Monday, May 27, Week 05

Summer in the Baltics – and we are there!

Shortly before our departure 4 weeks ago, we seriously considered whether our destination was the right one. The weather in the Baltics was rainy and cool. In Tallinn it even snowed again!

But suddenly the tide turned in our favor. The weather forecast looked promising with lots of sunshine. OK, not that much heat yet, but that could still come. And how it came!

We haven't experienced a single full day of rain yet.

We spontaneously decide to stay here in Köiguste today. We finally unload the e-bikes and ride first to a beautiful bay and then to the small harbor, which is right opposite us on the other bank. Anyone who thinks that we can get there quickly is wrong. At the end of our tour we have 36 kilometers on the clock.

We return at 1:30 p.m., pay for the second night and treat ourselves to a little refreshment.

And then we just enjoy the afternoon in the sun.



And today the day ends with a beautiful sunset.

Tuesday, May 28

First, we'll drive to the Kaali meteorite crater. It was formed around 7500 to 7600 BC. The meteorite split at a height of several kilometers and fell to the island in pieces. The largest piece caused a hole 110 meters in diameter and 22 meters deep.

Our journey continues to Kuressaare. We arrive right at lunchtime. Since there are no coaches to be seen anywhere, we park in the bus parking lot near the center and walk back to the city center and treat ourselves to a delicious lunch in one of the many restaurants. Afterwards we stroll a little through the alleys.

But we don't want to stay in the bus parking lot for too long, so we move our car and find the next well-located and shady parking lot right next to Kuressaare Castle. We walk around the beautiful castle complex, but we don't feel like taking a look inside today.

We don't want to spend the night in Kuressaare, so we head for the Sörve peninsula. At the end of the peninsula is the Sörve lighthouse. And just before the end of the road we find a nice spot for the night right by the sea. We'll stay here and let the lapping of the waves lull us to sleep. After a short afternoon siesta, we set off shortly after 5 p.m. to explore the area around the lighthouse. We walk along the beach and see that you can climb the tower. Cost: 5 euros per senior.

So today we get another workout in. After 249 steps we are at the top and enjoy the phenomenal view.

Back at Pfüdi we have a small cold dinner and then we start working as usual. Download photos and videos, write daily reports, select photos for the homepage, edit the homepage, record daily costs and in between we keep looking out the window and enjoying the beautiful view!

Sunset today is around 10:10 p.m.! And it doesn't really get dark anymore.

At 4.41 a.m. the sun rises again right in front of us.

We make slow progress today. We stop countless times and enjoy the views, the sea, the sun, the birds, the lunch break and finally the Panga Cliffs.



Today we are spending the night right by the Baltic Sea in a small, lovely spot.

Thursday, May 30

We booked the ferry to the island of Hiiumaa last night. It only runs twice a day and we decided to take the 7pm ferry. And oh dear, I forgot the people!

That means we can take it easy today. And since we still have enough water, we start off with a lovely shower. We also have time for an egg for breakfast.

But at around 11 o'clock we finally roll away from our lovely spot.

And that's quite reassuring. Since we arrived yesterday, an old motorhome from the canton of Uri has been parked here. A side window was open until late in the evening and we never saw anyone. But it is inhabited, the window was suddenly closed and this morning we saw that a young man lives in it. After his morning walk, he retreats back to his motorhome. What is he doing?

Our first destination for today is the Coop in Leisi. We would like to have bread, but there is no bread available. But water, mineral water and cola are also important.

Then we head to our second destination: the Angla Mills. The entrance fee is quite steep at 7 euros per pensioner, but what the heck - we'll probably only be here once. We like it too, you can look inside two mills and we have a bite to eat in the cute restaurant.

The Karia Church, a gem from the 13th century, is located very close by. And we are lucky, it is open and someone is working on it.

It is now 3 p.m. and we drive to the small port of Soela. We use our afternoon siesta to do some work. Prepare the day's travel report. Download photos, etc.

Oh yes, we also book the ferry from the island of Hiiuma back to the mainland. We leave the islands of Estonia on Saturday, June 1st. We even manage to book the number of people and book the number of people for today's ferry at the same time, so that they don't just want to take the Pfüdi with them!

We will not arrive in Söru on Hiiumaa until 8 p.m. So we will change shortly after

5 p.m. to the Triigi ferry port and cook ourselves some soup for an early dinner - that will have to be enough for today!

The ferry sets off at 7 p.m. sharp. There was room for everyone, and two cars would have fit on it. So in high season you probably won't be able to get on without booking in advance. After a good hour of a calm crossing, we are the first to get off the ferry in Söru and find the water tap straight away. We fill up our tank - it's not that easy to fill up with water on the island in the off-season.

The spot we had in mind 3 km away near a lighthouse turns out to be unsuitable and we drive back to the harbor. Here you are also officially allowed to spend the night. It is very quiet and we find the perfect spot for us.

Friday, May 31

The sky welcomes us with completely new colors today. Gray in all shades, with the sun occasionally peeking through the clouds.

We baked our last rolls for breakfast in the Omnia oven.

That means we need bread!! But that's not an easy task in the western half of the island of Hiiumaa. There are two or three small Coop branches that open at 10 a.m. But fresh bread - guess what - is nowhere to be found! There are no pre-baked rolls either, just "soggy" pre-cut slices of bread that almost taste like cardboard. You feel sorry for the people. They all bake their own bread. OK, the way to the only town isn't that far, but you wouldn't go there just for bread. We'll test out the shopping options in this town tomorrow.

