Proper Loop Around Estonia

 A Proper Loop Around Estonia 2021

Foreword 

It has been rather static corona years and my hands are kind of itching for a proper motorbike journey. Well, this is a problem that only resonates among motorbike travellers. Other people might not understand the issue as such. Estonia has suffered under the corona era and had world record high figures in terms of infected people per 100,000 people - that was over 1500 in the winter - and because of it Estonians were properly locked down until May with some gradual opening and lifting of restrictions. Now life has turned to normal again and the notorious figure is currently under 20. I also have 2 shots in my shoulder. Should it protect me, well, that I don’t know and only time will tell that, but with these 2 shots I have some kind of permit to travel. And this is important. But our neighbours are still not that optimistic in Finland and to some degree also in Latvia. Finland still does not let regular tourists that are travelling by ferry to enter and Latvians have online registration called covidpass.lv 

Actually, in the end of June we paid a visit to Latvia with my family and we filled the form and it was ok to cross the border to beautiful towns of Aluksne and Valmeria in Latvia. I had a plan to travel solo on motorbike to the far end of Norway and cover over 3000 kilometers, but due the contradictory information crossing Finnish border, I decided to skip the plan until it is very clearly understable that I’m not in the mercy of the border guards and can travel freely as I’m used to in the Schengen league. 

So, eventually I thought perhaps I should do a proper loop in Estonia. I have not traveled on a motorbike around Estonia. Of course I have travelled to some point in Estonia and in Finland, but this is it, not further in Europe. I have travelled 5 times in India and 3 times in the Philippines and usually my means of transportation has been a  motorbike. I have thought about what I want to see myself and what I would like to present to my readers. Well, there will hardly be any regular tourist attractions, that is a promise. If you want to see the beautiful Tallinn medieval city wall and adorable colorful houses inside of the wall - well, book a flight or get the Baltic sea cruise ship tour and enjoy! 

I have a plan-like understanding of what I would like to visit and who I would like to visit. Also I’m planning to stay in the tent for a few nights and perhaps smuggle myself into my friends' homes. I really would like to avoid hotels. This will be my solo adventure although I have challenged some friends to join me in some sections. During this trip I will continue working, but in a summer-mode and in smaller chunks. The weather has been exceptional in Estonia in June and I hope 25-30’C warmth and sun continue, but the real motorbiker should not worry about weather and should prepare the suitable equipment instead.

I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and having meaningful conversations after many years of not seeing them. Some of them are real world travellers and just recently got stationary. And on the other hand I’m always open to new contacts and new people like in my multiple journeys in Asia and elsewhere. My motorbike is a heavy enduro Honda Varadero equipped with 3 paniers. I have asked my mate Marko to maintain it properly just before the trip. I’ve got a new chain, oils, filters and even new wheel bearings. It should run smoothly now. To be honest, very often in India I don’t wear proper gear, because it is just unthinkable to carry it all from Europe, and in the Philippines I wear flip-flops, but in Europe I will, because the speed is higher, very often twice higher, and I have it all available here. 

My wife was not entirely happy that I would take this trip, but she is used to my journeys in Asia. It seems I need this kind of solo rides myself in order to be face-to-face with my own thoughts and feelings...all in the helmet. I suppose these trips are forming me to who I am or will be. My family will pay a visit in Haapsalu or in Pärnu and we will celebrate my birthday and perhaps we mix the Hiiufolk music festival to my journey as well, let’s see. 

I will write diaries or journals each day using cell phone text editing, because in that way readers can get the most genuine picture of each day. Imagine if I wrote down the days’ action after the trip, some of it would be forgotten already or some emotions diluted or smoothen. Looking forward to this adventure. 

Once I started to drive over 70 km/h wind started to cool me and the breeze helped me to overcome the hotness. I drove through Keila town and made a stop in Rummu. This is a bizarre place. At the edge of a lime stone query, that is now a quite long lake, there is a regular prison with up to 80 inmates and right next to the walls and barbed wire is Rummu Adventure park. Just amazing that among semi-demolished old prison facility buildings there is now a diving center and a beach. In 1993 there was a proper prison riot and inmates demanded more human living conditions. Gradually this prison is no longer a hard discipline prison and inmates can go to work every day outside the walls and return back to prison for sleep. More like accommodation, hostel if you will.

The entrance fee to the park is 4€ for adults. I asked permission to drive all the way to the beach, because all my life is mounted on my bike and I don't want to take any chances. About 200 people were sun bathing and swimming. There is no sand, but the beach and the swimming area is covered with the limestone dust and tiny particles of limestone. Actually there is a huge mountain of the same stuff right next to the beach. People are climbing on the top of this mountain too. I climbed on top of this mountain with my daughter Mirjan last summer. I think we skipped the entry fee by climbing over the wall. Water was nice and chill, just perfect for cooling down.

I met one Russian blogger Natatsha who is visiting her parents in Estonia. She is a video blogger and she has some 30k followers. I walked to the terrace and ordered a coffee. I enjoyed the hot drink and wrote the first chapters of the diary. At 3PM I changed my outfit from swimming shorts into robocop style motorbike gear and rode through the medieval Padise village where there are the well preserved ruins of a monastery.

In the front of Nõva shop I ate icecream and asked the locals about a certain camping place in Nõva beach and they confirmed my suspicions that the point in question might be overcrowded. I asked for a location that has a rather empty beach and they guided me towards Keibu beach. I thanked the local businessman and just an active man in his community Aivar Oruste and Raivo for the hint. Aivar also told me that the lakes alongside the coastal area used to be part of the sea, but gradually the land has erected and sandy dunes have formed between the sea and the former gulfs. One such lake is called Lepaauk and it was used hundreds of years ago for keeping the wooden ships in this lake and out of the rough sea, like in the garage. The small creek was the gateway between the lake and the sea. Nowadays these lakes are the safe haven and rescue place for certain frogs (Natterjack toad or in Estonian Juttselg kärnkonn or Latin Epidalea calamita) that are distinct in numerous places, but here they have perfect living conditions and protection. I rode on small asphalt and gravel roads to the beach parking area and then further on a very narrow sandy road to the edge of the forest, right next to the beach. The beach was not entirely empty, a few people were walking by, but it was a perfect spot for tonight's accommodation.

I started to set up the tent on the sand and it was hopeless entreprise - pegs or piles did not attach to the soft sand and the wind was rather violent. I dragged the tent a bit further up to the reeds and more solid ground. I set up my camp on the beach and enjoyed a smoked Flatfist (or Platichthys or Lest in Estonian) that I bought from Nõva. Aivar recommended doing so, because this fish was well smoked and caught using nets sustainably. It tasted very good and against my expectations it was not a big hassle with the little bones. I swam a couple of times, but the water was cold. Something has happened and there is no warm water in the sea. I kept the bottle of beer in the sea-based cooler. 

At 7PM my beach was finally empty. The sunshine still gave me substantial warmth and I layed on the sand. The unstoppable rhythm of wave after wave was rolling to the shore. The sand creates a squeaking sound when I walk on it barefoot. I do remember a similar sound in Liepaja beach in Latvia. Some say the beach sand is singing. I read the book "Cultural Dementia" until the very end. I haven't been able to lay on the beach for so long and just read a book.

Monday, July 5

I woke up at 7AM and my tent was getting very hot inside. Luckily not a single angry ant or mosquito had found a way to my tent. I went straight to the shore and sat in the shallow water. It was still very cold, perhaps 8’C. After that I started to pack up my stuff and tent. There was not a single person walking by, the beach was all mine. The sun dried my body soon and I started to transport my gear back to my bike.

The vegetation that covers the sand dunes is so dry and easily flammable. When I stepped on a lichen there was a crisp crashing sound and the plant was not restoring its former shape and I was able to see my steps very clearly. Just a spark would light the whole nature in blaze. That’s why I parked my bike to the edge of the forest and didn’t try to go further and closer to the beach. Imagine - just a spark from the silencer would light the beautiful nature. I packed all my gear back to my bike and decided not to wear the motorbike pants and instead kept the shorts and sneakers, because it would be an even warmer day than yesterday. I drove on the narrow road back to the gravel road and I made a brief stop at the edge of a lake called Lepaaugu. There were many camper caravan tourists who had set up their colony around the lake and along the road. I rode to Nõva and parked my bike next to the Nõva shop.

I saw Aivar and asked whether it would be possible to get coffee or even an omelette although the restaurant would open at 10AM, but I arrived at 9PM. Of course it was doable. He was semi-busy and we talked until 11AM and drank 2 coffees and ate an omelette. When I was about to leave the waiter told me the meal was free of charge. Thanks, it was a nice surprise. Aivar has multiple businesses in Nõva or elsewhere in Estonia and he is in charge of 30 people. That is a massive figure in a small community like Nõva. He mentioned that some long term unemployed people do not understand the concept of working and they rather find a way not to work at all. Somebody else, whether the local municipal social worker and support money or family members, will carry them through and give the necessary means. Some employees have been in prison, but slowly found the ground and meaning. Respect. 

Aivar seems to work on every  possible field and it should be common in small places. He is also one of the first voluntary rescue team leaders and the trained person in Estonia in the 1990’s. And he is still partly helping the voluntary rescue team, because Estonia has become just too skinny in terms of the potential of keeping the regular firefighter and paramedics on payroll in every corner of the country. Voluntary teams need to take the duties over otherwise nobody would keep the community safe. Additionally Aivar is catching fish in the early mornings and providing the fish to the restaurant and to the catering that runs in Nõva too. Amazing how super busy this man is. But somehow we both found this 2 hours, because we had a fascinating chat.

Aivar has lived his whole life here and he remembers the Soviet era when it was not allowed, only with special written permission, to go to the beach and swim. It was all a border area and even for local people, who were living right next to the beach, it was forbidden to go swimming and have boat rides. All boats were registered and the KGB was worried that Soviet people might escape from the workers paradise. At 11AM I participated in one project meeting where I was more or less a listener. I worked until noon and then left some tip for the girl in the restaurant and hit the road.

After 1.5 hours of quiet intense tennis, we took a shower and walked to the Herman café. Madis and Criss have a challenge, like many people give other people some challenges, to visit all the cafés and restaurants in Haapsalu in 2021. I ordered fish and chips and Hapsal beer. Life is very good. Soon Criss’ daughter joined us and we ate together. At 4PM we walked back to the tennis club and departed in different directions. I worked a bit on the club house terrace.

I rode to the Coop grocery store and bought a watermelon for kids. Madis is living just outside of Linnamäe village in Uuekärbla, which used to be an old manor. Kids were running around the house and little ones were crawling on the terrace floor. Madis has two boys and twin daughters. Madis showed his property and some future projects too, like a pond and a sauna. But what he did have was an old cellar from the era of the manor, a few hundreds years old limestone structure where it was nice and cool. There were even some jars of home made of jam and juice there. But one thing that Madis was very proud of was the little solar panel installation in the edge of the grassland.

