 Hello, thank you for joining me. Good morning from a very very cold Riga. It's minus seven, like an ice rink where I am And we are just going to the main railway station. We're catching a train today to Sikorda They told it's a nice town, about an hour from here. There's a castle there, there's a cable car there So it should be quite an interesting place. There we go. There's the main railway station Very sort of Soviet looking I believe that red writing up there says Latvian Railways. This is going to be my first experience of the Latvian Railways I've travelled from the tram to the Riga, not yet been on one of their trains. So let's go and have a look see what we're going to find Just bought my ticket, just getting myself coffee. I love these coffee machines. They're all like a Euro or Euro 20 And there's my coffee being made for me. I find it quite amusing at the end. It just sort of drops the stick in for you to stir it when it's finished So when I've got this coffee, I'm not sure if there's going to be any catering on the trains. We're going to go up and have a look at the station See what there is. Probably a time to have my train arrives. The coffee's nearly finished pouring out Most of the trains are quite... Just dropped that stick in the end. I was having that amusing. I know that's just me. Anyway, yes, most of the trains I've got are Soviet-era EMUs, mainly EMUs. They look quite good fun though to ride, so I'm really looking forward to it So this is the station. That was the ticket office just over there. I've no idea where I'm going to find them when we go up here I haven't been to have a look at the station yet. Usually I do, but spent so much time tram-bashing Haven't got round to going up here to see what they've got Love we're going to see these local trains. I don't know, you might see the old freight passing through I'm really getting excited about my first proper experience with a Latvian railway So there's an old EMU part there. Let's have a look over here Probably when you've got a camera in one hand and a coffee in the other Can't get yourself outdoors. I wonder if that's our train. That's an electric, very Russian looking It's going, let's watch this go. So that's just gone. There's another EMU there And then this, that one's going as well This looks like, this is our train. This is a fun per Now, if you ever travel on fun per's, not that there's any in front line service in the UK On heritage lines, there's one thing you have to do and that is you have to do That's it in the motor car. So what we'll do This is our train covered in snow. Let's have a look what's the number of it DR1AM, yeah it is AM, feels like 1AM 2916 Let's have a walk down because I think that it'd be worth travelling in the front carriage To listen to the thrash from the diesel engine What's going to be like inside? My friends with me, he's just got on there. He's not a rail enthusiast because he wonders why I've got to sit in the front carriage I think it's all covered in ice. It looks exciting though I think I might have gone on one like this in Vilnius a few years ago So this is the motor, the motor car up here So if we're sat in here, I wonder if we'll get the thrash like you would get on the UK fun per This year I went to the down Patrick and Countdown Railways gala in Northern Ireland And I sat in the bumper, the last remaining Northern Irish bumper So this is our beast to take us to Segola This is really exciting. Might not be a local train but this is about as exciting as you can get For a non-local train I'm going to get inside and see what it's like We've left suburbs of Riga behind and we're travelling through forestry Lots of snow on the ground. It's double track all the way up to Segola So we might sit the other train passing But I haven't seen much. Didn't see anything interesting really as we came out of Riga So I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride and look forward to exploring Segola So as our train disappears off towards Estonia It goes just over the border into Estonia Here we are. This is Segola It's a lot colder here. There's a lot more snow on the ground This is the railway station So let's have a look It's a bit exciting I think it's going anyway. It's covered in snow. Let's have a look at that And then we're going to go and explore the town So this is a really exciting town to look around It's got castles. It's got some cable cars which I'm looking forward to going on I hope they're going to run in this weather. Even though they might not But we'll certainly go and look for them. Let's have a look at this lava first I think I need to go and get a hot coffee as well There's an old water tower there And here's the lava Classic lava Not long it's been parked there It's on that of the inflate That's a great spot. That's really made my day for it I'm now going to wander off that way and have a look around the town So here we are now outside the front of the railway station It's really cold here. It must be about minus 10 There's signs everywhere about skiing. Ooh, flipping a bit Ski resorts. It's very much a winter sports town Look at all these big piles of snow. I don't know if someone's done over there Someone's actually, I'm not quite sure if it's for, if you have a toboggan But someone's actually in this huge, huge round of snow Someone's carved steps into the snow. Look at this So these steps won't be here. They'll melt eventually I'm just walking up these snow-carved steps I don't know if the idea is you're supposed to, it's like a mini ski slope Because, yeah, then there's like, I think that's the point That you're supposed to come up with toboggan or skis And slide down to the railway station I don't know. I think I'm probably going to walk back down And there's some quite nice looking cafes over there I really need a coffee to warm up I