Paddling down the Gauja
Today we had a lovely day in Gauja National Park. We started mega-early, before breakfast, with a walk at 7am. Over the hill beyond the apple orchard there’s a wood-cloaked valley where the Amata River flows, and there’s a good trail right along its length. So we tramped through sunny woodlands with occasional views of the river glinting in the morning sun. No sign of otters, though there was at least an angry red squirrel scolding us from a tree.
At breakfast we arranged canoeing with the lady who runs Karlamuiza. This entailed her giving us a lift down to the river in her car, and then picking us up later a few miles downstream and loading the canoe back onto the car’s roof for the drive back. The Gauja is beautiful and we were blessed with mostly sun, and yet a pretty quiet day as this was now out of season. Summer seems to end pretty strictly in the middle of August in the Baltic! It would have been delightful if not for the occasional gust of the upstream breeze that spun the canoe swiftly round, and the occasional shallows caused by the dry summer that grounded us briefly.
More home cooking. Short blog entry, but a nice day.
Amata hike
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