September 17, 2013

Six Reasons why Estonia is an amazing place to do a bike tour: (and no, I'm not being sarcastic)

Estonia is not exactly the first place that you might think of when planning a bicycle tour, but here are some reasons why it should be:

1. Fantastic Bicycle Routes

I was still following the Eurovelo 10 bicycle route. It was very well marked with blue signs, easy to follow and took me, for the most part, on quiet back roads through nice scenery. Really very enjoyable cycling.

2. The History

Okay, Estonia doesn't exactly have a happy history, but it certainly doesn't have a boring history.

I feel like this picture sums up Estonia pretty well - beautiful but scarred

This church was originally built in the 13th Century and was, like most things, burnt in the 17th Century Russia-Sweden war and bombed during the Second World War

3. Information Boards

As a touring cyclist in a foreign country it is often difficult to know exactly what one is looking at. Estonia does a fantastic job of providing information boards in English along the way. And the great thing is, is that they generally provide information which is actually interesting! Take this one, for example. In most cases, I would dismiss this as a memorial stone of some kind, and that would be that. But add in the information board, and you've got an interesting story:

4. Great Bus Stops

When you spend all day riding a bicycle you need to find places to sit and rest. If you're rich and/or normal that might mean cafes or restaurants, but for me that usually means bus stops. If you think about it they are the perfect place for a nice sit down - they appear frequently right next to the road and usually come with a bench and some shelter from the rain or shade from the sun. And you can tell a lot about a country from its bus stops. For example, in Russia they were huge corregated iron constructions half filled up with empty beer bottles and smelling strongly of urine. But in Estonia they have some really wonderful bus shelters! I was particularly taken by this design:

A clever design here, allowing you to choose whether to sit in the sun or the shade and to always have a place that is out of the wind (though not necessarily where you can also see the bus coming)

5. The Nature

On this particular day I cycled on through a nature reserve which was a large area of rather nice woodland. What was particularly lovely was that because this is such a great country they had built a trail through the woods complete with information boards so I went on a very enjoyable hike and learnt lots of things about the nature. For example I learnt that the number of bears in Estonia is 'one or two.' I assume the researchers who found that out must have seen a bear one day and then on the next day of their studies they saw another bear and then had a conversation something like:

"So that is two bears we've seen now."

"Hang on a minute there, it could have been the same bear couldn't it?"

"Golly, yes I hadn't thought of that. So we just saw the one bear then?"

"Well now, but it could have also been a different bear."

"So what should I put in the records?"

"Well, lets just say that there are one or two bears."

I also learnt that these grooves were made about thirty years ago by people extracting sap from the trees...

And that these were made by a wild boar doing much the same thing

6. Free Campsites

As if I hadn't already had an awesome enough day with all the learning and the sitting in bus stops, at the end of it I found my way to a free campsite. I generally avoid campsites, mostly because of the fact that they cost money, and am quite happy to wild camp most of the time. But on my way through the nature reserve I had seen a free campsite and then, looking at a map I had seen another marked roughly where I would want to stop and so I made my way there. I was blown away by what I found. There were lots of sites to choose from (there was nobody else there), basic pit toilets and bins, benches and tables. Best of all it was right next to the sea and there was a lovely beach right outside my tent. I watched the sunset and I thought to myself 'wow, gee, golly and gosh, this is a great country to ride a bike!'

p.s. Its also flat!

Today's ride: 125 km (78 miles)
Total: 5,896 km (3,661 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0