What did we know about Latvia? In all honesty, shamefully little.

Andrew's interest in sport meant he was aware of an average Premier League footballer from the late 90's and some tennis players (one of whom, Ernest Gulbis, would be a fantastic name for a pet cat). We knew the capital was Riga, what the flag looked like, that Latvia was in the European Union and in the Baltics, and that, as with much of Eastern Europe, it once formed part of the Soviet Union.

Other than that, Latvia was a little bit of a mystery.

But, our interested was piqued by a fantastically original semi-viral video ad campaign about Riga. And, some more research made Latvia feel like a little part of Europe that, with overtourism being such a key concern in 2017, felt relatively undiscovered.

So, naturally, it made perfect sense for us to head over there in the middle of winter to take a road trip through the Latvian countryside.

From a starting point of relative ignorance, it meant that we were literally stepping (or driving) into the unknown.