2008-06-23 00:00:00 Cycling Day: 18 Today was a short cycle, our shortest for the trip, but it really rained a lot so it felt quite long. Just outside of Parnu, we couldn't take the rain anymore and stopped at a restaurant for burgers, coffee and to dry. Today was the main festival day for Mid Summer Night and a lot of people go to small towns to party. We went with Marko and Koidu to their friends' place outside Parnu and had a braai with them. Then everyone walked to the park in the town center, where they lit a huge bonfire, played music and danced. Lance and Billy made their own fire on the side of the bonfire, but it didn't really catch until an old lady chucked something that looked like a body (but was probably a puppet stuffed with straw) into the fire. It was a good party, and we all slept on the floor at the girl's house.
Written By: Claudine du Plessis
Distance: 60km
2008-06-28 00:00:00 Cycling Day: 20 This morning our host prepared a breakfast for us of bread, cheese and cold meats. We crossed the bridge which is the border between Estonia and Russia and had to go through the border post. It went smoother than expected, because the woman checking our forms could speak a little English and she didn’t ask any strange questions. 5 km over the border, we reached our total of 3000 kilometers and had a beer we bought at the Estonian supermarket. Lance snapped a spoke, unfortunately we didn’t bring any spares so had to continue with one spoke missing. The main road we followed had a wide enough shoulder, but had so many potholes and bumps, most of the time it felt like cycling on the moon. Billy’s front brakes also didn’t want to work anymore, but we decided rear breaks must do for now.
Written By: Claudine du Plessis
Distance: 105km
Our host in St Petersburg, Vladimir, said he will meet us at the small town of Begunitsv (halfway between Narva and St Petersburg) and camp with us for the night. We reached Begunitsv at half past 7 and saw Vladimir (or Vovick as his friends call him) waiting at the Begunitsv sign. This Vovick is a legend among hitchhikers and travellers and has so many interesting stories to tell. He hitchhiked from Russia to Cape Town, cycled off road for 3000 kilometers around Mongolia, climbed Kilimanjaro without a permit and almost went to jail for it, hitched rides on boats, a helicopter and military airplanes and also hitchhiked through Afghanistan while they were at war with America.
We followed Vladimir for about 20 kilometers looking for a campsite and found a spot in the forest where we put up our tents. Before our trip, we’ve heard the mosquitoes near St Petersburg are hectic, but now we know what they meant by it. Mosquito spray didn’t help, they were everywhere, like a black cloud surrounding you. Also millions of small little bugs that got into your hair, ears, nose and mouth. We quickly broke apart a dead tree and made a fire, so the smoke could at least keep the worst away. Then we cooked dinner (pasta of course) and listened to all Vladimir's amazing tales.
2008-06-24 00:00:00 Cycling Day: 17 Marko and Koidu took us back to Parnu in the morning and we started cycling (in the rain again, of course). The rain was really bad today, it got quite windy as well. We had a lunch of burgers and coffee again. Although the Estonians like to braai, they are not really bothered about meat. For example, when in the supermarket yesterday, we couldn't find beef, only pork, and Marko and Koidu couldn't understand why it mattered. They asked "Is there a difference?". Today Billy ordered 2 burgers, one arrived without a patty! When we showed this to the waiter, she also looked baffled that it should bother us, but at least brought him his patty. We were supposed to stay with another girl in Parnu, but when we arrived at her house, there was nobody there. The door was open, but the place looked like a hurricane hit it, ask us for more details, so we quickly left. Luckily, Marko from Parnu told us that he has a flat in Tallinn too, because he works there and if anything happens we could stay with him also. So after a lot of effort to get hold of a phone (we eventually convinced a guy at the supermarket counter to let us use their phone), we phoned Marko and he met us at his work place where we stored our bikes. Marko stays in a nice flat in Tallinn, with his roommate, Karin, who is also a very interesting girl. She has cycled around Ireland completely on her own. We were all sleepy, so made an early night of it.
Written By: Claudine du Plessis
Distance: 132km
2008-07-06 00:00:00 Click on an image to enlarge it and then browse the larger images with the Next and Previous buttons at the bottom right. This contains all the photos from the updates we did. Just makes it easier than to go to every single article to check the photos.
Written By: Billy van GraanFlying and Netherlands
2008-06-25 00:00:00 Hi Everyone, Just a quick update that we are in Tallinn, Estonia at the moment. The internet is quite expensive, will try to update the blog and upload some photos hopefully tonight or whenever we get a chance. We have a rest day today, everything is going well and as planned. Estonia is very rainy! That’s all for now, hopefully a more detailed update will follow soon…
Written By: Claudine du Plessis
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