Although no one really noticed, this blog post was several days later – a departure from our usual Sunday blog post publishing. We recently got tied up (More on this in the next blog post). During this partial segment, we deviated considerably from the EuroVelo 11 route which continued to follow mostly dirt roads. As we preferred to stay on hard surface roads, we ended up cycling on Latvian primary roads with a lot more traffic and no shoulder to talk about. We also crafted our own route towards Riga, the capital of Latvia. During many of our cycling days, our “conversation” on the road was mostly about Jenny shouting the type of vehicle coming behind us and her all clear signal “Ok”.
2025.06.09 – [LV] Krāslava ==> Aglona (34 kms | Total: 978 kms)
We both had a great night sleep. We expected the rain to be coming down when we woke up but it was not the case. Jenny prepared another great omelet breakfast. We wore our rain shoe covers before leaving town at 10am. It was still not raining. To our amazement, we managed to cycle our short day without getting wet. Upon arriving in the tiny village of Aglona, we stopped for a picture of the Basilica of the Assumption. We learned that two popes had visited this basilica since Latvia became an independent country after the Soviet Union (USSR) dissolution in 1991. Pope John Paul II visited the basilica on September 9, 1993 and then Pope Francis also visited in September 2018. After settling into our odd/eccentric cottage house, we visited the local grocery store. It rained on/off for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We took a short stroll around the pound on the property before our dinner.
2025.06.10 – [LV] Aglona ==> Rēzekne (59 kms | Total: 1037 kms)
We had an early breakfast in order to hit the road shortly after 9am. We quickly encountered some road work on our first 8kms. The old pavement had been etched in preparation for a new surfacing. Unfortunately it made it difficult to keep the tandem stable as we moved forward. Thankfully at an intersection, we turned onto a different road for the rest of our journey. We were back cycling on a relatively busy road with no shoulder. Jenny kept a watchful eye on the traffic behind us and alerting me about the types of vehicle coming. We reached our apartment by 1:30pm. We were delighted to find a large grocery store located only 100m away from us. We were pleased with our apartment amenities – until Jenny tried to shower after me and the hot water tank appeared to be depleted. This was yet another unfortunate experience for Jenny’s showers. We took advantage of the apartment’s clothes washing machine and drying rack for our laundry.
2025.06.11 – [LV] Rēzekne ==> Varakļāni (47 kms | Total: 1084 kms)
After some good coffee/tea and omelets, we loaded the tandem and left the town around 10am. Our cycling experience was similar to yesterday – minus the road work. On boring road stretches, I enjoyed listening to Jenny’s singing quietly in the back – no need for AirPods. In fact, our route was mostly flat with a nice tail wind. We arrived at our guesthouse at 1pm and we were promptly greeted by the owner. The accommodation was quite nice with all its wood plank walls and in-house sauna. Unfortunately, the kitchen facilities were not up to par hence we opted to have our dinner at the town’s cafe. We also stopped by the small grocery store for our next morning’s breakfast staples. We took the tandem and our rain gear to the cafe as the forecast called for rain. We managed to return to our slightly remote guesthouse before any serious rain.
2025.06.12 – [LV] Varakļāni ==> Madona (57 kms | Total: 1140 kms)
Throughout the night we heard the rain coming down heavily. We had a no cook breakfast and left the town by 8:30am. The clouds were menacing but the rain was holding up. After 6kms, we turned onto a secondary road for the rest of our journey. It rained on and off throughout our cycling. It was a fairly cool day as Jenny felt chilling even with her down jacket and rain poncho. Unlike yesterday, the wind was not favorable to us as we faced a headwind for the most of our day. Upon arriving in our destination town, we stopped for a few groceries even though we would not be cooking our meals in our guest house room. We had good dinner in a pub/restaurant.
2025.06.13 – [LV] Madona ==> Koknese (72 kms | Total: 1212 kms)
We both had a deep sleep after yesterday’s cycling hardship. We had a no cook breakfast and left the town around 8:30am. The first 40 kms we had a good tail wind and very gentle downhill. Unfortunately on our last 20 kms, we had a head wind which made us feel tired, especially the heavy traffic behind us. The last 10kms I started to feel some stomach pains. After arriving in the town, we quickly went to do some grocery, but I kept increasingly feeling unwell, so we quickly wrapped up our shopping and headed back to the apartment. After taking a shower, I tried to lie down to ease my stomach, but in vein. It felt like a bout of food poisoning coming up. Jenny did some clothes washing using the laundry machine. She cooked a very simple dinner for herself. In the evening, I kept on moving from the washroom to the sofa or bed while trying to find some relief from my stomach pain.
