Slept better than lastnight and was served breakfast in my chalet by Peter. He had even gone to the effort of making me an omelette along with copious amounts of bread and cheese. An early start which was good because today is my longest day of cycling
Good cycling in the morning due to the fact that its all back roads. Again the scenery was very pleasant consisting mainly of farms and woodland with the occasional glimpse of the sea off to my right. Reached the half way point at Parnu and decided to grab a quick bite to eat and chose the "Parnu chicken burger" which was a mistake :) Lovely lady said it was the best choice and it turned out to be a chicken burger with marinated vegetables all smothered in some sort of sauce. Well the sauce went everywhere and the combination of marinated vegetables and chicken wasn't unpleasant but it is probably an acquired taste :) Still it was much appreciated especially as she let me refill my water, charge up my mobile and use her loo :)
Parnu was quite a big town so I avoided the main streets and instead stuck to the river on the banks of which the city had been built. Lots of derelict buildings so it has a slightly run down feeling but Estonia hasn't had it easy the last few years. Actually Estonia hasn't had it easy full stop if you look at her history. She has had centuries of being ruled by the Germans, Denmark, Sweden and finally Russia until she declared independence from Russia and broke away in 1918 only to me taken back in 1941 by Russia who then ruthlessly got her own back. Deported 10% of the population to slave labour camps she press ganged her men into the Russian Army. May fled to Finland where they joined the Finnish army which ended up fighting the Russians in the Winter War. Brother fought brother and father fought son. A tragic time. Estonia suffered 25% casualties during WW2 making her one of the highest proportions of losses, a true tragedy
The afternoon ride was a lot different from earlier as it was now on a bigger road the E67. Though the traffic wasnt heavy there was some traffic and a few trucks so it was a question of head down and just keep going. Luckily the Estonian roads have a strip down the side of the road that is fairly wide so I didn't have to cycle on the road itself and could just go down this strip. Strange thing is that the driver tend to drive with the right side of the car over this line so as to create an additional lane on the road as the drivers are doing the same on the other side. This means that overtaking is quite easy as the cars don't cross over the centre line
Took a little detour to the village of Tahkuranna where I bumped into a very interesting character and fellow cyclist called Mark. He was taking a photo of a rather splendid church which had also caught my eye and we chatted. Turned out he was a 75 year old American of Finnish heritage who every years explores the lands of his grandparents going back to his roots. A retired engineer he spends a lot of his time helping charities with affordable homes and was very interesting to chat with. Turned out he was booked in to stay at the same hotel as I was that evening so we exchanged business cards and agreed to have dinner later that evening at the hotel. It's these random encounters with other fellow travellers that I enjoy so much when doing my touring. Interesting people with interesting stories :)
Back onto the E67 and south and eventually onto the back roads after Papisilla. This area is where a lot of people have summer houses and come to spend their vacation time. Also smoked fish seemed to be a big thing around here with the smell of the smokeries filling the air. Arrived at Ainazi which was just over the border and into Latvia which is where my ride stopped as this was the hotel. Met another cyclist here and had chat with Lotta, a young German women, who was planning to cycle all the way up to Vaasa and then catch the ferry across to Umea before cycling back to Hamburg which is where she was from. Best of luck because she was cycling without any maps and was loaded down with a lot of stuff to carry. But she looked fit and up for it :)
Mark arrived a hour or so later and we had a very pleasant meal together. Turned out he was a Vietnam veteran and had served over 600 days in country at Danang in the US Navy. We had a lot of things in common and chatted for a few hours. However both of us were tired so retired in good time
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