just had a nice coffee and mid-morning snack at a cafe called Mr Biscuits I've now followed the railway line along there Because I saw something from the train Which made me want to go and take a closer look So the railway line is just there behind those trees If you follow the road through the snow There's that building there And it's got the Latvian flag flying And coming out of that building is something a bit unusual Not the sort of thing you see To start off I thought it was just a hotel But look, there's lats coming out And it goes all the way down there There's a bobsleigh run There's a van coming up So we're not really in a mountainous area Latvia doesn't have mountains It just has the sort of weather everyone associates with mountains So they've got this bobsleigh run It'd be great fun to see it in action But I don't think we are today You can see there's a huge gorge down there And there's a river So I've been told there is cable cars here My family's now to follow that road that way At the fork Not follow the railway to the station But go that way along above the gorge And you'll find the cable cars there I've just walked right through the town centre There's a ferris wheel there Now I've come to an area This isn't the cable cars looking for But this is where there's quite a lot of winter sports activities You can do And here there's a ski slope There's also one of those bobsleigh runs Now unfortunately it's not running today So we won't be having a go on that But we're going to have a look I'll have to come back in the summer Everywhere I go I find I've got to come back to But I think the cable car did want to do Should be running an outtakes across the gorge Which I'm going to show you properly in a minute So we get up to here And here is a board Showing all the activities you can do Now see this lady here She says I'm in a great time on that bobsleigh run I'd love to do that But it's not running It must be because of the cold But I think the idea is you go down a bit You come back up on the cable car I went on one like that At Lake Bled in Slovenia in the summer The cable car chair is trouble As you can see it's not running So we're not going on that But what we're going to do We'll go up to where it goes If we were going on it Because The view is pretty impressive Look at that That's looking down onto the gorge So as I say this is not mountains at all It's just them in cold Cold in a nice way Fantastic view and look Skiing is taking place Have you got the drag lifts or the skis? They aren't working But I'm not running any good at skiing I've tried snowboarding once But it's not running my thing But I'll be like See that person there Looks like they are struggling I think So I'm not going to go skiing But the bobsleigh run Look it starts there So you sort of sit on it Like a motorbike It's like a monorail It goes off down there And then you pretty come back up On the cable car I think what we're doing now We'll go over there And have a look at the view That way over the valley So with the cherry in the background We're walking through the snow It's getting a little bit deeper now But we should get a really good view It's like an interesting looking house Over there Mansion on the other side of the gorge We come to here You can see It's like people would sit here In the summer And enjoy the view I'm pretty not going to sit here Too cold for that one Certainly going to enjoy the view And we go through here And wow There we go See the road down there I don't think this one's a ski slope But you can do some really nice hiking trails Around here I'm probably going to stay on peace today It's amazing I do really like snow It's cold But it's bitter But I really like it I keep seeing this everywhere It's like the S for Sigolder It's like the symbol of the municity I met a lady actually At the station She saw me filming And she said she was from the tourism And she said it's great here So do come and visit Sigolder I'm going to continue probably that way I'm going to go find the cable car Which I hope will take us to the other side of the gorge I've now come a little ways from where the skiing was We get to here Look it says Sigolder Adventures In the cable car Goes off over there Now it's interesting I've not seen one quite like this one There's only one Usually one goes one way One goes the other way Or you have a few of them On like a cyclic Cyclic system This one There's just one Here's the one cable car So I think they must Every now and then Send it across the gorge There it is So I've never quite seen one like this So we'll have to find out It'll take us to So there's that castle Or mansion over there I think it'll take us to over there So I'm going to have to go and find out If we can have a ride on it or not I hope we can I've got my ticket and we're getting on This is going to be quite exciting A ride Over there Across the gorge So here we are This is the interior Of the cable car That's not real snow It's going to be fun There goes the little cable car Making its journey back across the valley I was chatting to the driver on it So there's one cable car It goes back and forth And the driver She sits in it And takes you She sells you the ticket She gets in She must go back She told me a really nice story As to why they built this cable car 54 years ago What happened was One gentleman lived on that side Of the gorge His girlfriend lived on this side Now it's a walk You can do quite a pleasant walk I've seen steps going down So he'd do that walk Which was all well and good But when it began to rain And it was cold at night It wasn't so much fun He thought, wouldn't it be nice If I could fly across Like a bird And then he built this It's the only cable car In that fish, she tells me And it's just sort of Unusual and different I've never been on one Where there's just one