MATKAKERTOMUS BALTIASTA

Walking the Baltics


Britishborn journalist Ben Nimmo talks to The Baltic Guide about his sometimes bizarre experiences during his journey through the Baltics, as part of his epic walk from Norway to Italy; and how he came to be living in Latvia.

How did you go from being a mad travelwriter based in England to a journalist married and living in Latvia? I enjoyed having adventures in a mad way and then writing about them. I wrote my first book after I walked from Canterbury in England to Santiago with a trombone, playing jazz. My second trip was in a boat around the North Sea and Baltic region tracking Viking history.
I wanted to walk from the North Cape in Norway to the southern tip of Sicily. I knew my trip would involve walking through the Baltics – somewhere I knew next to nothing about – so I asked around while I was planning my trip to find anybody who knew anything about the Baltics. A friend of my sister's in Edinburgh is half Latvian/half Scottish. Just before I embarked on my trip I went to a party where I got introduced to one of her Latvian friends. I thought she was gorgeous. I stayed in touch with her during the trip, and when I got to R?ga I spent a month here. Just as I was about to set off again my appendix burst. I couldn't walk, and ended up staying in Latvia for another three months.
Just after the end of my trip in February 2004, I moved to R?ga. One month later Larna and I were married.
After your experiences on your epic walk through Norway and Finland, how did you find the Baltics? Everybody had told me the Estonians weren't friendly. I had picked up some Finnish during my time there, which helped me get by in Estonia due to the similarities in the language. Because I made an effort with the language I found that people respected me. In most of the places I visited the Estonians were interested in who I was and what I was doing.
I got treated really well time after time…in Repla, south of Tallinn I got talking to a girl at the tourist information centre about music. She said she was in a choir and asked me if I'd like to stay the night in town and join her choir for a rehearsal. I ended up in a freezing cold church doing a rehearsal with this excellent Estonian choir. It was brilliant if not a little surreal.
Burst appendices aside, how did your experience of Latvia differ from Estonia? Latvia started off very badly. As soon as I got over the border the vibe was totally different. Near Salacgr?va a bunch of about half a dozen drunken teenagers took a disliking to my presence and started lobbing bottles at me. Things didn't improve greatly till I got near R?ga, which was partly due to the route I took. I had chosen the most direct route from Estonia to R?ga, which meant I didn't get to visit the deep countryside.
It wasn't all bad though. When I got near Saulkrasti somebody saw me and phoned LNT TV. A film crew came and interviewed me, and for about three days I was a minor celebrity. I remember people pointing to me in museums in R?ga saying, "that's him".
What happened after your fifteen minutes of fame had passed? R?ga was open, friendly and happening. But as soon as I left the city things were just the same as before – I was an unwelcome stranger wherever I went in Latvia, treated with suspicion. In fact I'd say I've walked through sixteen countries and Latvia was the only country where I wasn't invited into a stranger's home.
Did things change when you got to Lithuania? Yes, things changed instantly. Everyone could see I was a foreigner, so everyone spoke Russian to me. Lithuania felt much more welcoming, but everything was much less organised. It was all much more cheerful, but there was a sense you never understood what would happen next. Most of Lithuania was amazing. The interest and hospitality was some of the best I've ever known. If I was camping in the woods it wasn't uncommon for somebody to come over and give me some sandwiches and vodka.
On the other hand, I did experience my only alarming incident of the whole walk in Lithuania… there was a bloke about 55 years old with a briefcase dancing around in the middle of the road on the white lines in rush hour traffic. To cut a long story short, I managed to stop him and take him back to his village where I was invited into his friend's house. I ended up doing a runner from the house because these three pissed guys were taking a rather unhealthy interest in how much money I was carrying on me.
So how would you sum up your walk through the Baltics? Estonia was similar to Finland with relaxed hospitality. Latvia was the most unfriendly country I'd ever been to. I would say that Latvia is the fulcrum between the north and central Europe, while Lithuania is mad and friendly – the place where central Europe really starts.

[text and photos: Justin Walley]