Into Latvia and Lake Burtnieks

George was up early and wanted to be on his way to find a cafe for coffee and breakfast. He had still failed to light a fire because if the wind.  Tom and I were a little slower. It was only a few kms to the border but passing through a few places but no cafés.  Then on into Latvia and the town of Ainazi. There was a supermarket and a small outdoor market but no coffee.  A km beyond there was a garage with a Hesburger that also did excellent pancakes (a speciality of these parts) and a nice girl serving who taught us please, thank you and good bye in Latvian, which I promptly forgot.  Now we were ready for the day.

The official route onwards was down a main road, with the wind against us.  It didn't seem very attractive, so we diverted inland along cycle route 17. The cycle routes were well marked here.  Today was sunny and a light wind mainly behind us.  We passed through villages with shops and cafés. When one cycles through remote places, one tends to stop at cafés. When cafés become more frequent one has to resist the temptation to stop at every one. There was also lots to look at as we passed fields and farms and villages and streams: old houses beautifully done up, old houses falling to pieces, flowers such a lilac with a strong smell, storks on their nests.  The last few kms were on a dirt road.  Not so good as the soil is very sandy, so tends to get rutted and difficult to cycle through unless you have a mountain bike.

The campsite was round lake Burtnieks, several kms beyond Burtieki.  Fortunately Tom had emailed them to ask if they were open, so we knew it existed, which after 94kms was encouraging.  It was in a beautiful position on a slight hill, overlooking the lake.  Cabins were quite cheap and as it is still very cold at night, we went for that option.  Stood and watched the sun setting over the lake and listened to great birdsong.  An idyllic end to a good day.

Last day in Estonia

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The ride on from Parnu was, for the first 30km along a main road.  To start with one could ride on the pavement but once that stopped, it was on the road with the passing lorries. A sunny day but a very strong wind against us made it unpleasant. It was much better once we were onto a quieter road, which went along close to the beach. There were quite a few campsites but we wanted the one closest to the border as we had a long journey the next day.  It proved to be another basic campsite, with good pit latrines, covered picnic tables and barbecues but no water.  Fortunately we had enough water. Fortunately also we had found a nice cafe/bar shortly before and had delicious pancakes with home made black current jam.  The campsite was a beautiful spot but the wind!...  It was so strong we never managed to get a fire lit, even with surrounding the spot with as much shelter as we could.

A day in Parnu

We were having a full day in Parnu and two nights, so booked an apartment.  It was in a large old wooden house, with uneven floors and a great stove going between two bedrooms.  The owner, Tamara, said her son complained about her living in an old Russian house but it certainly had its appeal.

Tamara looked after her guests and did several loads of washing in her machine for us,  which we could hang out in her garden outside.  She also had a little campsite for walkers and campers in her garden, with a notice saying if not one is around, put up your tent and pay later. The address is 18 Esplanaadi if any cyclists want to visit.  

Parnu is a beach resort where once people went for mud cures.  The black mud of that area is supposed to have curative powers, though I never discovered what they cured. The old building for mud treatment is now a posh hotel where you can have spa treatments, with saunas of various types and massages, etc., arranged, it said, on Roman ideas. We passed on.  By the time we got to the beach it was drizzling and was a typical beautiful sandy beach on a cold wet day out of season.

Places marked as worth visiting were not open, an Orthodox Church was not open during the week until June, a modern art gallery was changing their display but the general town museum, which our guide book was a little disparaging about turned out to be very interesting, starting with prehistoric finds, including a pendant carved iin human form out of animal bone, from 7500 BC and moving on to the changing dominating powers in Estonia.  It has been independent for little of its history.

To Parnu

Monday 25th May.  A nice ride to Parnu, with the sun shining and the wind sometimes behind us.  The countryside near the coast is often a National Park, either because it is very boggy or because it was used by the military in Soviet times and is therefore mainly unspoilt by human habitation.  We passed through forests and the Lindi Bog, a protected area, where there was a watch tower.  We saw no animals but there was a track going through the water and over dryer land to a hole.  Whose hole?  The information board said foxes, raccoons and deer lived there.

All the way along we are often cycling through forests.  Where the road is narrow and winding, the forests are beautiful and occasionally you see wild animals but where the road is wider and straight, and the verges have been neatly cut back, forests can get awfully boring.  Just on and on, miles of the same.

