Back on the Iron Curtain Trail

Wednesday, June 12: After four days of city, culture, and history, we are back on the bike and on the road. It takes a while for everything to get back on track. On the outskirts of Tallinn, I pump up my rear tire again, and the valve breaks. How lucky that there is a bicycle shop right next door and I quickly get a new tube installed.

A new bike path runs parallel to the road for quite a while, and thanks to a slight tailwind, we make good progress. And there are no more ramps like in Finland. We make a short stop on the coast and then take a detour to the Holocaust Memorial Site at the Kooga concentration camp. During the advancement of the Red Army, 2000 prisoners were murdered there in September 1944. It always deeply affects us when we are confronted with the atrocities of the Third Reich.

We continue along the coast, heading north for a while and realize too late that we have already passed the city center of Paldiski. Well, we'll have coffee at the gas station then and another stop at the monastery in Padise. From there, it is not far to our accommodation. We have a large log cabin all to ourselves.

It was 105 km, pleasant to ride in 15 to 18 degrees.

Thursday, June 13:

104 km, in between the ferry from Haapsalu to the island of Hiumaa. There were two heavy downpours of rain, each time we could take shelter in a restaurant.

After a thunderstorm with heavy rain in the early morning, we took our time to start and were able to leave in dry weather and slowly rising temperatures. It was not far to Nova. From there, a forest path led to the cape at Spithami. Like in the whole northwestern part of Estonia, Swedes lived there, who left the country before the Red Army invaded in 1944. After independence, the families got the land back. Most of them sold it, some returned. Today, the small village is a settlement with holiday homes. We cycle south along the coast, but unfortunately, we rarely get to see it. Instead, we meet Will again during a break. We met him for the first time at the ferry in Helsinki. He is an Australian with Filipino roots and is also doing his tour to Krakow to support divorced fathers who advocate for more rights in dealing with their children. We cycle together until Haapsalu. Will goes to the ferry port, we visit the medieval Bishop's Castle with a cathedral in Haapsalu. In the 19th century, the city was a holiday resort for the tsars and the Russian aristocracy. The heyday as a spa town is commemorated by the spa house, the music pavilion, some art nouveau villas, and Tchaikovsky's summer house.

In the evening, we take the ferry to the island of Hiumaa. Our guest house is located close to the beach and we still take a swim in the quite warm Baltic Sea.