Sinile and the kids harvested the strawberry field and got a box of delicious strawberries. Soon a neighbour and his son came by and boys ran to play around the yard. We set up the grill and prepared chicken and mushrooms. We ate all together on the terrace.

The night was so warm that we stayed outside on the terrace until 10PM. Soon started the rally of getting the kids to the beds. Boys were resisting it because they noticed that the party might go on until midnight and why should they be absent. But still before 11PM the calmness arrived and we drank green tea that was bought from Myanmar Wa province. Madis stayed there for a year and travelled in the area where officially it is still a civil war and I quess holding a world record of the longest civil war in the history of mankind. Well, not a nice record to hold to be honest. But people there were nice and Madis had a good time there. I brought some craft beer and Latvia cider to the table. We chatted until 1AM and then I went upstairs to set up my bed and sleep like a baby after another eventful day.

At 9AM I hugged Madis and he drove on his electric Nissan Leaf to nearby Haapsalu to work alongside Criss. I stayed another 2 hours and Sinile talked about her work in Red Cross. She has been in several places where there is an actual war, frozen conflict or it’s about to get bloody. Basically these locations are rarely designed for tourists. She has been in Colombia, Central Africa Republic, Cameroon, Azerbaijan and East-Jerusalem. In some cases Madis has followed her and tried to find some work nearby, but usually it is very difficult to find something for his qualification and after boys were born Madis’ role was to be more at home and support that way. But after Cameroon, where both boys were picking up some French already, Sinile got pregnant, they decided to be more stationary in Estonia. Before my chat with her I had a rather blurry understanding of Sinile’s job in Red Cross, but her job is to keep the Red Cross missions safe by talking with local tribe leaders, warlords and government officials. It is just remarkable that this skinny lady is sitting face-to-face with warlords wearing multiple weapons and convincing them that she is neutral and her job is to keep camps and convoys safe. It was a privilege to finally chat with her and understand the magnitude of her work. I also noticed her passion for languages and history. She speaks French, Spanish, German and English. She is treating history similarly like me - as a well of knowledge in order to understand the current behaviours of today’s people.

Madis and Sinile have also done amazing work to fully renovate the building that was built in the 1930's and was designed for a prayer house with high ceilings. But this building was never used for the original purpose, because the IIWW rolled over Estonia and Christian community was forced to mute their message and stop their activities, at least publicly. This spot was also a former small manor, but the main manor house has not survived, only some parts of stable and other buildings could still be found. It was very nice to stay with Madis and his lovely family and see their nest.

For me it was the time to move on and I packed my stuff on the bike again. I thanked and drove to Haapsalu to the Mesimoka café to catch up with my work and write my diary. At 1PM I went to get a massage like I’m used to on my Asian motorbike tours. My masseuse was Merike who treated my ass in a way that I could ride another few hundred kilometres. She was very open and talkative. I thanked and paid 35€ for the service. I headed to the shore to the Wiigi café and worked another few hours. I noticed a few raindrops came down from heaven, but no proper rain as such. 

I ordered coffee and enjoyed the nice view to the gulf called Little Viik. Seagulls screamed around a tiny island that was habited by the seagull colony. I have eaten in this café with my family many times before. I ordered Hapsal beer and ate creamy seafood soup that was very delicious. I had a longer talk with one of the Blendit employees, Eusebio, to figure out a solution for one project.  At 5.30PM I paid my bill and rode to Samaaria rehabilitation centre and met Mihkel Nõlvak who is leading this facility. This centre usually has 15 men, but currently there are only 8 men who have serious issues with alcohol and Samaaria centre will give these men a sense of meaning and perhaps a new direction in life through physical work. One of the many outputs of this centre is to produce firewood and prepare the containers for sale. Mihkel needed to finish one public tender related report. 

We drove to Haapsalu centre and bought some goods for the evening. It was my turn to pay the bill. We drove further west to Krabi village on the sea shore. Mihkel has renovated multiple buildings and built some new buildings too. Mihkel’s wife Kristiin was super busy with completing the college final exams. Her current challenge is to finish the local traditional embroidery, but this itself has already caused a lot of stress. Perhaps we could talk with her later on or tomorrow.

We prepared the food and I said grace and we ate and enjoyed the meal together. Kristiin was still wrestling with the embroidery, but I opened a bottle of Kombucha for her. Later we went with Kristiin to give food to the sheep and goats. Mihkel was trying to catch one animal to spray some healing medicine, but the sneaky and clever sheep recognized the trap and ran away each time. So, no luck tonight. Goats were bullies and blocked the passages for sheep and even knocked sheep. There seems to be a hierarchy in this little cattle. We went back indoors and I started to prepare myself for the night. I made my bed and did some writing. I had a shower and went to sleep at midnight.

These nets are designed for catching sea-bass, but we also got tiny other fish that we released from the net and threw back to the sea. Toomas had 3 locations that were marked by flags. Ultimately we got about 15kg of sea-bass. We were followed by the escort of seagulls and they were looking for these fish that we released back to water, but all of the sudden they all flew away in disarray and rather in panic. What happened, who are they afraid of? Toomas already knew it had to be an eagle, an osprey (Pandion haliaetus in Latin) who has a nest on an nearby uninhabited island. I looked to the sky and noticed the majestic flight of that eagle. This bird was surfing on winds and hardly waved the wings and was not disturbed by a little tern who tried to attack him. Perhaps the eagle flew too closely to the colony of the terns. But soon seagulls were back and almost tried to get the fish from the net. Toomas has been a fisherman many decades and they have got reasonable funding from the government for the harbour facilities. They have built a multi-purpose fishers’ house which has an ice machine, a freezer and other vital stuff for doing their work.

At 10PM Helen arrived with kids. It seems that the older brother spent a week with grandparents in Viimsi, just outside of Tallinn. I thanked and rode to the gas station and was able to fill 17 litres to my tank. I’m still not sure about the size of the tank, perhaps it is 23 litres, but I was reaching 240KM with one tank and decided not to take any chances. The sky turned dark blue and violet and it started to rain, but nothing serious and I got back to Krabi without being too wet. Mihkel came by and we talked about the day. I went to sleep at 11.30PM.

Thursday, July 8

At 5.13AM I had an early wake up call from my mother. Well, today is my birthday and she has been penalising me with this kind of early calls for the last 30 years or so, because this was the exact time when I was born and kept her awake back in 1978. After this call I went back to bed and woke at 8AM. I took a shower and looked out of the window - today it is raining and it will be a cloudy day. Soon Mihkel came in and greeted me and invited me to join the breakfast in the main building. We ate fried eggs and drank coffee. Mihkel’s wife Kristiin is a kindergarten teacher and during her summer break she is committed to finishing her studies and mostly practical assignments in the handcraft field. There was also a playful red cat called Jasper who was eager to get multiple meals, but to his disappointment only a handful of dry-food was served. Kristiin talked about her work and challenging kids and how to deal with some crazy situations. Mihkel showed some neat videos of the baby lambs playing around the yard and jumping on Kristiin and also on mother sheep. I thanked and went to work for a couple of hours.

At 2PM my wife Jaanika and daughter Mirjam arrived at the yard. Mihkel showed around a bit and continued cutting the grass. We decided to go swimming in near-by Topu harbour, because the cloudy and rainy weather had turned into lovely, shiny and warm weather. We drove through the narrow forest track to the harbour. There is no sandy beach and Mirjam decided not to walk on stones and didn’t swim at all. Well, I did, because it was a nice refreshment. Jaanika sun-bathed for 30 minutes. We drove to Haapsalu to Wiigi café where I had previously booked a table for us. We ordered delicious pastas and Jaanika had a poke bowl with tiger shrimps. Jaanika needed to send an important work related email while we waited for the main course so me and Mirjam decided to walk on the lovely promenade a bit and arrived back just on time when the meals were served to our table. Food was good and I paid around 26€.

Friday, July 09

I opened my eyes at 7AM and started to pack my stuff on the motorbike. It is all grey outside, no sunshine, but still not raining. I walked to the main building where Mihkel was already cooking porridge and helped myself with the coffee. Kristiin was still sleeping. The red cat Jasper showed up and demanded breakfast and got the desired food. We ate and talked until 8AM. We hugged and said goodbye. Mihkel went to Haapsalu to work in the Samaaria rehabilitation centre. 

All of the sudden it started to rain quite heavily and therefore I didn’t have to hurry to start rolling so I decided to be ready when the window of opportunity arrives to get going without substantial rain. I worked until 9.30PM and hurried to my bike, because the rain stopped and even the sun started to shine. I packed my remaining stuff and said goodbye to Kristiin only, because Mihkel had left earlier. Thank you for this opportunity to stay here for 3 nights and be in your company.

I saw Liina on the old Soviet motorbike and her two daughters were sitting in the side carriage. This was exactly the photo shoot I came here for, but they told me that at 7.45PM a parade of the Kihnu motorbikes would take place. I will get my shot for sure. Kihnu ladies are wearing the traditional colourful skirts called kört and they are wearing it all the time or at least for tourists. I thanked her for the tip and drove back to the port area and found Heldur and company not far away from the port.

They had surrounded their camping area with red and white tape and the tents were beneath tall pine trees. Heldur welcomed me to his clan and I found a spot for my tent. I needed to clean the forest bed from pine cones. Imagine how these cones would poke me and give me uncomfort feeling while trying to sleep. I decided to set up only the inner tent and did not bother to set up the roof part, because I expected a rainless and very hot night. 

There were 4-5 families with infants to teenagers. I drank multiple beers that night, I was not able to count them. I helped to set up the portable sauna that had even Ikea-like instructions with it on how to assemble the whole thing. Heldur made the wooden construction that needed to be covered with a green plastic sheet. There was a proper sauna heater which is heated with real wood and I needed to place the stones around the heater. I think the whole assembly took around an hour. We ate risotto that Heldur’s son prepared. We talked on several topics. I gave 20€ to Heldur’s wife who seemed to be in charge of the finances of the entire weekend.

At 7.30PM we rode to the centre, because all motorbikes from all ages would participate in the parade that would end up in the harbour in the very prominent spot in the front of the stage. The scenery was spectacular and it seemed the islanders really care about their motorbikes. Ladies wore the kört skirts and other traditional clothing. I was able to take a photo of Kihnu Virve who had a talk with Silvia who, in my knowledge, has moved to Kihnu from Canada. Kihnu Virve is such a legend that even the ferry is named after her. She is almost 100 years old, but still quite vivid. She started to sing the famous song Mere pidu (Sea's party in English) while she was sitting in the motorbike's side carriage and people around her immediately started to sing along. Quite amazing that she has written more than 200 songs and she will perform tonight too. I greeted her and wished her many years to come. The parade started with a loud noise and thick smoke caused by all bikes starting at once. 