Going back a bit to the islands. The first one Hiiumaa, seemed much wilder and less developed than the larger Saaremaa. Hiiumaa had more boggy ground, so was less cultivated. There we saw deer, a pine martin and a hare.  On Saaremaa there was much more agriculture.  

Generally, throughout our journey, in all the countries, there have been people tending their land. Lawns are mown and there are shrubs and attractive flower beds.  At the moment there are a lot of red tulips out.  The sound of strimmers and mowers is very noticeable, especially at the weekends.  There are also plenty of allotments, all very neatly kept.

Lashing (of cords and ropes)

When Katherine's pannier rack broke, the upright rod taking all the weight down to the frame above the wheel axle snapped.  George managed to bind it so that the rod remained in place, as shown.  This mend lasted through 2 days of cycling, including along dirt roads.  George could reasonable claim his lashing badge.

Some pictures to go with the last post.

Pictures and a few extra comments.  On loading the bikes at the riding place, my back carrier snapped. Fortunately George's scouting skills came into play and he did a superb knotting/lashing job which was still holding fine several days later when we got to a bike shop to replace it. The photo of the actual knot is on the iPad but not on the selection the blogger has offered me. Where has it gone? These things remain mysteries.

Tom's account of the accommodation that night was a little watered down.  We had cycled quite far and one is never certain of actually finding the places marked on the map.  The path to where the campsite was marked was guarded by a sign of beware the fierce dog. We took the point and when on down the hill to where the cabins were marked, 2.5kms down a fairly rough dirt road and passed some wild boar. The place we found had no sign of anyone, the house was lived in but looking through the window seemed rather chaotic and there was no phone number or welcome sign or anything. On the side of the house facing he sea, was a glass conservatory area that must have once been a dining area and outside a big wooden terrace now rotting.  Inside were lots of potted plants, an array of furniture and a very beautiful cat.  In front of the terrace was mown grass and beyond that facing the sea were the huts.  A row of clean huts with beds, a rotting wooden pathway and at the end a very expensive looking brand new shower, with a visa/master card sign on the door.  The huts had windows facing the house with blinds, but glass doors with no blinds facing the path and the sea. The only protection inside was a flower painted onto the glass. Besides ordinary flowers like tulip, there was cannabis and the huts were painted in rather psychodelic colours.  Just what sort of place was this?  

No one was prepared to cycle the 2.5kms up the path and past the boars to see if the notice at the top had a phone number, so we just settled in and hoped we could sort it out in the morning. I must say I was a little uneasy, particularly as the doors had no keys in the locks.

At about 1.30, I was awoken to hear Tom talking with a man who had come in. The conversation seemed to be going something like Tom giving the explanation that we had found no one around and were going to come up to the house in the morning to pay, and he hoped that was alright.  There was a moments silence and then a long drawn out "No" from the man.  There then followed a conversation about when Tom should come up to the house and persuaded him that the morning would be alright. The man left having turned the outside lights on.  I left it a respectable time before admitting I was awake and a little longer before visiting the toilets.  There was now a light on outside each cabin.  Some were red and some were white.  I hoped this had no significance.  My sleep after that was interrupted by dreams of whole families arriving to stay in the hut we were in.  In the morning we decided to leave quickly and have breakfast along the way.  At the house a man came to greet and and beckoned us in.  He seemed to have only one word of English, "coffee".  And there it was a table laid for three breakfasts and coffee.  Communication was through Google translate.  He was very pleasant and it seemed a perfectly respectable place, if a little casual in its upkeep.  There was a fairly large birdcage at one end of the main room with various parakeets and other birds; and there was the very friendly cat. Was he the same man who had come the night before? None of us knew.  

It was a wild lonely place and rather beautiful, apart from rotting verandas.

From Muhu nearly to Parnu

We left the riding place after breakfast.  It was quite close to the ferry to the mainland.  We had a timetable, though when we turned up the times were different; no matter as the boats were frequent.  On the ferry, breakfast #2.  Noticed an enormous barge full of big logs saying "Sweden" on the side and moving slowly Northwards behind a tug.  To IKEA?  Probably not!  On the other side, we took a minor road, as specified on the cycle route, which  crossed a preserved marsh areas and then took a dirt road until it reached a bigger, well surfaced, south bound  main road. 

