The magical beauty of Latvia in the green railway and swamp

This is a beautiful 2-day story about being together with Latvian nature, family, like-minded people, peace.

Surprise - Blue Hill - it is not only a holy place, the ancient Latvian hero Imanta Hill, but also a place to get to know Latvia's industrial heritage, learn the story of a Latvian peat town and find a new boyfriend Tom, who knows how to preserve the heritage - narrow-gauge track fragments. Who is a patriot of his own and accompanied us in a wonderful serenity along the green railway of Kocēni district. Many thanks to Kocēni municipality and Latvian State Forests for the well-groomed route, beautiful bridges.

Pride - Dikļi, the place of Latvia's first song festival. A tidy place where singers, creative people, doers are always waiting.

Enthusiasm - Puikule manor is old, because Dace, the head of the parish, and her helpers take care of it. There were still feelings that the people of the parish, the well-kept park, hammocks, the preservation of different centuries in the manor rooms, all this requires a beautiful dedication to this work, and there are people who still have this spirit of young Latvians alive - to preserve their history and culture. As a gift of life, we perceived the opportunity to join Puikule's people for a beautiful guitar concert on the bog stage. A magical moment to spend the sunset.

A special event - welcoming the sunrise in the Niedrāja swamp in the safe accompaniment of the knowledgeable geologist Ilze Ozola. The fog, the sun, the elk, the pines of the swamp, the acacias, the cobwebs, the cries of the cranes - which together created something that was not enjoyed in life, so deeply beautiful, that leads to the conclusion that the creation of nature is truly outstanding beauty. Our swamp guide thinks in millennial categories, and she made us wonder how people tend to transform information, for example, global warming has already taken place among other glacial eras when there were no people and no factories at all, and these processes are also cyclical. For the first time, we all walked through the swamp in snowshoes, finding out where it was safer to take a step to stay dry. Huge thanks to Ilze for the whole beautiful morning adventure, when together we breathed, watched, felt the special beauty and richness of Latvia - the swamp.

Being together - when it's good and inspiring for all cyclists from the age of six and over. And these times are important for families, to be together differently, to be happy together, to become more aware of their Latvia. Our riders are united by the ability to enjoy the special beauty of their land, the ability to be happy about the opportunity to be together, to travel actively, to enjoy the unusual paths of the Green Railway. Being able to be crazy when you have to get up at four in the morning to get to the beauty of the sunrise in the swamp. Singing and talking together so as not to notice that taking those pedals for a while is not so easy, but it is a satisfaction that we are able to overcome ourselves, enjoy the beautiful and stately hogweeds, the green nature of Latvia.

Inga Kadile, a participant in a bicycle trip.

The trip was organized by Europe Direct in Gulbene, Gulbene County Library. Cognitive bike ride "By bike on the Green!" is being organized for the second year in a row, actively getting to know the green railways of Latvia, identifying natural, industrial heritage and cultural-historical objects.