Right after crossing the border back into Lithuania we had to pay entry again into the park we had just left on the Russian side. We stayed at a nice enough camp site on the Spit near Nida. The camp was at capacity again, and filled with German campers, of course. We wandered up a dune again and took some more pictures (worth the entry fee?). We had lunch further down the road overlooking the lagoon. The fourth picture shows a big cruise ship in the harbour in Kleipeda where we took the ferry off the Kuhrische Nehrung.
At the very end of the Spit there was a nice museum in an old fort and some ships on display, however, museums are generally closed on Mondays.
Yes, there were Pelicans in the fort's moat. There was a sign about them, but the description was in Lithuanian only.
We headed further inland again to avoid more at-capacity-camp-sites along the coast. After some very corrugated and very dusty gravel roads we found a lovely spot in some woods at the edge of another National Park and settled in for a quiet night alone.
gravel roads
dusty tyres
dust plume behind us
camp
Katie's view the next morning with light rain
We stopped for lunch along the coast which was now the Latvian coast. After lunch a walk on the beach. Max had some fun on a big swing. The dogs were as happy as they always are on the beach. Rory was quite tuckered out after running in the sand.
More gravel roads, slowly filling with water. We were in search of a light house, but because the forest and the dunes behind the beach intermingle here it was difficult to see any lighthouses from behind the trees.
The weather was getting gloomier, so we just kept driving along the coast up past Ventspils where the river Venta spills into the sea. We found the, so far, loveliest camp site of them all: 'Kempings Liepene'. 
The camp was situated right behind the dunes with plenty of trees for shade as the sun came out again. We sort of decided to stay at least three weeks here, we liked it so much. We are starting to see that three months might not be enough time to see it all!
It is good to see our youngest getting braver around water! She used to be very wary of the wet stuff.
Did we mention the gravel roads through the forest yet? Because Bruce seems to have carried with him a nice collection of dust (dried and baked on), sand (everywhere, including on the inside) and small gravel stones (a mystery how they are not falling off on these bumpy roads). Anyways, much too soon we found asphalted roads again (often just as bumpy) and went to visit the corner of Latvia - Cape Kolka.
Soon we headed on towards Riga, but first we wanted to find a parking lot by the side of the road to have lunch at. We did, and curiously there was a sign in Latvian pointing in the direction of the beach. So, we went to the third beach on this Wednesday, and it turned out to be a very nice forest with a beautiful beach on the eastern coast of the cape.
Not being content with walks on three different beaches that day we also headed into Riga, and walked from the at-capacity-camp-site into the old town to find dinner. We were a bit knackered at the end of the day, so here are some impressions of Riga:
This featured blog entry was written by maxari from the blog Adventures in Bruce.
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