Karolina, Heldur's 20 years old daughter, was my passenger and we joined the very end of the moving snake of the motorbikes. The parade cruised around the island to the port and people were cheering all bikers along the road and in their yards. Sometimes we needed to stop and help to push some old Soviet bikes to start the engine. We ended the parade in the harbour in front of the stage. Again people are very proud of their bikes, especially of the M-s, the Urals and the Izh-s. The whole enterprise was a unique cultural event. After motorbikes found their way out and the smoke disappeared the festival started with multiple performers. I made my way back to the nearby campsite.

The sauna was ready and around 60'C was the maximum the construction was able to keep within. But when we poured water on hot stones the hot steam provided a proper punch and we ran to the canal to cool down. The canal was deep enough to swim and was meant for smaller boats to dock. I donated 4 bottles of beer to the huge insulated box for all participants. I was not eager to see Karavan and instead I enjoyed the sauna. At one point I decided to swim all the way to the festival area and I was able to see the concert without paying. It was a cheeky move. Kihnu Virve was performing her famous songs. I swam back and felt quite exhausted, because these few hundred meter stretches notably underlined my poor swimming condition. We talked a bit more around the table and went to sleep at 2AM. 

Saturday, July 10

I woke at 8AM and had no hurry whatsoever, no agenda and nothing particular in mind. A strange state of mind, isn’t it? We ate breakfast and slowly set moving at 11AM. Some people were partying and dancing until 5AM - they definitely must have some sleep deficit. Merle, Heldur's sister in law, jumped on my bike and we drove to the lighthouse at the other end of the island. Sun was burning quite violently, but she was not keen to go to swim in a beach where the whole surface was a mix of bigger and smaller stones, no sand as such. I think we were there for about an hour and drove to the culture house where Risto Tamm set up the Jenny Cruze antique boutique, which was mostly just second-hand clothes, furniture and other stuff. Risto’s wife Anna was selling stuff and son Saamuel was just playing a mobile game.

At one stage the manager lady showed up and sat at my table and we talked for about an hour. Liina is in charge of the restaurant, shop and merchandise shop in Karuse house, but also acting as a guide for groups and dealing with the accommodation at her fathers house and in the surrounding yard. Summer is an exhausting period when this community works their asses off in order to survive the long non-holiday season, which is basically everything else than June, July and August. In the off-season they live in Pärnu. Liina has 2 wonderful children that she is driving around in the side-carriage of the recently renovated very bling Soviet era M. Her husband Teet came by too and brought me another beer. Again there is a good example of hard-working young people who are the true patriots of their community and willing to invest their money, time and energy. I thanked and drove back to our campsite and soon walked to the harbour bazaar. 

I bought earrings for my daughter and tableware made from juniper to Jaanika. There were no ATM-s on the island and I needed to be creative in order to solve the cashless situation. I asked one lady in the Info booth to give me 40€ in cash and I delivered the same amount of money to her bank account immediately using the LHV bank app, nice. Well, actually now I was able to pay for the merchandise, because most of the merchants didn’t have an option to pay using cards. 

Taukar is a very good artist and he is genuinely good communicator and honest with the crowd. A proper crowd pleaser for teenagers and for mid-age people too. After the show a dancing band came on stage and I went back to the camp and at 2PM went to sleep. 

Sunday, July 11

I woke up at 8AM and noticed that some of the people had already packed their tents. I started to pack my stuff too. Liina prepared me coffee. At 9PM everything was packed to my bike.  No losses this time I hope, at least I can't see my gear left behind. I brushed my teeth and did the last preparations. I said goodbye and thanked them for the hospitality and drove just around the corner to the harbour. But this time the guy with big walky-talky didn't give me much hope. He said he could accommodate my bike somewhere, but there can be only 200 passengers on the ferry, because they have only 200 life vests.

At 11AM most stuff was packed and people walked to the port and I drove to the centre and revisited Kurase bar where I asked whether they could prepare me 3 egg omelette although it was not in the menu. Of course it is possible, because there was no madhouse like it was yesterday afternoon. I drank coffee and wrote my diary. I found a plug and started to charge my laptop, because it almost ran out of juice. At noon I rode back to the camp site and soon back to the pier. This time I had a passenger's ticket and by that I hope to increase my chance to get to the ferry. Heldur had a spare ticket with a twist. Some kids will be hiding in the van beneath some stuff. The sun was shining again very brightly, but generally it was a bit cooler due some breeze. The island dog was back and spent some time under my bench benefiting from the shade. Soon the ferry arrived and a few cars and a lot of foot and bicycle passengers stormed out like from the beach craft landing in a beach fight. I noticed the guy with a big walky-talky and informed that I now have a passenger's ticket and soon the same man waved as a sign to embark the ferry. And also the van drove onto the ferry and the illegal immigrants were not found. That was a huge relief.

Merle was happy to get the picture with Karl Erik Taukar and I talked a bit with keyboard player Tomi Rahula. Ferry started its twisted journey to the mainland at 1.15PM, so like 15 minutes sooner that the initial plan. I went upstairs to the restaurant, but I was not interested in anything they had to offer. I sat among our camp people and witnessed the weird route of the ferry, because of the shallow waters ferry needed to stay in the zig-zag path. Ok, some of the passengers were also very drunk and rather weird. It took an hour to cross the water and arrive at Munalaiu port. We said goodbye again and I started my trip to the south. Almost immediately I was slowed down by the road works, but some stretches were just loose crushed limestone and dusty. It was very challenging to drive on it even on my bike and I caused a proper traffic jam behind me. After 10 kilometers this torture was over and I rode through Audru to Valgeranna beach. 

There is one stretch of beach that is very close to the road. That suited me perfectly, because I don't want to leave my gear too far from me. The beach was not too crowded. I swam a couple of times, but mostly just rested on the blanket. I made a phone call to my father in law and tried to understand why our Volvo decided not to start in Jõelähtme yesterday. Jaanika and Mirjam spent part of the day in Jaanika's parents place, where me and Jaanika lived before, and they had a plan to drive to a nearby concert venue, but Volvo did a trick and didn’t start the engine. Luckily we had more cars available in the yard. Later Volvo started without any problem, a weird situation. So we all had concerts last night. I stayed at the beach for around an hour and continued my way to the main summer resort Pärnu and more precisely at 4.30PM to a café called Supelsaksad.

I needed to wait a bit and soon Risto arrived with his wife Anna and son Saamuel. I dragged my gear inside and we made plans for the night. First Anna and Risto prepared dinner. Saamuel ran outside to play with his friend. We ate salad, potatoes and baked chicken. Soon we went to a sauna that almost housed two tall guys like me and Risto. Later Saamuel joined too. We talked about different topics in random order. We touched topics like his studies in the university, teaching in school, relationships, religion and history. And also the purpose of Jenny Cruze. I think he phrased it rather nicely - a second hand shop is providing the means for keeping the two mast almost 80 years old wooden ship floating. And this ship will serve the Pärnu county community. 

But recently a disaster struck and the usually very reliable Volvo engine has stopped working in a very oily and splashy fashion and needs full engine renovation. And most probably this ship will not cruise around Pärnu bay this summer. We drank beer and sat on the terrace. Risto was divorced and found Anna from Moscow. It seems Anna has found a way to Saamuel’s heart too. Anna is working in the Jenny Cruze second-hand store and can speak simple Estonian already. Risto was asked to start the store and he planned to stay only 2 weeks for doing that, but he has stayed for 7 years since that. Soon we started to watch European Championship finals in football. Italy won the trophy in the end on penalties, it was a tight game against England. Risto was very vocal and rather fanatic when the Italians came close to scoring. That was fun to watch too. Anna prepared a bed in Saamuel’s room and I slept like a baby. 

Monday, July 12

I woke up at 8AM and Risto was already preparing breakfast. I made a a static picture of Risto and his family around an old round table, perhaps the table set the tone for the photo. I thanked Risto and Anna for the hospitality they provided.

Risto and Anna went ahead, Saamuel stayed home and I drove to Pärnu. I filled up my petrol tank and met a solo rider from Latvia on the way to Nordkapp. I drove to the yacht club and I easily found Jenny Cruze. Soon Risto arrived after he had dropped Anna off at the second-hand store. We climbed down to the deck of this 80 years old wooden ship.

In Jõesuu I saw a sign for Tori Cider Farm and I turned onto small roads that eventually led me to a magnificent farm. There were multiple fields of apple and pear trees and in the middle of it there was a long barn type building that was converted into a restaurant and a manufacture. A lovely lady came to the door - Veranika is the co-owner of the farm. She poured me multiple small doses of different ciders to choose the one from. Eventually I bought one bottle for my wife too. I hope it will not burst out and flood my motorbike box. Veranika was born in Estonia, but her mother came from Belarus many decades before. It was very nice to talk with her. She even poured some cider directly from the shiny aluminium and in a way robust container where the magic actually happens. Soon she needed to run away and left me with a glass of cider and I found shade under a birch where I also dragged a table and a chair to.

At 4PM I got the comforting message from Aivar Ruukel that his place is only 6 minutes away from where I was, because so far I was relying on memory and approximate location of Saarisoo, but there were multiple Saarisoos around Soomaa. I drove to the bank of Navesti river and parked the bike in the yard of an old farm. It took me some effort to find Aivar in his vast territory that is his parents’ farm. He was building another boat that is in Estonian haabjas or ühepuulootsik or in English Dugout Canoe or in Creek Monoxylon. Basically  you need a whole trunk of aspen or linden and you need to carve out the boat.

Soon Aivar took me to the river of Navesti on one  finished product. The boat was painted black by tar and was still a bit sticky, but some water found a way in, but not much and our boat was floating perfectly. The seats were twice lower than I’m used to in canoes and I needed to ass-balance my every move on the water. Soon I felt confident and was not afraid to roll over. We paddled upstream a bit and passed Aivar’s neighbour who is a boy-scout leader Asso Kommer, who has a rather controversial past in the 1990s. He was involved in a bizarre firearm conflict, where he was the head of the home made militia and defended a garrison against Estonian military. And he has been in prison and even escaped at least once from jail. He is living a rather quiet life now. The horseflies were really annoying, but generally I got the experience of riding a wooden canoe. I have a plastic canoe back in Jõelähtme. 

