Sunday 03/06/2018
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Reluctantly packed my gear up and headed up through Saaremaa again. Stopped in Kuressaare to take a quick look at the very well preserved castle (with a proper moat and everything) before heading back to the ferry port. It is a very beautiful island - perfect for a walking / cycling holiday if you're unfit, as it's very flat. I got lucky with the ferry again, paid my €6.40 and rode straight on with a German couple on a Moto-Guzzi doing a similar route, only taking 4 weeks to do it. One day....
Took the road to Tallin only to find myself running low on fuel. The thing is most of the petrol stations here are pre-pay where you select a maximum amount that you want to put in. Before I went onto Saareema I selected €15 thinking that would fill the tank (it didn't). I then kind of forgot about petrol, but on the way to Tallin there just didn't seem to be many fuel stations, but eventually one turned up soon after the reserve light came on.
Being a Sunday, the roads were quiet. Tallin is very modern with this old central part, which is very pretty. Loads of tourist coaches and people walking aroung taking photos. I stopped the bike and went for a short walk around, but my phone battery went flat so no photos. Didn't stay too long as I left most of my stuff unsecured on the bike. Didn't see any motorbike shops anywhere and what with it being a Sunday, they would have been shut anyway.....
Took the main road to Tartu initially which helped me to cover ground quickly. Decided to stop for lunch in a bar-side grill. €10 for a coke and grilled chicken lunch. Can't complain as it was just what I needed. A couple of hours later and I got to the shores of the massive Peipsi / Cudakoe / Psovskoe lake (depending on which country your from), but not before a ridiculous bit of off-roading to avoid some road works.... It must be one of the biggest lakes in Europe. The lakeside views started fantastically and I really should have stopped to take photos, but I thought why when I'll be camping right next to the lake shortly.... Stopped in Kallaste as planned, but it was a bit grim to be honest. Kind of like Largo in Pale Rider (if you're into Clint Eastwood films). Even the shops had everything in Russian showing how close to Russia I was. Didn't really have a plan, but aimed for Tartu hoping to find something more interesting along the way. There was nothing. Then set the sat nav for Voru. After the promise of a campsite and much off roading through the woods, there was nothing there either.... Set the Sat-nav towards Latvia and found, finally a brilliant biking road just after Rouge (lovely place, set between 2 lakes). Stunning views, twisty road with nice hills and then whilst banked-over on a bend, the road turned into gravel! It gave me quite a shock but I managed not to come off somehow.... I then must have rode 20 miles or more off road. Terrible surface and what was worse, the sat-nav had no other ideas - this was the main route number 7.... Ended-up off roading into Latvia, but I could have been in Russia as far as I knew. I like riding off-road and have done a reasonable amount in my time, but not on road bikes!
It was now 8pm and I'd been riding non-stop all day so really needed to find a place to stay - anywhere and quickly. I ignored the sat-nav as it kept making me take dirt roads and I'm not sure how much more the tyres can take. I followed the main road towards Riga and figured eventually I would find a place to stay. Sure enough, another dirt road and I'm staying in a lovely wooden house with all the mod cons but millions of mosquitos. €19 including breakfast in a place called Ruški (means Russians) in Latvia. Happy with that given the circumstances.
Need to figure-out a route for tomorrow. The remainder of my trip through the Blatics is meant to be through the back-end of nowhere. All minor roads are likely to be dirt roads and I can't be doing any more of that on this bike. This is the most off-roading I have ever done on one of my trips (bar Morocco). All those years that I had the Tenere - it would have loved this, but no - all my off roading is done on a 200kg road bike with bald tyres..... My tyres are getting worse and worse (no wires poking through yet though). I may pass through Kaunas in Latvia and see what I can find there. If not then I'll try to limp back to Poland where I know of a couple of places where I can get fresh rubber. It's only about another 800 miles to Poland!
A single can of beer and my salted sticks and that's enough for me. Off to bed as soon as the washing machine finishes it's drying cycle...
Mileage: 2784
Country count: 9 (GB, F, B, NL, D, PL, LT, LV, EST)
Beers: 26
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 3/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (well 1 that didn't involve me)
Coldness: 0/10
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