Very little traffic, no undue wind problem, so cycling not too bad.  But it went on and on!  Some breaks; lunch in a bus shelter, and the bus turned up; visit to a museum which was a manor house with accumulated this-and-that over many years.  But we did get to a village where our route guide said there was camping.  The village had a map posted up, marking every house with the name of the family living there,  but also camping by the sea and a picture of a row of chalets.  We found the road leading to this and it was a long descent, past a farm and past where George saw some wild pigs - they had run away by the time I got there, and to this campsite.  No sign of anyone, but indeed a row of chalets each with two beds and each unlocked.  So we settled down into two of them.

In tnhe middle of the night a gentleman opened the chalet where Katherine and I were sleeping.  A language problem, but I said slowly in English (obviously; my Estonian allowed nothing else!) that we would come to the house in the morning to pay.  Not sure this was really understood, but he went away and we did report in tnhe morning - in a post to come!

No photos here, as I do not have any on this computer, but Katherine is going to add some.

On to the island of Muhu

Saturday 23rd May.  Sunny day with a cold but not icy wind, mainly behind us.  We diverted down a dirt road to find another of these very old stone churches at Poide. This time we were successful and it was open.  It had been struck by lightening in 1940 and the steeple and roof was burnt.  The roof must have been repaired but not the steeple and the tower that was left had a large crack in it. In Soviet times it ceased to be used as a church and hay was stored in it.  Now it is being used as a church once again and starting to be restored.  There is a lot of work to do, but it has a stark beauty as it is.  

There was also the remains of a fort built by theTeutonic Orderburg.  That doesn't seem to have lasted as long, there were just a few stones left to mark its place.

Returning to the main road, we went over a cobbled stretch with beautifully shaped and laid cobbles.  Poide is now tiny but looking at the cobbles and the size of the church, it must have once been quite important.

Next we went over the causeway to the island of Muhu.  Here the weather was not a kind and we had a strong wind against and to the side of us (yes winds can come from more than one direction when you are cycling. They gust around)  It was hard work for 4kms and when a team of lorries came in the opposite direction, I (Katherine) just had to stop.  The causeway was first built in the late 1800s and has been enlarged and improved many times since.  The downside has been that it disrupted the spawning routes of the fish, so fish were no more. But they wouldn't have thought about that in those days.  Probably not much different now.  We had another diversion to find an ostrich farm with cafe. Yes it was there but not open in May. However the campsite we wanted was open and very welcoming. It was a horse riding establishment,breeding horses and offering horse riding holidays.  There was a party of Finns there, so the sauna was booked out. However, there was also a large dining room with a log fire and buffet meals.  We pitched our tents and settled happily into the room with food and log fire. There were pictures all round the room about the area and the mystical properties given to the stones and groves in ancient times, practices not entirely abandoned.  There was also a picture of Martin, pouring oil on a fire to appease the spirit of an oak tree that was about o be cut down and placed in the dining room.

On to Kaali

Kaali is a place where a meteorite fell about 7000 years ago.  It left a large crater, now with a lake in it and a number of smaller ones. It's fall is incorporated into folk legends, but we never found out what they were. 

 Generally this was a pleasant day if cycling with the wind behind is much of the time.  We did spend some time trying to find an old church built out of local dolomite.  We finally got it signposted 5km back the way we had come.  We had spent enough time looking already, so did not attempt it again.  Churches are often locked anyway.

We had booked somewhere to stay earlier and found that it was above the museum of the crater.  This meant we had access to the museum, which was otherwise closed.  We were the only ones there and were able to enjoy the facilities of a large dining room, a sauna and the keeping of the museum key.

More on Kuressaare and Saaremaa Island

 

The islands are big holiday destinations, but not in May. So much was closed until 1st June, or said it was open and wasn't, or said it was there but was actually under construction. Here is the first Ttourist Information office.  Inside was 'work in progress', planks of wood, tools, but not a soul in sight.

There were nice places by the sea to stop for lunch and the occasional cafe, usually a village store selling everything and with a table outside for a cup of coffee or beer. Biscuits and sweets were often sold in the old fashioned way, weighed out loose from open boxes. And very good.

Kuressaare is an old town with still some cobbled streets and old houses.  Like much else it had suffered in war and occupation years and these were recorded in huge museum.  As Tom mentioned there was also humour, as in the stairs if jokes. Read them going up.