This kind of wooden vessels are still in use on rivers in Maryland, Utmurtia and Komiland and similar rural areas deep in Russia. And it was very common here too, but this culture disappeared with people who started to preferred other means of transport. Aivar was lucky that he had older relatives that had the skills and tools of this craft to build such boats. So, due Aivar’s link to the previous generations, this skill and dugout canoe culture on these Soomaa rivers will continue. Another thing that was different from my plastic canoe was the weight. It took relatively a lot of effort to drag the wooden boat out of the water and to the shade of the tall birch on the bank of Navesti river. The weight comes from the wood itself and the fact the canoe is mostly 2CM thick. I thanked Aivar and rode on. He needs to visit Russian Embassy in Tallinn in order to apply for Russian visa. His wife Ljudmilla is from Udmurtia in Russian Federation and they plan to visit relatives there. They have lovely twin teenage daughters too. Aivar said he is living in Pärnu and goes to work in Soomaa as tour guide and promoter of Soomaa in general. He loves this type of life.

I set up my tent and saw that I had a family from Tallinn camping as neighbours. I witnessed a colorful sunset at 10.30PM. I decided not to use the additional roof and use only the inner tent that has a net as the roof to let light and air in. When I eventually closed myself into the tent I started to hear sounds all around me. I clearly heard swans right in front of my tent in the shallow water when they were searching for food. Also there was an audio backdrop of crickets, birds and frogs. At the distance towards Kihnu I saw violent lightning and even sometimes heard the roaring noise too. But I hope rain will not reach my shore. At midnight I went to sleep.

Tuesday, July 13

At some point during the night I started to feel rain coming through the net-type roof of the tent. Bloody hell, it was really raining, luckily the rain wasn’t really heavy and I had the outer tent right next to me and I just dragged it on top of my tent to secure the situation. At 9AM I started to slowly pack my stuff and at 10AM I participated in the Meet call and led the meeting. Eventually it turned very technical and I muted my microphone and I was able to pack all my stuff to my bike during this meeting. I said bye-bye to my neighbour's campers and hit the road to Audru, where I tried to find a place to eat breakfast, but without any luck. On the way to Virtsu I got shelter from the rain in a bus stop booth. I googled Lihula for a massage and found one. She had just had a laid-back day and I booked an appointment at noon. I drove to Lihula and got a 2 hours of massage by Merike. Life is good again. Cost was 40€. I had a plan to eat in the same café that I visited on the way south, but I noticed a dark blue or purple cloud over Lihula and decided to start driving immediately towards west where the sky was much lighter. 

I was lucky to get on board without any waiting and the ferry departed at 2.40PM. Passenger’s and motorbike ticket was all together 6.4€. I went upstairs to the café and ate fish sandwich and seljanka soup. That was my first meal of the day and it was good. Ferry trip took only 30 minutes. I drove directly to Liiva, which is the certal settlement of Muhu island. Just before Liiva I passed a yellow VW beetle and I signalled the driver 3 times. The driver was Kai, but somehow she already noticed me in Virtsu when I onboarded to ferry and she was not surprised or shocked by my behaviour. I will visit Kai and Tõnis later on. First I needed to turn to the shop and I bought a watermelon and a few local Muhu beers. As I somehow managed to squeeze the bottles into my bags, the watermelon was just too big and I needed to drive with it between my legs like in India or elsewhere where they have developed certain skills. On the way out the Liiva Coop store I said hello to Estonia’s 3rd president and his wife. I think Arnold Rüütel must be 95 years old or around there. Lovely site. I think this kind of happening is unimaginable in bigger countries. But I suppose this is what I love about Estonia, regular people will see superstars and presidents in the grocery stores. I rode a bit slower than usual, because I had a watermelon between my legs and arrived at Tõnis’ place south from Liiva. Kai just arrived before me. Today is Itti’s 3rd birthday and the watermelon is for the kids. I made a motorbike trip to the same place 2 months ago too. Kids were swimming with their grandmother Taimi in the pool and the dog was very excited that there was a new person to play with. 

We ate burgers and burritos that Tõnis’ mother Taimi and Kai went to buy from Liiva. I got a goat cheese burger and it tasted rather good and there was no need for regular beef. Taimi is also a Blendit accountant and finally I saw her in person, so far I haven’t met face to face. At 8PM younger children were forced to go to sleep, because they will have kindergartener tomorrow. Kõu is 7 and he is graduating from kindergarten this summer and going to school in the fall. Uku is a teenager and can stay up until late evening. I made friends with cool looking chickens and hand-fed them. The rooster was more alert and kept his distance from me. Perhaps he thought my intent was to take over his chicken?

We had a longer talk with Tõnis in the yard when the sun was not that hot. It turned out he and Kai divorced in the end of May. So, that was one topic and also we talked about Blendit stuff too.

Wednesday, July 14

I opened my eyes at 8.30AM and packed my stuff onto the bike. I had a relatively ok night, but the airbed was missing some ribs and it was just a bit uncomfortable, but generally ok. We ate breakfast. Tõnis prepared a smoothie power shot from ginger, apple, banana and some secret ingredients and Taimi fried bacon and eggs. The eggs are coming from the chicken I fed yesterday. Tõnis needed to hurry to the dentist and we said goodbye. I talked a bit with Kai too and thanked her for the hospitality.

I rode all the way to Saaremaa’s capital Kuressaare and I stopped at the nice central area that is designed for pedestrians and cars need to reduce the speed down to 10 KM/H. Before entering the town I filled up the tank again and I managed to put 14 litres there. The café’s name is Pritsumaja and I sat there from 11.20AM until 3PM. It was a fruitful time working and keeping up with the journal. I asked for coffee although they said they will open at noon, later I ordered a seljanka soup and dark beer. At one point Illimar Tambek walked by and we talked about his current life and my trip. We founded a company, a SaaS called Sliptree.com for creating invoices, 10 years ago. Now Illimar is handling this himself and has moved to Kuressaare from Tallinn. Just amazing, 10 years ago we did a pitch on the stage of the startup weekend event Garage48. I was sitting at the edge of the café in order to be as close as possible to my bike, because I don’t want to unload much and later pack again. On many occasions I saw old cars cruising by, I think the same cars were doing the loops like in Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. But they definitely got my attention - just beautiful cars from the 40s and 50s and still running. 

Again I needed to ride in the middle of the road construction, but in Salme I decided to choose another road, but soon I discovered it too was a dusty gravel road, but more exciting to explore inland roads for a change. Gravel road soon ended and the nice twisty asphalt road continued, but to my ego boost and cleverness, there were also road constructions and I even needed to stop for 10 minutes. I drove towards the north and passed Kaarma and Leisi villages. I reached the north coast of Saaremaa and found my way to RMK as the Forest Department forest hut. This hut is close to Triigi port, where I will take the ferry to Hiiumaa tomorrow. I needed to drive a very twisty asphalt road which turned to a smaller 2 track gravel road and in the end almost single track and bumpy road. The exposed roots, that criss-crossed the road,  gave the ride an extra touch.

The hut was empty and not occupied, nice. I’m not able to book such huts around Estonia, there is a rule - first come, occupy first. And this Spartal hut is free of charge for all hikers. Soon I noticed a Voyager parked almost at the beach. This belongs to a fisherman that is dealing with the nets in the shallow bay. Well, this beach is unswimmable, because it is a very shallow stone beach, but also it stinks a bit of the Algae. I set myself to the hut. It is a very basic house, with a table, benches and stove. Also I noticed a spear salt and firewood, but not matches. I decided to check another side of this peninsula in order to find a sandy beach, but no luck. Same shallow stone beach all around. I wrote my diary as long as my laptop battery lasted. 

Mirjam made a video call and she was exploring alone in Tallinn and more precisely the Wismar park. I showed her my place as well. Tomorrow we will meet. Again I saw a spectacular sunset and soon it was dark. It turned out the local fisherman was on the bay with his wife and son. They got 5KG of Sea-Bass. They gave me a lighter and I was able to light the fire. There is a special metal fireplace in the hut. I walked back to the shore and heard the noises. The soundscape contained swans flapping their wings against the surface of the water when they started to lift off. Also I heard geese and smaller birds, but at the other side of the bay I heard cuttle and ox making a roaring noise that echoed across the bay. Again it was a very calm night without any wind. At midnight I went to sleep.

Meanwhile, Mirjam had found new friends - two twin sisters, Laura and Lisete, and Maria. They ran around the port territory. I found a previous photo of Maria and Mirjam in Hiiufolk in 2018. Both of them were very surprised to see this photo, I guess none of them remembered that at all. Well, these girls teased and ran away from boys, swang and jumped into the beanbags. Perfect childhood. 

There was a hilarious situation too in the small vessels harbour. I think one flip-flop was dropped into the harbour water and one lady took her shirt and shorts off and jumped after it into the water. I recognised her, Rutt Vardja, but couldn't remember the new family name after her marriage. I walked to the bridge and dragged this half naked lady out of the water. I believe she wasn’t be able to drag herself out of the water herself, the bridge was just too high for her to reach. Remarkable was that she said to her daughter, who presumably has lost the flip-flop, that this is how much she loves her daughter and is willing to do whatever it takes. Her husband wasn’t too far from the epicenter of the happening, but he didn’t seem to be worried at all and perhaps he sees his wife’s spontaneous and sometimes irrational actions all the time.

Just before midnight Puuluup finished the concert and with it the first festival day. I talked to the twin’s mother and she promised that these girls will appear in the Kassari venue as well in upcoming days. It was still amazingly warm, 21’C. We drove in the queue of cars to Käina, because people started to drive in the same direction at the same time. We washed our feet and went to bed. It was a long and emotional day. Sweet dreams.

Friday, July 16

I woke up a bit earlier than the others, because there was an annoying fly in the room and the fly kept on trying to just walk on me. I took my phone and went out to the balcony. The sun is already burning and it was nice to let it happen. At 8AM Mirjam and Jaanika woke up and we went to eat breakfast down stairs in the pub. We sat outdoors on the terrace. Mirjam ate porridge in 50:50 ratio with jam and I sang her a punk song: Porridge is not important, jam is the main thing. In the original it was written by Generator M and it was: Disko pole oluline, punk on põhiline - roughly into English - Disco is not important, punk is the main thing. After that she added some more jam on top of the porridge. I stayed on the terrace a bit longer and worked and wrote a diary. Mirjam went back to the room to watch cartoons and Jaanika did some work too, because she has the last day at work before she starts to enjoy vacation.

