We have a nice breakfast on the veranda of the hotel watching Sigulda slowly wake up before packing up and heading off, checking we have no little anty stowaways first. Before we leave Kris tells me there’s a bobsleigh track so we go and look at that. Unfortunately a coach load of German tourists have had the same idea so we don’t hang around. The ride out of Sigulda is beautiful, this part of Latvia is a bit hilly and the road snakes up and down and around these wooded hills, crossing over the river that cuts through them on the way to the sea which I now know is some distance away. It feels almost Alpine here.
— Just starting? View Day 1 post of the roadtrip —
We head up to the main Riga to Tallinn highway that runs close to the Baltic Sea and decide that we will take the coast road for as long as possible. We stop in a nice little resort town full of families heading to the beach with their inflatables to set the sat nav and head off looking forward to a scenic day. And to begin with we get it. The seaside towns come and go, the sea comes close before hiding behind tall trees, the traffic is light, the weather is beautiful. But the road turns to the right and ends abruptly at a T junction with the main highway. It’s a regular, 2 lane road but it’s wide, smooth and straight. It’s a nice road to travel on and once again it’s a really efficient route that the UK can only dream of but it’s not the most exciting of roads to ride on. That’s ok though because I think we’re both ready to get home to our Tallinn apartment.
As we approach the Latvia-Estonia border my excitement starts to rise again but not to the same extent as before. I’ve been through this border crossing before and I’ve been to Estonia before so I’m entering the familiar rather than the strange but it’s still a border crossing and therefore exciting. I’ve been warned that the Latvian police carry out speed checks close to the border, this being their last chance to catch you so I trundle through slowly, stopping for some photos because I’ve ridden my bike all the way from the UK to Estonia and I’m feeling very pleased with myself.
We stop at the first Circle K we see for baked pelmeni, we usually have these before a train journey but I like them so now we have them on all journeys. It feels like it took forever to get to Saue in Estonia, but it also feels like it took no time at all to pull up at Kris’ dad’s house to say hi, have a drink and wash my filthy bike.
A small reception committee comprised of Kris’ family greet us in Saue, 20km from Tallinn and we wash the bike, have a chat, make some plans and head off for the final stage of the journey.
It’s late Sunday afternoon, the roads are quiet, I know the way so I have some capacity to just enjoy riding down Freedom Street and into Estonia’s capital.
I allow myself a few self congratulatory moments as Kris runs up to the apartment to get the garage door key and I take a photo for the instagram. I post it with a bit of a brag about how far I’ve come and how brave I am and head upstairs for a shower and some dinner. My phone buzzes, someone has responded to my instagram post. They say “Aga tagasi pead ka soitma?’. But now do you have to ride back?
Yes, but not for three weeks.
191 miles 4 hours 16 minutes riding time
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Voila! Part 2: Kris shares her thoughts…
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As usual, I am with the ducks. Oh, what I would give for a cup of coffee!
Two pillows or one, made no difference: all I can do is hope that the weight of the helmet will knock it back in place.
I nick some of Jay’s cola instead, watch YouTube and rearrange crisp crumbs on the floor to get the ants to march in patterns. They either know what I am doing, and do me one over, or they’re just too stupid to follow instructions.
Soon, we’ll be on our way home.
I chose Sigulda for our stop for two reasons: the landscapes here are nice and hilly, and the bob sleigh track (where I had high hopes we could buy a ticket, but… of course… could not).
The one and only time I’ve been on a ride there, I was issued a massive helmet – and it slid in front of my face the second the sleigh was pushed off, so I bobbled through the whole track, seeing nothing – and yet, feeling every turn and bump. I guess my second chance will have to wait some more…
We do sight-seeing and tourist watching, and head home.
We’re looking for a bit more scenic route – so we get off the main road and drive, for a bit, by the coastline. Which is where I find this little gem…
Have you ever wondered how to hide a house from the tax man? Learn from the Latvians!
With a mandatory pelmeni break at the very first petrol station in Estonia – of course, it’s Circle K.
Btw, I’ve since learned that the fried pelmeni in the yellow-black Olerex are much much much better!) where Jay attempts to break his helmet. He does not succeed.
Our next real stop is Saue – we wanted to rinse at least some of the grime off the bike before parking it in our garage. My dad, needless to say, is happy to see us (fine, more happy about Jason, who is, like my dad claims, his favourite child!) and appropriately impressed by our little red stallion.
We get home just in time to have a cup of tea on the balcony – and hear the flag lowering song from our parliament.