And then the meal in the windmill, which you could explore whilst waiting for the food to come. It went up four floors, with tables on each.  I pitied the waiters when the place was full.  The stairs got quite steep.

Kurassaare

We took a day off the grind of perpetual onward-ness. We were in Mandjala campsite, where we had taken a cabin.  This was about 10km form Kurassaare, which is the largest and principal town on Sarimaare island.  The ride in was pleasant; along a main road, but not much traffic and separated bike track that was very well maintained. 

Started at a bike shop, because Katherine's bike had a problem that I forget what it was; they also replaced her rear inner tube and, as we have observed before, the mere fact that a professional did this meant it has not had to be reflated since  Then coffee and lunch.  The magazines of both the Cycling Touring Club and The Lindon Cycling Campaign stress the vital importance of cafes to cycling and cyclists.  We agree.  This was a very pleasant one. 

Then to the information office for a few enquiries and to the castle and museum.  One started with something about someone, actually an inquisitor, who got walled in on the orders of a medieval bishop.  Walling in seemed to be a punishment used both here and in Haapsalu.  Who knows how many as yet unknown walling-ins remain unknown, forgotten and undetected (this one was only found in the 19th century)?  This gentleman had been seduced on purpose and then condemned for breaking his chastity vow ..... he was unwanted in the first place.  The museum was rambling and very good. The best bits were about life in the Soviet years, including jokes written on the treads of the stairs.  Did Stalin like jokes?  Yes, he had two prison camps full of them.  Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man; communism is the opposite.  Etc.  There was a section on individual persons' recollecdtions of significant events in their lives that was also good.

After the museum, dinner in a restaurant in a windmill, which we enjoyed.  Cycling back 10 km in the evening in good weather was excellent .

Katherine has some photos of the castle.  For some reasdon, I do not.

Tom

Continuing the railway theme

The platform at Haapsalu had to be lengthened to take the Tzar's train.  It's a hard life being a Tzar.

A diversion to previous - for railway nerds

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In Haapsalu, before crossing to the islands, we saw the outside of the railway museum, with several old steam locomotives and other rolling stock outside the buildings.  Here are a couple of photos of the largest locomotive, a 2-10-0.  Estonian railways are with the Russian broad gauge and these locomotives may have gone serious long distances.

Day 2 in Saarimaa

Which was Wednesday 20 May 2015 (just for the record).

The first part was crossing a peninsula to (close to) the West coast.  Went past what may have been a Soviet submarine harbour, but then it may not have been.  South a bit to Kihelkonna, and apart from thoughts of where else a name like this might come from, appraised one of the guide books description as "bucolic".  Quite a lot of Soviet era flats, but a tiny bit of village with ordinary houses near a stream which we would have missed if we had not taken a wrong turning.  Anyway, the shop had a sunny outdoor table and we stopped for coffee and hamburger/panini from the shop's microwave. 

Near Kihelkonna is a museum based on an old farm that escaped modernisation and we went to this.  The old farm buildings were grouped round in a circle and contained implements, tools etc from the past.

There was also a traditional swing as part of the museum

As demonstrated by Katherine and George (we all 3 had a go).

The on, to Mandjala campsite near Kuressaare, the principle town of the island.  We departed from the "official" route here for a short bit and went down the main road that runs past the farm museum, where we had a following wind and gentle gradients and did it rapidly (relatively).  Turned off to get to the coast, where we met the proper route again, and about 10km on the best of dirt roads where we did the same sort of speed..  In  Mandjala took a cabin for two nights.  Campsite rather run down and a large party of Finns. For me, a consequence was that when I took a shower the water was tepid.  It was also timed and 2 euros a go.  Not good.  We had previously cycled past anoither campsite that might have been better - but who knows?

Over to Saaremaa

We took the ferry between the two islands, to Saaremaa.  There were only 2 sailings daily (at this time of year) so we had to be there in good time for a 08.15 departure.  This was not really a problem and we got there in good time and had to wait.  Reasonable weather and left on time.  Cycled a short distance to Leisi village where the cafe opened on 1 June, so not good. But the shop did coffee and we settled down In the bus shelter.  The place was dreamy and where "everything is happening" except is wasn't.  Then on cycling along the North coast of the island.  Nothing exceptional really.  Mixed pine and birch forest on and on.  Finally, went to camp site marked on map at Kuusiku not quite fully in the West of the island.  Took a cabin for the night.