At 10AM I had a short Meet call with Jay in the Philippines. Mirjam came by and said hi to Jay and after the call we decided with Mirjam to ride around Käina on my bike. We didn’t wear helmets and we took smaller roads around our accommodation and ended up in the ruins of Käina church. The gates were open and we walked in. There was a lady called Virve who was sitting in the renovated part of the church and the chapel part has a roof. She started to talk about the fate of the church in 1941 when the retrieving Soviet troops, who were stationed in the tower of the church, opened fire on an anti-aircraft gun towards a passing German Stuka plane. The plane turned around and hit the bomb in the middle of the church. The church hasn’t been renovated since, only partly preserving some walls or covering by roof some parts of the church. Legend has it that the very pilot came later to the church and asked for forgiveness because he destroyed the beautiful building. Virve was talkative and revealed that she has 4 children and 18 grandchildren. Mirjam lit a candle and set it to the niche in the wall right next to the cross. What a lovely lady. We walked around a bit there, thanked her and cruised back to Rannu’s guesthouse.

We arrived at 6.30PM and our main interest today as far as the line-up was concerned, was a vocal sextet called Estonian Voices. This was the first time I saw them on stage and they were really good. It is just amazing how they fill the stage without any instruments besides their own voices. Kadri Voorand has a kind of magical or mythological power and her energy spreads to everybody watching their show. Mirjam found her friend Maria and they soon had their own business to do. This festival is very family friendly  and I don’t need to worry about her safety for a second. She has been running around alone since she was 3 years old. One factor is for sure there are no drunk people that kids might be afraid of and somehow the venue itself is quite compact and once we established our base camp, meaning set up our chairs and blanket, she knows where to find us at any time. Festival’s organiser Astrid has strictly kept the festival alcohol free and I think it pays off in the long run as the society progresses in parallel. There are plenty of choices of fancy non-alcoholic drinks, including mojitos and other shakes.

We happened to talk with Enn and Anneli Veevo who are proper islanders. Many people have summer houses in Hiiumaa and they spend 2-3 months or less in Hiiumaa, but the rest of their life happens in Tallinn or elsewhere on the continent. But the Veevos actually live in Tubala, that is just outside of Kärdla, all the time and sometimes on the weekends go to the mainland and due to this fact alone they travel against the pattern of the tourists who are travelling in the opposite directions. Enn is dealing with electronics and Anneli is working in the Kärdla’s library. In the food court Jaanika bought a poke bowl and I went for a kebab roll and later we also bought smoked sea-bass. Later in the evening the main act was Svjata Vatra and they had brought along an Ukranian ladies choir called Zhurba in their traditional dresses. There is a significant Ukranian minority population in Estonia and these musicians are very much Estonians, but at the same time kind of ambassadors for the Ukrainian culture. 

Reluctantly Mirjam agreed to discontinue her play with Maria for tonight at 11PM and we promised we would come to the venue sooner tomorrow. In our accommodation we washed our feet and went to sleep at midnight.

After leaving the beach we decided not to drive to the nearby lighthouses because we had been there before and started to drive toward Kärdla. In Reigi we thought that perhaps we should take a look at the miniature Eiffel tower that is made of timber and people can climb to the top of it. I remember 15 years ago I visited this site and the guy who constructed it was depressed, because the local government was forcing him to tear it down, because the construction didn’t have any permission and it was considered to be very dangerous to climb on. Of course I made a portrait of this guy and climbed to the very top of it. It seems they have overcome the issues and the site has become a mass tourist attraction. The narrow gravel road that led to the site had even traffic jams. We decided to just look at this work of art from the car window and not stop there at all. We stopped in Viigri café in Kärdla that is nothing special, but again has some sentimental value for us, because we have made stops here in recent years too. At 2PM we left Kärdla and drove down to Käina where we changed clothes and had an hour off for cartoons or something else. At 3.30PM we drove to Kassari where the sun was burning relentlessly and we looked for a shade, but it was kind of difficult to find a spot where you can see the stage and at the same time be in the shade.

Also I saw many people from Credo choir. Me and Jaanika met the choir conductor Riina Tikenberg in the food court and had a chat a few hours earlier. Eenok, Andres, Rutt, Lisanna and other choir members are mostly from different churches in Tallinn and I used to hang out with them a lot. Eenok presented an idea to have a beach volleyball game tomorrow. I have played volleyball and even participated in tournaments with many of the choir members for many many years. Soon I walked back to the concert area.

We went our separate ways, most of the players needed to prepare themselves for the Credo choir concert in Reigi church and Mari and Gina, Mari’s German friend, decided to go swimming in Orjaku harbour at the south tip of Kassari. I went back to my accommodation and straight to the shower, because the sweaty and sticky sand was just awful. I even decided not to wear a shirt nor helmet on the short drive to accommodation. I packed my stuff on my bike, checked out and said goodbye to the people in the bar. I rode to Orjaku harbour to meet Mari and Gina and basically soon started to ride to Kuriste Orthodox church where Heinavanker and the priest conducted a ceremony that was a traditional Orthodox service and prayers and Heinavanker sang.

Margo Kõlar, who I met yesterday, led the small choir. I took a few pictures of the service or concert. The church was packed with listeners. I saw Astrid too and learned that I needed to adjust my plans, because Astrid can’t accommodate me tonight. Most probably the last concert and hanging around will continue until very late at night and she will be dead tired after this. I've promised to myself to be flexible and this was the moment to be agile and swiftly make necessary changes. Gina and Mari said that they have booked a table in Ungru restaurant in Suuresadam at 3.30PM. So I was hungry and the company looked promising and they asked me to join them. It was only a 30 minutes drive from the concert venue to the restaurant. I ordered a pesto pasta, beer and later green pea halwa for dessert. It was all very delicious and the bill was 21€. I stayed in the restaurant a bit longer writing my diary and Mari dropped Gina to Heltermaa port. Gina will go back to Tallinn. Gina used to work with Mari in TransferWise and they have been friends for 6-7 years. I rode to Kärla and filled the tank with 15 litres of petrol. I’m not sure when I would run out of petrol, the worst would be discovering it in the middle of Hiiumaa where there are no gas stations. I continued my ride to Kärdla church.

There were already a lot of people waiting in the queue to purchase a ticket. I needed to buy an extra ticket for 5€ when I showed my festival wristband. Another queue was for entering the church and grabbing the seat, but luckily Mari was so quick that she drove to port and further to the church and was able to enter the church and put her stuff to the bench in order to occupy multiple seats before the masses arrived. At 6.45PM the last concert of this year’s Hiiufolk started and it was in memory of Jaak Johanson. 

Jaak Johanson was a famous folk artist and every year performer at Hiiufolk too and therefore it was appropriate to gather his friends, family and musicians and properly say goodbye to him because he passed away in February in the lockdown environment. There was a long lineup of artists that performed a few songs including his brothers and sister Johansons, Tõnis Mägi, Mari Kalkun, Ain Agan, Riho Sibul, Astrin Nõlvak and many others. Many of the people had tears in their eyes. I suppose that is very normal and part of the longer process of grief, where the intimate songs that have been written by Jaak brought out the memories and emotions. Another factor might be that due the lockdown in February, when Jaak passed away, it was not possible to gather and cry on each-other’s shoulders and now after 6 months it opened the wounds again. Nonetheless the speeches and music was very touching.The concert ended just before 10PM, but I’m pretty sure it continued in some other form in a nearby pub. 

I decided to use the daylight and ride a bit further to the west to Tõrvanina beach. At 10.15PM my camp was all set and I sat on the blanket at the beach and wrote my diary. The colourful sunset and the rolling waves were my company until 11PM. I went to sleep knowing that this is my last night in Hiiumaa and in the westside of Estonia in general.

The mastermind behind this house building project is Rainer Nõlvak who founded one of the first internet and email services in Estonia in the 1990-s called Microlink Baltics and is mostly known as the initiator of Let’s Do It! World which is has grown out from Let’s Clean Up Estonia in 2008 to a global mass civil cleaning actions called The World Cleanup Day. I also remember he was driving a Porsche Cayenne while he was a green activist and he was joking about the fact too. He was also pushing himself to the limit in triathlon training and participating in Ironman competitions. Unfortunately, he was very busy with ongoing online meetings in another house nearby and we were not able to meet at all. OK, back to the house. Astrid’s husband Rainer was really obsessed that all the possible materials would come from Hiiumaa or from their own land. So, they dug a pond and used the clay for covering the walls. Reed is also cut from the shore nearby. The timber was also cut from the same forest, prepared in Viljandi and shipped back as building material to Hiiumaa. Some of the logs are over 100 years old and have been reused from an old barn that stood on this land. I think you got the philosophy already. 

We talked on different topics and also highlighted some of the events of Hiiufolk. Also talked about grief and yesterday’s concert that was organised for Jaak Johanson’s memory. Marie asked where Mirjam was, she seemed to miss her. We need to set up a meeting in Tallinn for these girls. I gave a guesthouse key to Astrid that she will drop back to Käina, because she will go there anyway and I had to hurry somewhat in order to manage to board the ferry. The funny thing was that when I checked out on Sunday I said the key was hanging in the front of my room’s door, but actually it was with the substantial wooden pear-shape keychain in my pocket. We hugged and said goodbye.

I started my way to Heltermaa port and boarded easily and set sail at 4PM. I met a lonely rider Matis from Valmiera. He did a loop in Hiiumaa and he was on the way back to Latvia. I worked a bit while I was in the ship’s café. I was able to book a massage in Lihula. I met Mati Lohu in Virtsu who was visiting Kärdla and attending only Hiiufolk's Sunday concerts. I used to play tennis and hiked in Saaremaa with him. He is a fascinating and rather mysterious guy. He is a doctor in the field of radiology and he took a year off as a sabbath year and has done very simple jobs during this year. He will be working as a security guard in Viljandi Folk festival. I might go to Viljandi as well, but let's see how this will work out. I rode directly to Lihula and to the massage table and got proper treatment from Merike. She gave me 1.5 hours of wellness this time, which cost 35€. 

At 8PM I realised that all the smaller grocery stores were closed and Margus urged me not to shop for anything. I drove through smaller settlements like Märjamaa and Rapla on the roads that I usually avoid. Margus lives just outside of Kohila and I arrived at his place at 9.15PM. My first expression was that the house and its habitants are from the famous Astrid Lindgren’s  Pippi Longstocking story. Margus came to welcome me and there were also 2 big dogs. One guy played electric guitar in the yard, one little boy was running around the yard that was not Margus' son, but his friend’s son instead and his friend had a Chinese girlfriend Poona, who was not the boy's mother. First it was a messy situation, but after Margus explained that his friends just live here because he has a big house and plenty of room. Margus showed his 1980-s Honda that had some sort of electrical sickness currently and therefore Margus does not have trust in this bike for going for longer rides. 

