LATVIA into ESTONIA
So much happening in only two days...
4th August - 5th August | 2022
What a night again! This time it was a small boat coming in around midnight, but it was so loud and it took forever. As soon as it arrived a car drove off, aside from my tent. Cannot remember it coming?! And then it took really long until the boat was parked and the owner went off with his scooter, along the tent. I hope they only went fishing ... Well, after that the hedgehog ran into the tent ;-) and then it was quiet for the rest of the night!
Due to the weather forecast, I will pack in another night of camping - woohoo - and then I have to stay in an apartment. It took me really long this time to find something in the area I want, matching my gusto and the budget. Not sure if it's all gone as the weekend, or there is simply nothing around ...
However, today I want to get to the area of Lake Peipus, which is on the border of Estonia (Europe) and Russia. It seems to be the 4th biggest lake in Europe ... Today, the 240km were again all offroad! Even crossing the border was somewhere on a gravel track. I really had a blast! This time more corners, and of course, the occasionally closed roads. Talking of which, the signs are coming when you are already a good kilometre into the track! So you have then to turn around and let in the meantime OsmAnd find an alternative; that is the fun of it!
In the description of TET Estonia, was a man-powered ferry mentioned, so I headed to Kavastu. As the owner is on the other side, he then came in his little boat over, and then we "wheeled" our way over. He started, and then I could do the job. Halfway he told me to turn around as a car approached. So all the way "wheeling" back and I even parked the ferry.
Now back to the other side the owner of the car did the "wheeling" ;-) Unfortunately, I didn’t get a discount for the work; not that I was expecting it either!
At lake Peipus, I went quickly for some shopping, as it was already pretty late. As I didn´t have much cash, I also withdrew some Euros. Good thinking, then the owner of the camping wanted cash, of course. He was really helpful and showed me all the flags of all the countries he already visited - Portugal missing though ;-)
He also told me, that the width of Lake Peipus is 40km, and 15km into the lake is still Europe (Estonia), after Russia. Wow, so close! Pity, I cannot get into Russia to visit St. Petersburg, so close, but no way to risk anything!
This time the night was very quiet - after the mosquitos have settled! So I had a good night's sleep!
Today I wanted to visit a mostly abandoned mining village called Vivikonna. I have chosen a little town along the seaside of Lake Peipus for the morning cafe and some petrol.
When I wanted to pay for the petrol, I realised I haven’t got my card ... Panic, Steffi think, quickly! It was yesterday at the ATM! First, the money, then I had to ask for a receipt and then I should have waited for my card! Well done woman!
Ok, I checked my bank statement and it was still all the same as last night - pfew! Well, as it was an ATM it should get pulled in after x seconds, so I should be safe. However, I need a new one and cancel that one. I was lucky that this chain of petrol stations (yellow one) offers free wifi, so I could cancel the card, generate a virtual one for time being and order a new one by express delivery to the biker hotel of Alo in Pärnu. So, fingers crossed that this will work out!
Of course, my brain was still busy with the card situation, so I forgot that Osmand send me all the side streets of the first village/town, which in this case was 4x a dead end! Finally, we were going for a good 120km on fantastic gravel roads, with the occasional dead ends (of course, again sign only after 1km into the track!). So today I could call the route "DEAD END". Today was a lot of "big gravel" which was really hard to focus and stay in line - luckily nobody coming from the other direction! I had one bit of approx 1.5km where obviously yesterday a lorry must have unloaded new gravel, about 10cm high, solid! No fun at all, just keeping up the momentum all the time!! One wrong move and I would have been down, or at least have had difficulties getting going again!
Oh, and I saw a white-tailed eagle flying off. That was amazing, even though it was in distance, but so far I only knew them from animal documentation on television! So the rest of the day I was also trying to see if I can glimpse another one ... or a nest...
Just before Jöhvi, there was a convoy of military transport. I must say since Poland I see a lot of military vehicles. Yes, there is a war pretty close in Ukraine, but I think they have still a strong military presence in general in their countries, especially here in Estonia. I guess I am not used to it anymore as in Germany or Portugal, I cannot remember when I saw the last time a military vehicle. I guess, as it is Friday, it was just a normal movement from one area to another - I hope!
Arriving at the apartment, as I couldn’t identify the building, I went first shopping down the road. Once I had done all my shopping I called the owner. Aleksander was there about 2 mins later. He showed me the apartment; the 5th floor in an old building = no elevator! Hurray, here comes my weight lifting for the day!
When I re-parked the bike and went back to the building with the last set of luggage, a guy out of a car started to talk to me. Glad he didn’t ask me for any directions ;-) He offered me to park Schimmelchen in his driveway next door as he got security cameras! Not that I felt that my bike was in a dangerous area (like in Poland in one hotel during TET), but that offer made me feel better. Thank you, Mark, that is awesome!
I have just realised, that this is already a long blog, and before you get bored, I better finish here. In the next blog, I will visit the most Eastern point of my journey, which is in the border town of Narva. I am curious how far that would be from there until home. We will find out tomorrow, well you will find out in the next blog!
Places | Cities:
LATVIA:
Vöru
ESTONIA:
Mooste, Ahja, Vönnu, Kavastu Parve, Kollaste, Mustvee, Isaku, Vivikonna, Jöhvi
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 20930 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
Loose bolt on handlebar/hand guard - duck taped it for the moment until I can reach my tools.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
OsmAnd for the challenges and providing me with so much offroad!