cable car Usually there's a few of them Like I was saying on the other side So that's going to make its way back It really does drop quite a long way And climb up I would have filmed in the cable car But they were playing music And you can get into trouble with copyright So I was unable to film In the cable car for those reasons What I'm going to do now I'm going to have a little walk around It's very cold And there's not a lot going on She says there's a cable Which is kilometers walk away I think I'm going to leave that For a warmer day That said, if you do come here If you come here in the summer It can be quite a long queue To get on the little cable car Just like it's a lookout tower I don't think we can go up there So bear that in mind If you want to come here It's quite good coming here at winter You get to face yourself There's a ruin of a castle there She says there's I was told there's three medieval castles In this area There's this one There's a red one Which I can see from the cable car And there's another On the other side of the valley Which we'll have a look So over there We'll go and see the castle So that's the cable car Over there You can see the castle We're going to have a look at that But look at this Pretty cool Lapvin building It's very traditional What you get in this part Of northern Europe If you have a look You can see the wooden Well it's interesting Because it's made of stone Clearly And then you've got This wooden part here I'm going to guess That sign there's private So I'm not going to go any closer But it's such a nice building And I love the veranda Or balcony it has All along the front What we'll do now We'll go and look at the castle So there's all sorts of hiking paths everywhere It's very cold But very pleasant to walk along The one that goes down That way into the valley So what I could have done As I was saying You can walk across The Down into the gorge And up again Because there was a cable car I went on that We're now going to cross This bridge And go and have a look At the castle I can't find any information On this castle There's no bordering But I'll find out Something and I'll I'll put it Into the video So Let's cross this I think it's a completely Wooden bridge You just can't see The ground Because of the So It's just like a Like this It just makes it more exciting There's not a lot To see of this castle I think there's more To see of the other castle On the other side Of the valley Because One sort of guess Is that they would have been Defending the valley In medieval times For whatever reason And a bit like You get others in Wales You might get free castles All very close to each other So some ruins up there Let's just see what's Over there As I said There isn't a great deal To see I expect Looking across All of that Would have been Part of the castle once But now It's just all Stones And Snow And trees Not over there If we go up here There's arches over there I want to see if we can Should see something A bit more interesting Over there It's just so cold now If I wasn't walking around If I had to sit down I would be freezing It seems that this time of year There's no Where to get a drink Or anything on this side Of the river So it's kind of like Well, the lady said She'll be back In half an hour So As soon as I see that cable car Coming back I'm going to go Back on it The funny thing is It costs 16 euros To go on the cable car Which is Maybe a little bit expensive But it's definitely worth it The train journey Your return train journey From From Riga to here Costs only four euros So it gives you An idea of the difference in prices There's a A door down there I'll see if some stairs I want to go Around there So we can get inside Let's have a look Can I No, I'm not I'm not going down there If I walk Over here It's probably It's a bit dangerous It's probably snow You can't see Where your foot and your foot Is this a drift Or is it A stable ground For a walk I think this is alright I want to see what's in there I can just see There's a door Definitely Room Or something So if I can go to that We'll go and have a look There's the castle What's left of the castle What I'll do I'll do a bit of research Find out about the castle And I'll tell you About the castle now So I'll just A little bit of info On the castle itself I think If I go down here I should be able to get in I think what it's going to be It's just like a little staircase In the wall So we can do that We can get down At least get over I can see other people Have been Down here I'll go to hip And Ah, yeah It's not The stairs Are down there But we might as well do it So here we go Yeah Not far Inside We are inside the castle A little window Going out there We get to here And We're up there a moment ago There's another I think that's just a It's not a Let's have a look at the window And then what I'll do I'll leave this bit here And I'll walk back to the Cable car So here's a view How the window to the castle Is back at the cable car now I can just see it coming Back across the valley I've worked out now How it works If you have a look You can see there's The very thick wire That wire doesn't move That's what the Wheels of the cable car run on The one below that Is moving this way And you can see Maybe you can't see But there is one above it If you look up there There's a wheel You can see the wheel Is feeding out So it's like a big Cycle Of Like a big wire Is going round And round and round So as it goes that way It pulls the car this way And then the other way When it goes back So I'm going to stand here now And wait for the cable car To arrive to take us back Across the valley So we're back on this side There's our cable car There's also a lift here So if you are in a wheelchair Then you can ride it That's good to know Now there's another cable car Which I'm not going to do today