I also got a good IPA from Tanker tap. Also I got a Mari cake that Mari from Kohila made just before she gave birth the next day. It seems everything has a story behind. We enjoyed the warm night until 11PM and thanked the crew who were exhausted from the long working day. Perhaps we will do our - mine and Jaanika’s - combined birthday here this year. We drove perhaps 200 meters and went to the sauna. Margus lives in this house and his wife Liisi lives mostly in the other house where the restaurant is. Interesting arrangements to be honest, but it seems it works for them. Liisi’s daughter is 17-18 years old, works in this restaurant and kind of became a daughter to Margus too. Modern relationships. 

The sauna was very basic, but worked and had a kick inside. We have played badminton with Margus for years and now we had more time than usual to discuss different matters. Margus has been the local municipality leader and works in the field of law. He is also an entrepreneur and he has done investments into several areas. We also discussed relationships and how to manage complicated family affairs and also how to cope with the grief. We walked to the river Keila 3 times in the middle of darkness and I think the nude journey was 500 meters back and forth. The river was about 1.5 meters deep and was nice and cool. We ended our sauna session at 2.30AM and I was sleeping on the couch in the living room.

Tuesday, July 20

I woke up at 8AM when Poona was doing something in the kitchen. Margus was still sleeping and I started to pack my stuff into my bike. The dogs were up and running too and were very eager to play. I threw them a tennis ball or piece of wood. At one point the ball dropped out from its mouth and I started to grab the ball and threw it further, but one of the dogs made a move to stop me and bit my thigh. That was a proper bite and I saw at least two big holes in my jeans and blood was running. Bloody hell, I started to swear and yell because of the pain. That woke Margus up and he rushed to treat me in the kitchen. I sat on the sofa in the kitchen and while I was cleaning the wound, I started to see 3 parallel movies all blurred together. Margus was freaked out by my pass out and thought perhaps I had an attack of epilepsy. Soon I recovered and continued the treatment and I didn’t know how long I watched the blurry movie. It seems the pain switched off my mind for protecting me like modern electronics do in extreme conditions.

So, we were both in our underwear and still in a bit of a state of shock. Soon the dog came to the kitchen to settle the issue with sniffing and licking. I'm sure it was also amazed by what happened, because it was entirely a situation of play, perhaps it was used to play rough games with other dogs. We reconciled with each-other, nothing personal. Margus gave me some spear tape and bandages to treat the deep hole in my flesh. Eventually there was one serious hole and some minor scratches. I decided it was not worth it to see the doctor, because there was no need for stitches. We walked to the river and one dog ran alongside us and swam in the river Keila where we swam in pitch-balck darkness yesterday. We went back to the kitchen and ate sandwiches. Poona prepared coffee and later Margus made mate tea. He is slowly building this enormous house and bit-by-bit it turns more liveable. I have planned to visit Margus here and have these longer talks for some time already, but eventually it all worked out rather nicely. 

At 11AM we said our goodbyes and I started the ride south. Soon it started to rain and I tried to avoid the very dark purple clouds, but eventually it was only a few drops, nothing serious. I decided to take a bit longer route that would lead me through places that I usually do not visit. I rode through Rapla and made a coffee stop in Järvakandi, where Tõnis’ ex-wife Kai is living now. She was in Pärnu currently. I sat in the only café in Järvakandi and worked. Järvakandi is a very quiet settlement, absolutely still, nothing happens here. Perhaps a perfect place to raise kids.

Jaan Tootsen and his father in law welcomed me at the gates of a house where Jaan and his family stay in the summertime. His family has driven somewhere else and he had the whole day for work. I dropped part of my gear to the house and Jaan jumped to the backseat of my bike. He went through an obvious self-transcendence, because he frantically held my shoulders and assisted not to drive faster than 30KM/H. He seems to have some childhood trauma caused by motorbikes. But he was brave, because we reached the ruins of Helme church, which is a 3KM journey.

I know Jaan Tootsen from 1993 boy scout camp in Norway, where we were in the same tent and later we were in the same host family. A lot of good memories from this 2 week adventure in Norway. Jaan went to the university to study radio work and he wrote his thesis on the subject related mostly to an Estonian intellectual Uku Masing. Uku Masing was dead by then and he needed to dug the information about this rebel-minded, definitely anti-communist, philisopher, poet, theologian, historian and in a sense intellectual all-rounder like DaVinci. His friend was Evald Saag as a living source of knowledge about Uku Masing and he too turned out to be an extraordinary character and these audio recordings started a radio broadcast and podcast Ööülikool (Night University in English). Ööülikool just celebrated its 20th anniversary and 500 episodes of more than 300 Estonian prime thinkers. To preserve such a massive amount of thoughts is an achievement itself. Another dimension is that around 20 people have already passed away, but left an immortal imprint to the future knowledge seekers. 

I told Jaan I had heard all the episodes, because I’m very much an audiophile. We also discussed the phenomenon of Evald Saag. He was an amazing story teller and his stories were amazing too. Sometimes this polyglot, theologian, historian and wise man told stories on the border of truth and fiction. And it turns out in some cases he was full of shit, he said he studied in Sorbonne university and what amazing people he met there. Some scholars are trying to find evidence for that with no results. Why on earth he made up some of the stories, what would be the purpose of that? Evald was a mysterious man. But mostly he spoke about true stuff with amazing and colourful details. Jaan is also a documentary film maker and I have seen most of them and found his angle of view quite telling. In order to do a proper documentary the film maker should cross the border of comfort and norm in order to bring out the essence of the person and the sub-culture in question.

Jaan has 3 major blocks nowadays - Ööülikool, documentary films and family. He is very happy to do meaningful and long lasting broadcasts and he finds it very demoralising to do news that expires on the same or next day. He admires people who are good at making the news, but he would not cope with the short-term-ness of it. He is interested in sensing people and how people feel the world around them. We rode back to Tõrva and thanked him for the 2 hours he found. There is always something to do, but I hope he had as much fun and thrill as I did. At 6PM I continued my ride to Valga.

I bought watermelon and sweets for the kids and red wine and special lemonade for adults. Kristi lives in the apartment building on the Estonian side of the split city. I knew Kristi when we were teenagers and she used to sing in our hip-hop band. She has lived here her whole life except the years when she lived in Tallinn and in Tartu and studied in the universities to become an elementary school teacher. Her husband Veiko is still working on the construction site near Tõrva and he is building a house for a client alone. Their kids are Ristten 4, Anette 10 and Lisette 16 years old. Kristi cooked dinner and we ate together. At 8PM Veiko arrived as well and we talked about their life in Valga and my journey. Kristi works in the school as a terapeut or some sort of a religious advisor for kids and serving partly in the hospital as religious advisor. They have a long term project to finish the house that is nearby, but still the interior works are ongoing and therefore it’s not possible to move in yet. 

The small flat is vibrating because of the jumping and playing of kids. Veiko proposed to go to swim in the dam lake on Pedeli river. Kristi stayed home because she caught a cough from the car’s AC a few days ago when they crossed the whole of Estonia to get home again. We drove to the Latvian side and reached a very nice lake. Girls immediately ran to the shore and took the rope and catapulted themselves to the water and swam to the other side of the lake and back. I was amazed by their capability of swimming and thought I would not be able to swim across this lake, I would run out of energy due to my wasteful technique or lack of it and drown for sure. 

During the lockdown the twin-city had an exception that both citizens were allowed to cross the border without any restrictions, I suppose you needed to carry ID with you only for random check. We drove back to Kristi’s home. We opened the wine and we talked about several topics including history. Kristi watched TV and Lisette was eager to talk with me and Veiko. I asked what her major interests were and she replied astronomy, history and conspiracy theories. Other kids were playing PC games. We were upright until 1AM.

Wednesday, July 21

I woke up at 7AM because Veiko started to work on the computer and prepared his breakfast in the kitchen. And then he went to work. I also worked and then decided to go for a walk, because other members of the family were still sleeping. I walked to the Maxima store near the railway station and got from the parcel machine some clean clothes that Jaanika shipped from the other side of Estonia. It took only a day to reach me. This railway station has a rather embarrassing memory too. It was in the mid 90-s when I was a teenager and I was in Tartu railway station. I was on the way home to Tallinn and jumped into the train and enjoyed my ride without paying any attention to the terrain around me and the stations passing by. I think I was sitting in the restaurant train car. But when the loudspeaker announced that this was the end of my journey and welcome to Valga, I was in total shock. What, did I take the wrong train? Well, I spent a few hours in Valga and took another train to Tallinn. Still remember this episode of my life and still occasionally I pick some wrong flights.

But in general it seems to be still very much a split city despite the openness and borderless environment. Finally I found a cafe on Valga's side and I sat in front of Carl's cafe and ordered an omelette and coffee. It was a good walk and I headed back to Kristi's home and proposed to her that I will cook an omelette for all. The circus was in full motion and kids were running from room to room. Soon Ristten settled down and started to play PC games. We ate breakfast, and in my case for the second time that morning. Anette and Ristten ate their own cuisines. At 12.30 we were in a hurry to race to the railway station. I managed to take a photo of them in front of their house and drove to the station. Lisette was on the way to meet her friends in Tartu.

I arrived at Sänna and I rode to the front of a wooden mansion. Currently it was quiet and not a single person was visible. I have met Henrik Noor here who is running several activities in the mansion and around the park with his wife. They have a tiny community school called ‘village school of inventors’, a library, a workshop of weird bicycles and the planet trail that is laid out in the park. Additionally they use perma angle for agriculture and for chicken farming. Very fascinating young people. I sat in the front of the main building and wrote. Soon I continued my ride to the Rõuge shop and bought beer, sausages and cheese. In the front of the shop I started to talk with a bicyclist Anastasia who is from Tallinn. We spoke in 3 languages, because her Estonian was as bad as my Russian language. And the third helping language was English. She was wondering about staying a night in Luhasoo nature park. I said I will also consider this option. I have visited the Luhamaa trails and the hut multiple times, but never stayed there the whole night.

Anastasia arrived as well and she started to prepare with her proper hikers kit her own meals. There were many cars in the parking space and I hesitated whether to go or not, because I thought perhaps the hut was occupied by a bunch of drinking lads. But one-by-one people started to drive away and it seemed that most of the people went to swim or hike only. I decided to go and when the sun set, the path to the swamp actually started to look even better. A photographer with full gear walked towards me and said he got some nice footage of the lake and sunset. I walked past the lake and to the hut. There was nobody there. Also there was no wood for the fireplace, not a single stick and I assume it is purposeful, because it is very dry  and forest can easily set to blaze. The wooden pathway is in very good condition and it protects the fragile nature and at the same time makes it accessible to walk without rubber boots on and around the swamps.

I took some pictures of the lake Mustjärv in almost darkness. I walked back to the hut and went to sleep. I was worried about the wicked mosquitoes and horseflies, but as the door of the hut was kept closed the annoyance was outside and not indoors. There was no electricity, but there was a nice wide wooden platform where I set up my bed. There was even a pile of spear blankets. Nice and cozy hut. 