So we start our exploration tour shortly after 10 a.m.

A small red river in the middle of the forest - we stop here. We don't know why the river has red water, and today the water isn't red either, but beautifully clear. But the stop was still worthwhile.

As soon as we are back on the road we see a church in the middle of the forest. This is our next stop. We like the atmosphere that surrounds us here together with the forest cemetery.

Now follows our tour of the lighthouses.

The first one is called Körpu. It is not high, but it is much wider. We decided not to climb it this time, especially since the first thunderstorm was approaching.

We stop for lunch in the completely empty port of Kalana. There is also a campsite here, but it is not open yet. The whole port area is huge. Out of curiosity, we browse the internet and find what we are looking for. There is a big music festival here in July. And then it is more than full!

Hiiumaa is probably the island of festivals. A jazz festival is taking place in Söru in two weeks.

Our second lighthouse is called Ristna. It is bright red and we climb up and enjoy the view of the coast.

Tahkuna is the name of our third and last lighthouse for today. It doesn't open until sometime in June, so we have to make do with looking at it from the outside.

We abandon the idea of spending the night here. The parking lot is small and the sea smells very strong.

When we reach the third place, something clicks. We like it here, it suits us.

We start with the usual evening program: aperitif, downloading photos, videos, cooking, washing up, doing the homepage work and just enjoying ourselves in between. The view is wonderful.

​​​​​​​​​​Tagestrecke: Söru, Insel Hiiumaa - Lehtma

Distance: 136 km

Average consumption: 8.0 liters

Average speed: 43 km/h

Travel time: 3 hours 08 minutes

​​​​​​​Pitch costs: 0 Euro incl. NOTHING, but nice view

Our overnight spot was simply great!!

No alarm clock rings today - we take it easy. It is already 11 a.m. before we finally leave. Today will be a rather leisurely day. We have booked the ferry to the mainland to Rohoküla for 5.30 p.m.

First we try to find bread in the only town on the island. Yay!! We find it in the second shop. Then we leave Kärdla and drive south to the island of Kassari, which is connected to the island of Hiiumaa by causeways. Here we are interested in the outermost tip, the Sääre Tirp - a headland that extends for miles out into the sea.

First we take a long break at the hikers' car park. But of course we still have to go out to the headland. In the summer heat we hike towards the sea.

Bathed in sweat, we return shortly before 4 p.m. and get ready to drive to the ferry port.

There is also a hot meal on the lunch and evening ferries. Many people take advantage of this. We decide against the buffet and make do with chicken nuggets.

They're not bad at all and we don't have to cook anymore.

Today is Saturday, so we've chosen a small campsite just outside Haapsalu. There are a lot of motorhomes here. The owner says that everything is full, but he still finds a spot for us. There's an Italian festival in Haapsalu tonight!!!

We are really glad that we still have accommodation here. Free camping on a Saturday and at the festival on top of that – no thanks!!!

And we don't want to go any further because there is an old train station here that we definitely want to see tomorrow.

Oh yes, we also heard some thunder today and it even rained a little while we were waiting for the ferry!

We actually expected to be woken up more than once by returning festival-goers. But the night was very quiet.

According to the weather report, there will be thunderstorms this morning. In fact, the last few days have been very stormy. We only ever heard thunder in the distance and most of the rain fell when we were on the ferry yesterday.

And this morning? Yay – no sign of thunderstorms!

We got up quite early and today we set off for our first destination without breakfast. You never know what the weather has in store.

We are particularly fascinated by the castle of Ungru with its special history!

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«Ungru Castle (Linden Castle), which now lies in ruins, is one of the most impressive neo-baroque buildings, although it was never actually finished. It is a mighty building that was built as an almost exact copy of Merseburg Castle in Germany. There is a sad love story behind the construction of the castle: Count Ungern-Sternberg fell in love with the daughter of the lord of the castle of Merseburg, who had vowed to spend her whole life in Merseburg Castle. The count, however, promised to build her an identical castle, and the lord of the castle's daughter agreed to this. Construction work on the castle was stopped, however, when the count's lover unexpectedly fell ill and died.»

However, Wikipedia states that the count died on a trip to St. Petersburg at the age of only 45 and that Ungru Castle was therefore never completed.

Well anyway both versions are a sad and mystical story.

Afterwards we drive to the old train station in Haapsalu and have breakfast in the parking lot.

The beautiful wooden building was built in 1909 for the Russian Tsar's family and their guests.

And then there is the old bishop's castle in the centre of Haapsalu. But we won't be able to visit it today. Now we know where the festival took place yesterday. Extensive demolition work is underway right here.

A quick aside: All the shops in Haapsalu are open today (Sunday). We need bread again! Rimi supermarket (a very large store) will have bread on offer. Guess what, just slices wrapped in plastic again!

This time we found what we were looking for in the large Coop. The selection is always very limited. Since we've been in the Baltics, we've actually always eaten ciabatta bread. If you're lucky, you can also get a dark version. It's not bad at all.

Enough culture, off to the sea. The drive to the RMK square in Peraküla is partly a terrible cobblestone road. Probably one of the worst roads we have ever driven on.



10 km/h is the best we can manage. We are rewarded with a beautiful, spacious spot. We are staying here.