1836 – third day of ninth expedition

On the way there we stop at Beresņi St. Annas Roman Catholic church, which was built in 1805. It is the last wooden church in Dagda district. The church is closed today but the local men and women are working to put the territory surrounding the church in order. One of the men is more talkative than the others. I ask him whether many people come to the church these days. The man jokes, that the word church (”baznīca” in Latvian) is derived from the word to stuff (”bāzt”in Latvian), because churches used to be stuffed with people, but these days, it’s not like this anymore.

On the roadside in Meikšāni, we find one of the four sculptures ‘Austras koks’, made by V. Titāns, that marks the furthest eastern point in Latvia. This is the second of these sculptures that we have encountered, because we already saw the one in Latvia’s furthest Northern point.   

To the east of Meikšāni, there is a road going to the point where the Latvian, Russian and Belarus borders intersect. To honour the friendship of Latvian, Russian and Belarus guerillas that fought against fascism, a friendship kurgan has been made and memorial signs have been placed. One can access the kurgan from three alleys: from the Latvian side, a linden Yesterday’s moto activities and the sauna have made our bodies very sore. We agree to a light morning exercise and our bodies come back to our control.

alley, from the Russian side, a birch alley, and from the Belarus side- a maple alley. In Soviet times, the kurgan was accessible from all three sides, but currently it is in Latvian territory and besides the dividing ditches and border poles, a yellow warning band has been stretched as a reminder that times have changed and the situation has changed. Nevertheless, it is obvious that this place is important to some people and at least once a year they leave flowers here.

We have explored the territories surrounding Dagda by going very close to the border and down to river Daugava. This section of Robežnieki is located only five metres from the Latvian-Belorussian border poles. We stop to take some photos. Suddenly, a group of armed border guards appear on a bank. Until now, border guards only checked our border territory permits, but this time, with friendly smiles on their faces, they ask us for all of our documents, including the motorcycle documents, OCTAs, technical inspection papers, as well as licenses. When we drove onto this road, we didn’t notice the barrier, so they only warn us and let us go. A tip for those who want to repeat our journey- friends, come prepared, all of your documents have to be in order!

The border guard’s inspection has caused a delay, it’s late, we’re tired and decide to spend the night in a tent next to Ormijas lake. We follow our navigation through giant hogweed alleys and find an arbor right next to the lake. We got lucky! We put up our tent under the arbor, just to be safe. The floor will also be level this way. Surrounded by the giant hogweeds we sit around the campfire and admire our Husquarna 701’s, their grip on gravel and enduro qualities. Edgars says that, if he had money to spend, he would buy a Husquarna 701 as soon as he got back to Riga.