We also talked about pro level photography and the fact that Ingmar has invested a huge amount of money into studio equipment. To my shock there is something better than my full frame 35mm and he went to 42mm Fuji with expensive equipment and all the lenses. So, different levels are needed because of demanding work on shades and large scale work. We walked to the other side of the lake Kubija and enjoyed the sandy beach and kids were jumping from the tower. Water was nice and warm. After one hour we walked back and ate soup. They have 3 children - Elisebeth, Aaron and Samuel - all in the range of 8-11 years.

One topic came up when I asked where Lisanna's mother, who I have met in recent visits, was. It turned out she went missing last year and police are chasing her. I think my jaw was dropping down like in the cartoons. I remember she was rather artistic and it took some effort to understand her. It appears she has joined an Orthodox sect that was extra cautious about tracing and tracking and disappeared to a somewhat closed community or nunnery in Estonia or elsewhere, perhaps in the vastness of Russia. That was a proper grenade thrown towards me. I didn’t expect that to come. I wonder how it affects close relatives who are obviously worried. I thanked them and rode back to my rather modest sauna.

I started to clean the floors. I haven’t been here properly for more than 2 years and the last time I heated the sauna was in the summer of 2019. It was good to process the thoughts and ideas in the calmness of my remote forest retreat and in the process of preparing the sauna. I needed to bring water from river Pärlijõe and I needed to attach a rope to the handlebar of the bucket, because the water level was so low due the dry summer and perhaps because of the climate changes in general. The river comes from Latvian swamps and it could be that these swamps there are gradually drying out and not providing enough water for rivers. I wrote until the laptop battery was empty. I don't have electricity nor running water in my sauna. Sometimes it is good not to have these luxury services to be more humble when you have them and occasionally there might be interruption of the service. 

The sauna was very hot and when I threw water onto the hot stones, the hot steam and heat tried to rip my ears off. I walked to the edge of the river and climbed down the ladder to investigate how low or deep the river was. It was maximum 1.5 metres compared to 3-4 metres deep in the fall and it would be reckless to jump in from my boat bridge. The water that flows from the swamp contains so many minerals that treated my body like body lotion, although as a hetero guy I don't know anything else than the bottles eticets I have seen my ladies use always after the shower in order to keep the skin soft. At midnight I opened the window near the sauna department in order to get the steam and warmth out and closed the door between the sleeping area and sauna area. I slept like a baby.

I rode to Võru and added another 13 litres of petrol. I continued my journey to the river Piusa. This river is special in Estonia, because this over 100KM long river has the biggest drop in vertical meters in Estonia and in some sections it is a border river between Estonia and Russia. The same river flows beneath the spy bridge in Koidula too. But near Obinitsa Piusa river is flowing through a magnificent valley and I went to see the Härma walls. I rode to the forest on a proper sandy enduro road. I parked my bike and went to see the sandstone walls that are reaching 19M high and the total length of the wall is nearly 150M. Before this trip I was not aware of this wonder and to be honest the more known Taevaskoja sandstone walls overshadowed these ones. At 11AM I needed to attend the meeting and I hoped to find a café, but eventually I needed to sit in the Lindora bus stop and do the meeting from there. Actually Lindora is well known because of the Lindora fair that is taking place in the fall.

There is a phenomena among all it’s high tech and startup culture - the very manual tiny metal raft that carries passengers and vehicles across the river. The fee for motorbike and foot passengers was 10€. The guy who rolls the wheel and operates this raft is Ergo. The raft can carry a few cars at a time and the weight limit is about 15 tons. There is a steel chain laying on the bottom of the river. The steel chain is rolling through the wheel and by that dragging the boat further. I tried to use my muscle power too and it wasn’t that hard. The current of the river is forcing the raft sideways and this force creates more work on docking. I thanked Ergo for this experience. He said he has transported over some tens of SUV-s and other tourists, but in regular time this raft is for school children and factory workers getting from one bank to another. The round trip would be 20KM. Maybe someday they’ll build a bridge here and then the need for such a raft will disappear along with the excitement of crossing the river.

Wednesday, July 28

I woke up at 7AM, because the older son went to work and flies were too curious and annoying. At one point a man stood in the living room holding flowers. He was Aire’s father in law and as the doors are not locked or there are no locks on most of the doors, he just walked in. I explained that Aire was sleeping upstairs, but soon Aire came down to receive the flowers and he went to work at the nearby factory. Happy birthday Aire! I took a shower and we ate breakfast. We discussed several topics.

We rode further to the next village on the shore of lake Peipus called Kasepää. This shore has been populated mostly in the end of the 17th century by the minority of Russian Orthodox settlers called vanausulised as old believers in English, who escaped from the church reforms in the main part of Russian empire. This community has kept their religion, culture and their home corner shrines despite all the efforts to wipe them out even by Soviet Union that was especially hostile towards religious people, because in their belief christianity was the opium of the fools. I like these villages because these wooden or brick houses are tightly packed, basically side-by-side, along the road - that is very much an opposite of a regular Estonian village where houses are scattered and there is more room between neighbours. During the centuries these people have been fishermen, small farmers and their most important products that they are famous for is onion and perhaps garlic too. 

We stopped in front of one house and Aire started to buy a garland of onions - that is a work of art and producing it takes some skill and effort, Aire has done that many years ago herself - but eventually bought a bag of onions instead. The garland price was 15€, but Aire went for the simple option of 5KG of onion in the plastic bag, which was also 15€. Additionally she bought a few kilograms of delicious tomatoes. Lisaveta was happy to do business with us. We spoke mainly in Russian, although she understood some simple sentences in Estonian too. She wore a headscarf, because traditionally in the Eastern church tradition ladies should cover their hair when they enter the church, but in this community it is very common that they cover their hair every day. In a sense in similar reasons like Muslims - to be humble and not to receive too much attention from strangers.

I packed my stuff onto my bike again. Aire started to prepare for the evening birthday party for relatives. I thanked her and set off. In Tabivere shop I bought beer and turned to smaller roads and ended up at the bank of river Keeva. I parked my bike and Raivo came to welcome me. Raivo and Signe Tafenau have been our  family friends for more than 15 years. Raivo is a well known Estonian jazz musician, saxophone player, music producer and festival and concert manager. I guess I have not seen more positive people and warmth in my life. Raivo started to teach me in a gentle way the safety of motorbiking. When I started from Aire’s place I oiled the motorbike chain because I remember when I rode to Tafi’s place the first thing he mentioned was that my chain was shining and it needed oiling. But this time he was concerned about my reckless outfit. I wear shorts and t-shirt although I have full gear with me. I promised to repent and start using the full gear more often.

We walked to the back yard and to the island where river Keeva was surrounding us. Signe prepared eggplant with cheese and cucumber salad. All this stuff is fresh and they are very proud it doesn’t come from the Netherlands or Spain, but from their own yard. They preferred white wine, which I should remember next time. Signe is working in the school and hobby music group Musamari and currently enjoying summer vacation. Raivo shared the emotions and horror that struck all the artists in the sector of public performing during the lockdown months. Basically all their income was frozen and nobody knew for how long. It is quite unimaginable and usually musicians don’t have reserves as such. 

Another deeper conversation was health. Both of them have gone through serious illnesses and situations where the doctors said it was time critical and crucial to do operations immediately a few years ago. Doctors urged them to live a rather calmer life after these operations, but they made a promise to each-other that they will live their lives in full flourish instead. They even bought a new Yamaha Tenere 1200cc bike and hit the road to the South-Poland mountains soon after. 

Actually I know Raivo more because of motorbiking than because of jazz. Of course we have seen shows where he performed with Sergio Bastos, Laura or with some other artists or in different formats. We also ate ice cream with blackcurrant jam. I promised to visit them again with Jaanika and Mirjam, but for sure we need to sync it. Because currently they have a hectic life, more like an agony, to perform as much as possible, because covid might cause again no business in the fall and winter. And these few days they spend in the summer house they are working their asses off to just make it decent again, because nature wants to take over very quickly. Raivo said that cutting the grass is therapeutic for him and he could see clear results after work has been completed. At 8PM we hugged and said goodbyes. I wore the coretex pants and jacket as promised.

He and his wife Karmen have a 10 year commitment to the local municipality to take good care of the manor’s stable and they pay minimum rental for that. They need to figure out during this year whether they would like to continue the work with horses or not. But it seems both of them really enjoy horses and Karmen likes to train kids to ride. Most probably they will continue for another 10 years on this path. 

We drank beer and it was really dark outside. Andre walked home and hoped that there would be less work the next day so that we could spend more time together. I rode on the edge of the sand to my tent and went to sleep. The music from the bar was still playing loud and the music style itself was far from my taste. During the night wind was picking up and the boats that were tied to the boat bridge were slamming into each other. I used my earplugs and enjoyed sleeping.

Karmen was not happy at all to see me and she was rather furious. It turned out my friend Andre was drunk and behaved like drunk people do yesterday when he came home. It turned out I had been a contributor to another episode of the ongoing drama series. I told her I was sorry and explained my good intentions. Slowly Karmen melted and I asked for coffee and we talked some more. The relationships are complicated and take actions and good will of both partners to get the wheel turning again. I think we spoke for 3 hours. How can I convince my friend to seek psychological help? It is a kind of taboo or sign of weakness for Estonian men. We will see later on and most likely talk some more.

I walked to the front of the manor and tried to find the person who was responsible for media relations. She was not in the room and Heigo Ellison came to hear my story, but he was not keen to give the press pass and ask whether I want to support Jõgeva Treff instead. I decided not to act like a jerk and bought the day pass in order to see the community from inside the fence. I walked to Viljandi club Concord’s camp area. Some of the guys were familiar to me from Kihnu. They just gave the finishing touches to the portable sauna. I made a call to club leader Heldur earlier and he welcomed me to join their camp again and he was convinced that I would stay longer than just one night. He might be right again like he did in Kihnu where I also stayed for 2 nights. I walked to the beach and packed my stuff and drove to the camp and again set up my tent. Some club members will arrive tomorrow or later in the night. I went for a walk to see bikes and people.

As the organisers have their own kids, the gathering also becomes more family friendly. I saw many camps where there were small kids and later I even saw a kids’ tent. There are motorbiker’s clubs across Estonia, but also people from Finland, Latvia and France have come.

At one point I started to talk with Anna Marie. We talked on several topics for a long time. Her boyfriend was very drunk and she was bored. I came up with the idea to go swimming. I guess she had drunk just enough beer to immediately say yes. Actually the lake is only a few hundred meters from the camp. It was very dark and only the moon provided some light. We went in nude of course, because there was hardly anything visible and no people around us. Later we talked some more and somehow we talked until the sunrise at 5AM. Some people were very drunk. Some people were still sitting in front of their tents and talking. I went to sleep.

