[2/2] A transit of eastern Latvia cont. We left Rāzna National Park and en route to Velnezers entered a Border Zone where we were stopped by 🚨 police (Belarus was to the other side of Dagda). They asked where we were going, where we had come from, and looked into our mud-splattered van. We continued on, the gravel road again getting narrower and muddier—until we bailed, and backtracked to tarmac. Our revised sealed route went through Aglona (known for its basilica), near to the petite and pretty lake of Velnezers (📷1). If we felt like banging our heads against a tree for our faith in GPS algorithms, we were in good company. Dendrocopos major | the great spotted woodpecker empathised in the trees around the lake (📷2). Back on the road, we passed through another Border Zone for an evening arrival to pitch beside the Daugava River (📷3)—after some 6h driving and an overdose of juddering. Next morning after doing services in camp, getting the 👕 laundry done in Daugavpils and buying odourless 💦 drinking water—hard to find otherwise in the Baltics—we came to Daugavpils cietoksnis | Daugavpils Fortress (📷4). This early 19th C. bastion-type fort was built to defend the Russian Empire's western frontier. In 1812, while still under construction, 3,300 defenders repelled an attack by 24,000 of Napoleon’s troops; during WWII occupying Nazi troops set up Stalag 340 inside it. 🇱🇻 #europe #baltics #latvia #latvija 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife