VIDZEME, LATVIA: SILAKROGS, LĪČU-LAŅĢU KLINTIS

LĪČI–LAŅĢI CLIFFS

25.12.2020: First stop – the Red Cliffs and Rūcamavots spring. They’re located near Cēsis, so it takes us a little over an hour to get there.
We arrive and there are quite a lot of people around, but as it turns out, almost everyone is actually here to collect water from the spring rather than sightseeing like us.
We cover the 2 km trail in around 40 minutes. It’s an interesting place. Probably not worth driving all the way from Riga just for this one spot, considering the drive takes longer than the actual walk, but I have to admit the Red Cliffs are more impressive and interesting than we expected.
We jump back into the Opel and drive another 20 minutes to the Līči–Laņģi Cliffs trail.
This one will be a longer walk – officially 6 km, although in the end it turns into 7.5 km. The trail is extremely muddy, but I have to say, unexpectedly impressive. If someone showed me photos without telling me where they were taken, I probably wouldn’t guess this was right here on the banks of the Gauja. Very impressive.
We decide this is definitely somewhere we should come back to during a summer weekend.
Since cafés and restaurants are still not really an option because of Covid-19, we eat our Circle K wrap-burgers in the car and head home.

SILAKROGS FOREST

27.12.2020: We continue our holiday walking marathon. We don’t really feel like spending the whole day at home, so we need to come up with something to do. This time we’re heading towards an area we already know well – Zaķumuiža and Silakrogs. Since the map doesn’t show any clear trails around Zaķumuiža that would allow us to plan a reasonably logical walking loop, we decide to go to nearby Silakrogs instead, where there actually are some. The snow definitely adds to the atmosphere, but the forest itself is genuinely beautiful and surprisingly varied. Dense patches of spruce trees alternate with open meadows and the familiar spaciousness of pine forest. A really nice walk.