covered roads. Wusses! He also explained that the small plastic things that looked like windsocks, which we had seen hanging off the aerials of most of the cars in the car park, signified they were part of a wedding party.
We drove back to Segulda where our first “task” was to enjoy another nice lunch in the lovely bakery in which we’d had lunch yesterday. Then it was off to our chosen activity for the afternoon – the “Tarzan” Rope Adventure Park down near the cable car station. I couldn't help noticing as we walked along on this beautiful day that I was wearing a t-shirt, and even Laura was down to one thin jumper, but the locals were walking around in jackets and scarves.
It turned out that the rope park was at the bottom of the hill and the way to get down there was to take the bobsled ride, so that was the first bit of fun – actually a bit scary in places Laura thought, as there was no track as such, just a tiny car clinging to a single metal bar with a lot of sharp curves in it. I probably should have gone first, but it was funny watching her, from behind, brake frantically at every bend. Once at the bottom we were kitted out with our climbing harnesses which included two carabiner clips and a zip line attachment. There are a number of obstacle courses, of various grades, between the trees and we had to make sure that we were always attached to a line by at least one clip at all times. It was supposed to take three hours to do all the courses available, and there was also the option of taking the chair lift to the top and coming all the way back down on a series of 17 zip lines – a trip that was calculated to take 30 minutes.
The first course we did was not too hard, except that we were stuck behind a young boy who was distressed because he couldn’t reach high enough to unhook himself from the wire he’d just crossed. The second course we (unwittingly) chose turned out to be the hardest one (“supergruta”) because it required considerable arm strength and very good balance. After climbing a high vertical pole with just tiny indents notched in to help you, then traversing a twenty metre stretch with free-swinging ropes hanging from two wires about a metre apart, with little loops at the bottom to put your feet in, Laura finally became stuck on one part that required you to use your arms to “lift” yourself from one tiny disk-like seat on one swinging rope to the same sort of seat on the next rope. However, one of the roaming guides came and helped her across. I just cheated and use the zip line to cross, as I knew I was no chance of having the necessary arm strength at the moment with my right AC joint still recovering from my bicycle accident back in April.
The third course we chose was my downfall. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the previous one, but one element required you to swing from a platform, Tarzan-style, then catch onto a vertical rope net and climb across to the next platform from there. Unfortunately I didn’t swing the way I intended and instinctively tried to catch onto the net with my right arm. Big mistake! The wrench as I started to swing back sent a searing pain from my right shoulder all the way down my arm. I was left in mid air clutching my aching right shoulder and two of the guides had to come and rescue me by winching me to a platform and then lowering me down. That was clearly the end of the rope adventure for me.
Laura and I caught the chair life back up the hill and walked to our car, my shoulder and arm throbbing the whole way, as I contemplated how far back I had set the recovery of my shoulder. After a couple of pain killers and an anti-inflammatory we returned to the bakery where I dosed up on sugar and caffeine as well.
Thus fortified I was able to complete the 2h:15m drive to Parnu in Estonia, using the last of our Latvian Lats to fill the petrol tank shortly before the border. Actually I was feeling pretty much pain free by the time we reached Parnu, which was just as well because we had other things to worry about by then. Yes, it was the familiar hassle of trying to find accommodation still open this late in the season, and this late at night, in the dark, with only a rudimentary map. Once again Laura did commendably in the circumstances and we actually found a place to stay on our third attempt. Though I think we must have been just about the only ones staying there. Hey, if the bike season is officially over, how many tourists would they be expecting this time of year, despite the still beautiful weather? We celebrated our entry to another new country with another supermarket bought dinner, as I started to dare hope that I hadn’t done my shoulder any serious damage.
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| Brown bear |
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| Panorama of Ligatne area |
However the effort to go there wasn’t wasted because we only found out about the tours after chatting to a Latvian bikie, who was there with his girlfriend, also looking for the bunker. He was also able to answer our query about the large bikie parade we had seen yesterday on our walk to the castle. It was to celebrate the official end of the bike season – apparently the bikies in these parts are not too partial to riding around in a Latvian winter on snow and ice covered roads. Wusses! He also explained that the small plastic things that looked like windsocks, which we had seen hanging off the aerials of most of the cars in the car park, signified they were part of a wedding party.
We drove back to Segulda where our first “task” was to enjoy another nice lunch in the lovely bakery in which we’d had lunch yesterday. Then it was off to our chosen activity for the afternoon – the “Tarzan” Rope Adventure Park down near the cable car station. I couldn't help noticing as we walked along on this beautiful day that I was wearing a t-shirt, and even Laura was down to one thin jumper, but the locals were walking around in jackets and scarves.
It turned out that the rope park was at the bottom of the hill and the way to get down there was to take the bobsled ride, so that was the first bit of fun – actually a bit scary in places Laura thought, as there was no track as such, just a tiny car clinging to a single metal bar with a lot of sharp curves in it. I probably should have gone first, but it was funny watching her, from behind, brake frantically at every bend. Once at the bottom we were kitted out with our climbing harnesses which included two carabiner clips and a zip line attachment. There are a number of obstacle courses, of various grades, between the trees and we had to make sure that we were always attached to a line by at least one clip at all times. It was supposed to take three hours to do all the courses available, and there was also the option of taking the chair lift to the top and coming all the way back down on a series of 17 zip lines – a trip that was calculated to take 30 minutes.
The first course we did was not too hard, except that we were stuck behind a young boy who was distressed because he couldn’t reach high enough to unhook himself from the wire he’d just crossed. The second course we (unwittingly) chose turned out to be the hardest one (“supergruta”) because it required considerable arm strength and very good balance. After climbing a high vertical pole with just tiny indents notched in to help you, then traversing a twenty metre stretch with free-swinging ropes hanging from two wires about a metre apart, with little loops at the bottom to put your feet in, Laura finally became stuck on one part that required you to use your arms to “lift” yourself from one tiny disk-like seat on one swinging rope to the same sort of seat on the next rope. However, one of the roaming guides came and helped her across. I just cheated and use the zip line to cross, as I knew I was no chance of having the necessary arm strength at the moment with my right AC joint still recovering from my bicycle accident back in April.
The third course we chose was my downfall. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the previous one, but one element required you to swing from a platform, Tarzan-style, then catch onto a vertical rope net and climb across to the next platform from there. Unfortunately I didn’t swing the way I intended and instinctively tried to catch onto the net with my right arm. Big mistake! The wrench as I started to swing back sent a searing pain from my right shoulder all the way down my arm. I was left in mid air clutching my aching right shoulder and two of the guides had to come and rescue me by winching me to a platform and then lowering me down. That was clearly the end of the rope adventure for me.
Laura and I caught the chair life back up the hill and walked to our car, my shoulder and arm throbbing the whole way, as I contemplated how far back I had set the recovery of my shoulder. After a couple of pain killers and an anti-inflammatory we returned to the bakery where I dosed up on sugar and caffeine as well.
Thus fortified I was able to complete the 2h:15m drive to Parnu in Estonia, using the last of our Latvian Lats to fill the petrol tank shortly before the border. Actually I was feeling pretty much pain free by the time we reached Parnu, which was just as well because we had other things to worry about by then. Yes, it was the familiar hassle of trying to find accommodation still open this late in the season, and this late at night, in the dark, with only a rudimentary map. Once again Laura did commendably in the circumstances and we actually found a place to stay on our third attempt. Though I think we must have been just about the only ones staying there. Hey, if the bike season is officially over, how many tourists would they be expecting this time of year, despite the still beautiful weather? We celebrated our entry to another new country with another supermarket bought dinner, as I started to dare hope that I hadn’t done my shoulder any serious damage.
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