But see that thing there That Two people Hang down And they go over their own weight And you can fly out Across the valley So I think there's only one wire That cable car will be on the other side So you fly out across the valley And then the cable car Pushes you back So I think that's Yeah If I want to take that off the haulage I'd have to Have a colon that So that would be really fun Anyway, we're back over here There's a castle around the corner I'm going to go and have a look at that now After our trip across the gorge Back on the Segorda side Just having a look now Firstly there's a frozen pond over there I'm not going to walk across the ice Here is the town's Paris church So we'll have a quick look at this And then Not far from here Is one of the castles So we'll go and finish off Up at the castle Now we're inside the church It's a Lutheran church A tower Was built in 1929 So here we are This is I quite like the sort of plainness Of it But in a way the plainness Is what makes it Really quite nice I do like it You've got the organ And looking down the church There's the pulpit up there It's quite high up I went in an Orthodox church yesterday In Riga city centre But you couldn't take any pictures So It was It was very nice But in a completely different way And it was very elaborate This is just nice And quite plain But I do Really like it There's the Mabien flag there Just come down to here There's something Here Quite interesting Not something you can See in the UK church But there's a load of wood Stacked up This is really interesting Heater Look at that Now I'm not sure How it works But obviously There's a chimney there And there's All these They're pushing out But there must be Some sort of filter system Inside I've never seen a heater Like this before But it's really cool So you must push out heat But no fumes So all the fumes go up there And it's really different What I've seen before I think if I went to church People did just sit here Just to marvel at the heater So yeah I don't know anything about that one Oh no I've sussed it I think I've sussed it Look Down there I reckon that It sucks in the cold air Down there And then The cold air goes round those pipes And comes out there And then the fire burns inside And all the fumes go up there That's it There's no fumes coming out So If I put my finger there I can feel a tiny little draft So that's it I've sussed it I'm going to go now I've got one more thing to do I've got to go and find a castle We're having warmed up in the church By the best heater I've ever seen I'm now back out in the cold And as promised We're going to go and look at the castle We're actually going to go and look at two castles Because in front of us here This is the gateway to the new castle The castle we can see from the cable car Is behind it That's the old castle So we're going to walk into here And we'll have a look See what we can see See if there's any information to Tell us what's where Oh yeah, that's helpful Look, there's a map So we're there We'll walk up there Have a look at the castle And Oh, the wooden manor house That's that Really nice red wooden manor house We're going to have a look at that And there's also signposts So yeah, wooden manor house New castle And then the old castle ruins That's what I was looking for So I suspect if you came here In the summer This would all be really quite pleasant gardens I see where it does remind me of Where I have been to Another castle in Europe Is Keste in Hungary It's got some nice gardens Like that And there's a castle If you want to see that video Have a look at the link on screen now I've never been there in winter Let's see it like this So that's the wooden manor house It's a bit like the one we saw On the other side of the river That traditional wooden house I think it's really nice Something you've seen This part of northern Europe And then there is the new castle And then behind is the old castle So we'll have a one bus See what we can see I think there is A souvenir shop and everything And maybe there's a cafe And information over there I've been told this is where The tourist headquarters for the town are So this is... I really like how the The red Stands out so much In this snow It's quite something And there's another S.I.S Sigourde with an exclamation mark The old castle's over there So what we'll do I'm just going to have a little Wand around And then we'll go behind The new castle And see the old castle So we're now around the back Of the new castle in Sigourde And around here That is the old castle Very impressive looking I'm very excited To go and have a look What I'm going to do I'm going to put that in A separate video So have a look at the Encore screen now To see in Sigourde Old castle So I'm now on my way back To the railway station I've really enjoyed Looking around Sigourde It's a very pleasant town And certainly with this snow Lived up to being Latvia's little Switzerland So if you're ever in Latvia If you're in Riga Do get the train out to Sigourde I think it'd be interesting To see this town in the summer Look very different There certainly wouldn't be Massive piles of snow everywhere And I expect to go across the road Not a nice little park here Of course that'll be green grass It feels hard to imagine that as Green grass It's good how You can see how they've been around Keep seeing people going around Clearing the path It's hard to see in the camera But they have cleared the path To make a nice path To walk along So it's not like you're Continually treading in snow Not knowing where you're going So here's the little green grass I hope you enjoyed this video I'm going to head back to the station now Caps were trained back to Riga Thank you very much for watching Please do feel free to like, Subscribe and comment And from the beautiful Latvian town of Sigourde Goodbye