Friday, July 30

I woke up at 9AM. Some camps started to play loud music at 7AM and it was rather difficult to sleep. Also it seems it has rained a little. Some lads started to burn tyres and just made noise with their engines. I walked to the beach bar and again ordered fried eggs. Mirjam called and asked about my last day with Andre's children and talked about how she is playing outside with her friends in Tallinn. I walked to the festival's entry and got an understanding of the pricing. If I want to stay longer than one day, I will just continue and lose the 15€ deposit and the total fee becomes 35€. There was a very strong wind and it seems we will have a storm sooner or later. I had a meeting with Jay and edited my photos. I spent some time in my tent and had a nap. It was a slow morning and afternoon. I worked and wrote.

I enjoyed the sauna with a pro level side carriage cross rider Rain Vaikmäe, Anna Marie, Heldur, Janne and other guys. It started to rain again, but this time it wasn’t annoying, but refreshing when we walked outside the sauna. In several cases we walked, towels around the hips (I got a pink towel with roses from my last visit with Jaanika in Hiiumaa) within the camps and to the front of the stage. One of the bands was a rock band called Must Hunt. Some people were dancing in the rain too. I think I didn’t have a clear overview of how many beers I drank, but I didn’t feel drunk, perhaps only a bit more talkative. The party went on and on, but I had a sleep deficit from last night and I decided to go to sleep at midnight.

And again some guys started to show off their bike capability of producing the roar of the beast. One story was that when one lad called Karu was waiting in the queue for a tattoo one lady was in the process of getting a tattoo on her breast. Some Finnish lads, also in the queue, were eager to see the tits, and offered 20€ each for the spectacle. Guess what, she collected the money and took off the shirt and eventually after paying the tattoo artist she was 40€ on plus side. Another happening was just right next to our camp where one bike with a side carriage turned upside down. Luckily no harm was done, only the headlamp of the bike was broken. I used my earplugs and slept like a baby. 

Saturday, July 31

I got myself out of my tent at 9PM and walked to the beach cafe for the last time. I ate breakfast and worked and tried to wrap up July services, but most of the developers haven't updated their input. I wrote and updated the blog. I left my laptop to recharge and walked back to the camp. It was time to join the parade at noon, but most of the Concord MC lads were out of order and couldn't ride motorbikes, there was too much alcohol still in their blood. They actually checked it by an instrument that gave figures like 0.8 and 1.2, but Estonia has zero tolerance for alcohol and the figure should be zero. That is actually opposite to some other countries like the Meritaranian states, where the maximum limit is 0.5. Anyhow I didn't bother to measure myself and rapidly jumped into my riding kit.

I rode to Alajõe and crossed a small pedestrian bridge and avoided the detour that cars need to take. I arrived at Vasknarva at 7PM. I found a tiny trail that led to the beach just before Vasknarva village. I went over the sand tunes to investigate the beach first - there were only a few people walking on the beach. I started to offload my stuff and set up my camp and tent.

The policemen asked me to step a bit further away and explained that they weren't looking for the girl, but for me instead. It turned out that police came to chase the motorbiker who had intruded into the border area and to the Smolnitsa landscape reserve. I told my story and they let me go. I promised not to return on bike to the fragile protected sand dunes area and not to set fire. They said that there might be another team that drives me off perhaps in the middle of the night. I said I appreciated their concern, but I will take my chances for the greater outcome of the blog and book.

I rode to the harbour and also to the point where lake Peipus ends and river Narva starts. There is also Vasknarva nunnery that has been  surrounded by high walls. It is like a castle and in some cases they acted for protecting nuns and surrounding villagers during invasions. I rode as far north as possible. In the end it was just grassland for cattle. It is not possible to drive north to city of Narva alongside the river, because there are obstacles like flooded grasslands and creeks and eventually vast mines that are surrounded by fences.

I stopped in front of the school building that had sealed windows and doors and the vegetation is slowly taking over the surroundings. It was in a sense a ghost town, but not as extreme as the totally abandoned city of Pripyat near Chernobyl in Ukraine. Of course Pripyat was evacuated in a rush, but Viivikonna has been fading out for a longer period.

I rode to Sillamäe and visited the main attraction. Sillamäe, like perhaps Viivikonna and other satellite settlements around it, was built in the end of 1940s and 1950s and the purpose of the town was research and development centre for Soviet military and therefore it was a closed town, ordinary people were not allowed to enter this town. It has been speculated that the first Soviet atomic bomb material was excavated in Sillmäe. This alone gave resources and purpose for Sillamäe. I walked on the renovated alley between beautiful houses and checked the sea promenade that was recently opened. Only setback was that there were no cafés open.

That is an interesting subculture that I haven’t seen elsewhere in Estonia. Tightly packed garages are lined up on both sides of canals. These garages are not for cars, but for boats. Again it started to rain and I asked a lady for permission to open the gate and get shelter from the rain. She kindly asked me to join their tiny living in one of those metal garage units. This unit was turned into a living space and sauna. I took bread that I bought from Võru with me and gave this as a gift. They served me coffee and cheese. 

Five years ago Genady and Tatjana had bought some additional units for housing a sauna, a living space, a workshop and of course space for the boat. Of course it is all semi-illegal. This type of housing has not be allowed by the authorities. Genady showed me around. The workshop was tiny, but very well organised and it seemed that every tool had its own spot. Their daughter Kristina and granddaughter Olesja were also there. We spoke in Russian although my Russian is rather poor. They seem to know all the families in most of the units. The rain stopped and I was making my way out. Tatjana gave me their tomatoes that they grow on a tiny piece of land between the garages and the canal. Amazingly warm people and a very exciting community.

I rode to the river promenade. Some kids were swimming in the river and there is also a metal sauna on the bank of the river. I saw men coming out in swim wear and dipping themselves into the river. Again the river separates two communities and in this section of the border there are two castles facing each-other - Hermann castle on Narva’s side and Ивангородская крепость on the Ivangorod’s side.

Again very complicated history, not easy to find the single truth. These castles are so close to each-other and you can clearly see the fishermen on the Russian side. I talked with Jaanika and Mirjam, they will go to Stockholm next evening for a day cruise. It started to rain quite heavily again and I rode towards the resort town of Narva Jõesuu.

I stopped by the German military cemetery and I was just stunned by how many crosses there were each with a fallen soldier's name. I drove a bit further and stopped at the Soviet Army’s monument that gets special treatment once a year on the 9th of May as the end of the IIWW in Europe. Once a year victorious. I rode directly to the end of Narva Jõesuu beach, which should be an official  nudist beach. It was very hard to locate the right spot, but I got the understanding roughly. I parked my bike alongside the road and took my stuff and walked through the forest to the shore.

Occasionally it rained and my gear started to get very wet. I watched the beautiful sunset and walked along the beach in both directions for about 2KM. At one end I saw 3-4 horse riders having fun on the beach. At 11PM I went to sleep.

The forest floor was covered by wood ferns and rotten wood and the wood laying on the floor of the forest was partly covered by moss . I started to imagine that some smaller Jurassic Park sauruses will appear at any moment. The beach was empty because of the wind and rain, but it was a nice and different beach. Walking back up took some effort.

I decided to drive somewhere to sleep indoors, because I felt that my motorbike gear would never dry if I stayed another night in the tent. I thought about my options and I started to drive towards Tudu.

I suppose the most obvious and visible change of environment was the vastness of wasteland that was left behind after the excavations. Another impact that was noticed in the 1980s was that wells of the farmers around the quarries were left dry or being poisoned. I think the shift in the minds of regular people towards more greener solutions takes more time here. Slowly East-Estonian businesses go through the green revolution and diversity of more widespread industries.

It turned out that the bicyclists were around 60 years old and they were from different places around Estonia and they were in the same alpine club and used to go hiking in the mountains. I prepared my sausages on the fireplace grill and shared my food also with other hikers. They shared the dinner that they had prepared on the gas camping stove with me as well. We drank together different drinks including homemade wine. We spoke about travelling and I was fascinated to hear their stories in the mountains in the Swiss Alps, but also elsewhere in Russia, Kazakhstan and Myanmar. 

We tried to compare the eagerness of going to the seaside and to the mountains. Perhaps there are two types of people who always prefer the mountains and who always prefer the sea. Some hikers even said an interesting thing that in the beginning of 1990s most Estonians were busy getting wealthy and working hard in the new regime, but they kept the same habit of hiking like lonely weirdos. 

Tuesday, August 03

I woke up at 7.30AM and went to swim in the lake. The water of the lake was much nicer than the windy and rather cold air outside. I washed my hair and brushed my teeth in the lake. Soon other hikers started to emerge from the tents and they prepared porridge and coffee. I thanked them for the company and walked to the parking space and rode about 4KM to a Tudu tavern called Jaama. I ordered coffee and some snacks. I worked for an hour there, because in the hut and in the swamp there was no internet, luckily the phone coverage was still there. I saw 4 guys walk in and immediately take the remote control of the TV and switch to the Olympics. I have forgotten again that currently we still have the Tokyo Olympics going on. I can imagine that in the regular time I would spend countless hours watching sports.

Wednesday, August 04

It was exactly a month ago when I started my journey. The morning was nice and sunny, no wind as such. I went to swim in the lake for the last time and later let the sun dry my body. I packed my stuff and walked to the parking lot and loaded everything on my bike.

The heritage goes all the way to Tamsalu where her parents baked the bread for the community. I was very delighted with this extra treatment and I got some more coffee and lemonade as well. Soon Gunnar arrived on motorbike. Gunnar is a pastor in the Baptist church called Karmel, but I asked him to meet me because he has a significant interest in motorbikes and old Soviet cars. He also knew Kaja and half of the people in the queue in Päts. We thanked Kaja for additional presents too and rode to Karmel church.

Karmel has been a congregation where I have seen rather exceptional Sunday services in the past years. Old songs from old song books are combined with more pop-rock songs for youth, both groups of people are singing and both seem to be satisfied. But currently the focus has been on building a new church building. Gunnar shared how church people themselves have donated most of the money, because they believe that this church should be opened to city people more than it used to. There is a café planned and during the Rakvere’s café days they opened a pop-up café and people were enjoying the café and the new modern building. One terrace is opened towards the future composer Arvo Pärt concert hall and music centre. The whole church building itself is a miracle and gives a lot of joy to the congregation. It will serve the city and will be a part of the community. To build another church was not an option, but as a community centre, it made perfect sense to the people in the church. But to be honest, the building is just half way and more work is ahead, but as the roof and the perimeter are sealed, it is already possible to do Sunday’s services indoors.