Well, the lack of anything from us for quite a long time is not excusable, but it happened. The last bit of our story is entry to Estonia. We have now been in Estonia for about 2 weeks. We are in a place called Kaali on Sarimaa island, having got here in 14 days cycling. A brief resume about the first bit of this.
After crossing from Russia in Narva, and spending a night in a hotel there, we cycled to Toila, a seaside place a bit West of Sillamae. The route went via Narva Joesuu by the sea, a small and rather pleasant resort. Sillamae was a centre for uranium extraction in Soviet times, and one had to skirt the large industrial area. Then on dirt roads part of the way. We camped in Toila, the first time in the whole journey. The next day, followed the route West and we got as far as Kunda. The route is extremely well marked in Estomia. It is national cycling route 1 and also EuroVelo 10. I make no comment on Euro jargon, except it seems fair enough. Kunda is industrial, with a large cement works. The accommodation we had hoped for did not materialise, but in a cafe, the woman phoned around and got us into another lodging place, where we had an extensive flat for several people all for ourselves. We have found people here very helpful when we have asked. Estonians have a reputation for silence, but their helpfulness is terrific.
So far, the weather in Estomia had been good, but the next day it deteriorated. We were now in the Lahemaa National Park. Interestingly, this was established when Estonia was in the Soviet Union and was the first national park in the Union. It is a coastal area, relatively unspoilt because much of it was a military zone closed or partially closed to the public. From our point of view, it was very much cycling on roads through forest, birch mainly and some pine, for mile after mile. We did stop off for a walk to see some beaver dams, which were much more untidy than I expected - those beavers really need to get their act together and smarten up their act. But it was interesting. It was a long day, but we finally arrived in Viinitsu where we had intended to get.
Viinitsu is notable for having a gallery of Estonian art, the collection of a local lad who made good in Sweden as manager for ABBA and had the money to acquire a great range of modern and not so modern Estonian art. The museum was good; we enjoyed it. We made this a day off from the relentless onward progress that these bike trips entail. We also cycled out to the headland - Viinitsu is on a peninsular - and also looked at the abandoned building of the Soviet submarine research centre. The peninsular was a closed area in the cold war, and housed this facility and a large radar station on the headland. There are a lot of abandoned buildings from that time. The weather was better.
We went to Tallinn the next day. I was a long day, and what with one route mistake and a short diversion to another former Soviet submarine facility, for degaussing, also abandoned, we covered 114 km - way over our usual! A strong wind was against most of the time and we arrived quite late and pretty tired.
We were joining Tom's brother George for the continuing ride. He and his wife Debbie were in Tallinn already, in a rented flat and we joined them there for 3 days in the city. Debbie did not join us for the continuing cycle ride, but more of all this later.
After crossing from Russia in Narva, and spending a night in a hotel there, we cycled to Toila, a seaside place a bit West of Sillamae. The route went via Narva Joesuu by the sea, a small and rather pleasant resort. Sillamae was a centre for uranium extraction in Soviet times, and one had to skirt the large industrial area. Then on dirt roads part of the way. We camped in Toila, the first time in the whole journey. The next day, followed the route West and we got as far as Kunda. The route is extremely well marked in Estomia. It is national cycling route 1 and also EuroVelo 10. I make no comment on Euro jargon, except it seems fair enough. Kunda is industrial, with a large cement works. The accommodation we had hoped for did not materialise, but in a cafe, the woman phoned around and got us into another lodging place, where we had an extensive flat for several people all for ourselves. We have found people here very helpful when we have asked. Estonians have a reputation for silence, but their helpfulness is terrific.
So far, the weather in Estomia had been good, but the next day it deteriorated. We were now in the Lahemaa National Park. Interestingly, this was established when Estonia was in the Soviet Union and was the first national park in the Union. It is a coastal area, relatively unspoilt because much of it was a military zone closed or partially closed to the public. From our point of view, it was very much cycling on roads through forest, birch mainly and some pine, for mile after mile. We did stop off for a walk to see some beaver dams, which were much more untidy than I expected - those beavers really need to get their act together and smarten up their act. But it was interesting. It was a long day, but we finally arrived in Viinitsu where we had intended to get.
Viinitsu is notable for having a gallery of Estonian art, the collection of a local lad who made good in Sweden as manager for ABBA and had the money to acquire a great range of modern and not so modern Estonian art. The museum was good; we enjoyed it. We made this a day off from the relentless onward progress that these bike trips entail. We also cycled out to the headland - Viinitsu is on a peninsular - and also looked at the abandoned building of the Soviet submarine research centre. The peninsular was a closed area in the cold war, and housed this facility and a large radar station on the headland. There are a lot of abandoned buildings from that time. The weather was better.
We went to Tallinn the next day. I was a long day, and what with one route mistake and a short diversion to another former Soviet submarine facility, for degaussing, also abandoned, we covered 114 km - way over our usual! A strong wind was against most of the time and we arrived quite late and pretty tired.
We were joining Tom's brother George for the continuing ride. He and his wife Debbie were in Tallinn already, in a rented flat and we joined them there for 3 days in the city. Debbie did not join us for the continuing cycle ride, but more of all this later.
No comments:
Post a Comment