As the Spēkozoli hike opens its 15th season, a cluster of nine signposts has been unveiled at the Medņi holiday house in Vidriži parish, by the driveway into the homestead. The signs point to the oaks in the immediate surroundings of Medņi and to other places of natural interest in Vidriži parish and beyond it.

The signs stand at the roadside, which is also cycling route 110, and have been made in both Latvian and Livonian for those sites whose names originate with the people who lived in this historical Livonian region: Aģes dižozols, Aḑā sūrtäm; Spēkozolu birzs, Joudtämšt; Aģes ezers, Aḑā jōra; Medņu dīķis; Medņu svētozols; Pērkonžuburs; Saimnieks Osvalds; Randiņozols; Medņu mežs; Medņu mežiņš; Kaniņu kalns; Kaķu bedrīšakmens; Zvejniekciema pludmale; Kārļa ozols and Pokaiņu mežs.

Ivars Šmits, founder of the Spēkozols movement: “My wife Dagnija and I are passionate travellers. Hiking in the Swiss Alps, we have always admired the informative, precise and beautifully made trail signs there. Arriving at our Medņi homestead, it is now much the same. The new cluster of signposts shows clearly which sites can be reached and how far away they are, and after that you need only follow the rest of the Spēkozoli hike signs and enjoy the walk.”

Given that, until the end of the 19th century, the Medņi homestead was part of the manor estate of the family of Augusts Fon Pistolkors, the owners of Igate Castle, from this spring onwards, in cooperation with our neighbours at Igate Castle, the Spēkozoli hike will also be offered to guests of the Igate Castle Dzirnavu kordiņš and to participants in the castle's corporate team-building events.

The Spēkozols movement was founded in 2010. Its aim is to honour nature, to respect and tend our oaks, and to draw on their strength and inspiration. To manage the land sustainably and to carry Latvian tradition out into the world. During the movement's work, the Spēkozoli hike has been created at Medņi in Vidriži parish, a Spēkozoli grove of thrice-nine oaks has been planted and the Aģes dižozols has been tended. The movement educates the public about Latvia as one of Europe's great powers of veteran trees, and is also one of the participants in and supporters of the annual European Tree of the Year competition.

In the publicity photo: Laima Šmite, Ivars Šmits and Jānis Gailums