Bye Bye to the Baltics

Stalin World, Grutas Park, Lithuania - Seated Lenin
Originally uploaded by rtw2007.

Post the Baltics, we are both now dedicated fans of Double Coffee and Rimi Hypermarkets, which have both featured very heavily on our Baltic itinerary. All is still going well; we are both really enjoying the trip; and we have managed not to kill each other yet, which is always a bonus. It already feels like we have been away for ages.

The van is working like a dream and we are saving money by wild camping as often as possible. So far I have stayed at “campsites” which were actually car parks / town squares with repeated visits from the police and / or wheel spinning chavs; a remote peninsula with a large missile by the side of our van (hopefully already exploded, but we were not sure) and thousands of dead bodies floating around just off the coast; and on a bit of Latvian beach inhabited by wild dogs / rabid wolves. So I am only just about getting used to the wild camping part. Though at least I was spared the option of staying in one of the publicised options in Leipaja, Latvia – Karosta Prison, where tourists can pay good money to sleep in a Latvian prison cell; be subjected to regular bed checks during the night; use the prison latrines; and enjoy a bit of verbal abuse from the guards in period garb for good measure.

On the driving front, the “I’m on a death wish” overtaking has continued into the Baltic States. It is clearly a “post-Soviet” / “ex-Soviet” / “formerly occupied by the USSR” (we have been fed a great deal of PC lingo on that issue) hangover. The main asset required for overtaking in Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is not a gap in the traffic; a clear view of the oncoming lane; or a powerful enough vehicle to ensure swift, decisive overtaking. No, it seems that all you need are balls of steel. And an unfailing belief in your fellow countrymen (and passing British campervans) to break hard enough to let the overtaker back into his lane should he realise that his decision to overtake whilst on a blind bend and driving a clapped out Lada was not a sensible one. So far, amazingly, we have only seen one head on collision.

Now that we are in Poland, however, we have encountered another driving issue – level crossings with no barriers or lights. In the Baltics they had no barriers, but at least had flashing lights to tell you when a train was approaching. Here, nothing. Sometimes not even a sign. We came to our first crossing just after the border, on a blind corner, and a train came pootling straight across our path, which was a little scary. The condition of the roads is getting dodgy in places, too. In Latvia, we encountered huge, deep ruts in the road which we concluded could only have been made by purposely driving a large lorry up and down the newly laid tarmac. These went on for miles and meant that steering was of no consequence as the van just followed the ruts down the motorway. But at least we made it out of Latvia with our van, which is a achievement given that Latvia is described by the Lonely Planet as a country in which car theft is “a central element of the economy”. We even managed our whole trip through the Baltics without getting stopped by the police, which the Lonely Planet again describes as an impossibility, saying that we would be stopped by the traffic police (who are apparently “fearsome beings”, no less) at least twice between Riga and Latvia. Hopefully avoiding the police will continue for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, we have already concluded that the Lonely Planet is to be ignored as often as it is to be read.

The photos of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are now on the website. By popular demand, this time we have added more photos of us (which admittedly was only by popular demand from my family, sorry to everyone else who has to stare at our ugly mugs); more photos of Michael’s hair (it is getting scarily mullet-like now and curls are appearing); more photos of the Little Yellow Man on his trip around the world; and (hopefully) fewer “arty” photos (as requested by Mr Richard Taylor, who needs to realise that it is not our fault that we are naturally artistic….. erm, well, maybe). There will hopefully soon be some videos for the really keen amongst you.

Needless to say, we have both been very excited about the awesome debuts of Rich and Chris in the Essex Marathon (impressive times of 2.52 and 3.01 respectively), lining them up for podium places in London next year. Very good, chaps, well done. We are also pleased to find that our blog is now being used for inter-family discussions by the Pitt family. Hope that we are not keeping you away from Corrie for too long – keep it up, we are really enjoying seeing your comments.