Lithuania Without Stopping

Lithuania Without Stopping

By roychinnorNo Comments
One thing that has been missing on this adventure was a ‘good run’. Today that changed and we started from Riga before 8:00am and covered just over 400 miles on mainly single carriageway roads. The scenery wasn’t spectacular, but it was varied. Some very flat, some undulating, occasional forests and woods, and a variety of wildlife. I saw more White Storks (Gandras) than you can wave a big stick at. They are of course a national emblem in Lithuania where they follow tractors, ploughing the fields, in much the same way and similar numbers as seagulls in England. I even saw four all stood in the same nest and although they were all in adult plumage I have to assume it was parents with two grown chicks. Even so, they are such large birds to see four in one flat nest of twigs surprised me. There were also several Sparrow Hawks, one of which ‘buzzed’ Bridget. It was so low I...
Read More
Riga Motor Museum

Riga Motor Museum

By roychinnorNo Comments
Paul Taylor, Director of Uniquestay Hotels, told me of a motor museum in Riga, Latvia. I had been intending to bypass Riga and go directly to Vilnius in Lithuania, but working on Paul’s recommendation stopped in Riga and found accommodation for a couple of nights. Using Google I located the museum, but there was a sign stating that due to building works the total collection had been stored on the other side of the city. However, I e-mailed and explained the situation and they replied that I would be welcome at the facility where the cars were stored if I would like to visit on Friday. I was met at the front door of the premises by Aija Bauere and was immediately embarrassed having addressed her as Mr in my e-mail. I apologised and assured her I wouldn’t make the same mistake again and for her part she found it quite amusing. The museum was the dream child of a number of enthusiasts...
Read More
Back To Classics

Back To Classics

By roychinnorNo Comments
The Great Northern War, I refer of course not to the local difficulties between the Picts and Scots, or even to the social divide between Middlesborough and Newcastle, but to the early 18th Century difference of opinion between Russia and Sweden. Sweden then of course included the eastern province that we call Finland today, and also the Baltic states. Russia’s Peter the Great, formed a coalition with Denmark, Norway, Saxony, Poland and Lithuania to face down the Swedes. At the close of the war Sweden packed-up and went home refusing ever to fight again and have been ‘neutral’ ever since. As a direct result of all that there is a strong Swedish influence in Estonia as well as the Russian influence from two periods, that of Peter the Great who built a palace here and the more recent history of annexation from the end of World War II until 1991. The city itself is divided into two parts the old and the...
Read More
St Petersburg and The Winter Palace

St Petersburg and The Winter Palace

By roychinnorNo Comments
It has been a while since I crossed a border with all the officialdom of Customs and Immigration and that is my only excuse for making a minor mistake on entering Russia. With stories of long delays and Bridget’s possibly embarrassing registration number uppermost in my mind, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the process was both straightforward and efficient at the border and I was 40 miles inside Russia before realising that I had completely forgotten to purchase insurance. In Russia, like most countries, car insurance is compulsory and the police are reportedly enthusiastic in stopping cars with foreign plates and checking their papers. I had plenty of fuel for the journey, but the road conditions for the first forty miles were poor and the standard of driving a little erratic. Just when I thought I would have to get used to the road surface it improved considerably even though the driving didn’t. A condition of my visa was...
Read More