We eat breakfast and slowly pack everything. Soon after we leave the holiday apartment, only 2 kms to the Lithuanian border, my chain jumps off. I already realized it had lost some tension. I want to fix the cause, so that it doesn’t keep on jumping off.
The exact part I don’t like about my bike now troubled me. The eccentric bottom bracket won’t move.
I decide, that I could probably just take out the halflink of my chain and then the tension might be good.
Now the chainlock won’t open. At last I think ok, I have a whole spare chain right here, so why waste any more time, right? Right?
No.
I pushed out one bolt of my old chain and then tried to mount the new chain. It appears the new chain is too wide for my chaintool. I can’t put in the required halflink. We try to push it in with other methods, but it doesn’t work.
We give up, try to find a taxi to the next city without success, and just walk our way further into Lithuania.
We almost gave up all hope and didn’t even think about getting it fixed the same day anymore – and there he appears. Our mighty savior Artiom himself.
He gladly helps us. We leave Richard with the bikes behind and drive to the next city. He talks to some locals, and one of them gets some tools. We hammer the halflink into the chain. When it got some hold, I pull out my chaintool and put the bolt into the correct position.
We drive back to Richard, I put the chain on, tension it and we start cycling again.
We arrive at something that looked like a campsite on googlemaps. It seems like the project had been canceled quite a while ago. It’s a strange place. Almost a lost place, one half empty building, one unfinished bulding, a caravan and a somehow maintained, not bad looking garden.
We borrow a chair, set camp and drink some bear to let the day end. I invite Artiom to lunch for the next day. Richard wants to check the trains in Marijampole and Artiom lives there.
We eat together and talk for a while. Then Richard and I check out the trains and it appears no trains are going to poland due to the current situation. That means Richard can’t accompany me any further and takes a taxi back to poland from where he takes a train to Warsow to visit Janush.
Now, I continue my journey alone and don’t expect many cycling companions until Kirgistan.
In Kaunas I do some quick sightseeing, but soon leave the city.
I continue my way towards Latvias capital Riga through the countryside of Lithuania and Latvia.
The roads are mainly gravel/dirt roads and only in cities you find asphalt.
One road nearby the border took a lot out of me.
At one point I wasn’t even able to walk my bike anymore, because there was too much mud between everything.
Afterwards all the bumpy gravelroads feel pretty good.
In the evening I clean my bike again, just so that my brakes are working.
The next day everything was fine until the mud on the roads unfroze and my bike got all dirty again. So at a car wash I later cleaned at least the front break. (Unfortunately there were many cars waiting for a cleaning, so I just asked someone to clean my front tire.) Maybe I should’ve taken the time and cleaned everything, but then I thought it would get dirty again soon anyway.
Further on I can decide between big roads or hiking trails. For some part I stay on roads with lots of traffic and quite aggressive drivers, and when I try to avoid roads like the A1, I find myself on forest paths that only partly suit bicycles. I run into lakes that have swallowed the road; need to balance over snow and ice; often cross train tracks and even build a bridge, because my maps say there was a road but it is now cut off by a ditch.
I eventually made it into Riga, but next time, I would probably take the A1 or not cycle there at all.
In Riga I stay at Anna’s Guesthouse for 2 nights and for the first time after 1 month I manage not to cycle for a whole day.
Riga is a nice city with lots of Jugendstil architecture.
The way our of Riga reminds me of the way in :/
Let’s skip that day. 😉
A few more impressions from Latvia…
While cycling along the dunes of Southwest Estonia, I meet another cyclist. Margus, an ornithologist from Helsinki, who currently works in Estonia and does some day rides in his freetime. We cycle together for about 20km and he invites me for a 2nd lunch. He then has to go back to work, while I follow the EV10.
In the evening I arrive at some wooden lodge, which is a perfect place for the night. I don’t even have to pitch my tent and enjoy the evening on my veranda with a nice view over the Baltic sea.
One of my brake cables doesn’t look too well, so in the morning I fix it and start a little later than expected.
The road into Pernau is quite trafficked and not the greatest, but the drivers are way less aggressive as in prior countries, so these 30km are manageable. Pernau seems to be a tourism Hotspot in summer.
After Pernau the roads become more quit again. I pitch my tent in a forest.
At around 4 or 5 am it starts snowing and it doesn’t stop until around 6 pm.
I mainly cycle on a low trafficked asphalt road, oncoming trucks blow the fine snow from the road into my face. Later I turn into an even less trafficked gravel road. It’s covered by snow – and a layer of ice below it. It’s very slippery, but my total number of accidents still stays on 0.
Yesterday I should have cleaned my bike properly. Now, neither my wheels move, nor can I change gears or use my brakes. I clear the frozen snow and mud that is stuck between my fenders and wheels and unfreeze my brakes and the cable box of my gear hub with the water I kept in my sleeping bag overnight. My wheels are turning, I can change gears and atleast my front break gets me to stop without me having to put my feet on the ground.
I am now heading for the ferry from Virtsu to Muhu (or Werder to Moon, sounds cool too). The ferry is pretty cheap with only 2,70€ 👍
I cross over the dam to Saaremaa. The islands aren’t too crowded therefore even on the bigger roads there is not too much traffic. Drivers are also very respectful, keep distance and wait behind me when there is oncoming traffic. Thanks a lot guys!
I like the bus stops where they built decent protection from the elements.
I have issues with my equipment due to the constant freezing temperatures. I can’t change gears, because there somehow still is water/ice inside the rope box. I try to fix it, but end up with 13 instead of 14 gears and water still inside. Will have to fix that later and until then melt the ice every morning.
It seems there is not much going on in winter on these islands. Atleast I can cycle peacefully.
It’s the first day with temperatures above 0°C and I don’t have to melt anything before I can start cycling. The whole day I cycle on quite asphalt roads through forests and meadows.
Today I try out one of these cool bus stop woodhouses, I saw so many of in Estonia. I cook food and lay down on the bench to sleep. I should have slept on the floor instead, I wake up often and almost fall down a few times.
I get up early, make tea and eat noodles for breakfast and then cycle towards the ferry to Hiiumaa.
At 11:30 o’clock I arrive at port Triigi. The ferry is already there, but besides one man on board and an angler it’s pretty empty. I ask them about the ferry and they tell me it’s leaving at 7 pm. What a bummer, I wanted to do some miles today. There isn’t much to do nearby, so I just hang around.
Yep, that’s the bad part of winter touring, bad schedules and everything is closed. When just sitting around and not cycling it gets cold. Atleast the sun is shining.
The guy from the ferry recommended a place I could spend the day at. So I cycle back to the town, buy additional groceries, and check out the place.
Turns out it’s the best free campsite I have ever stayed at. I figure out that the ferry will also be going in the next morning, so I stay for the night.
For lunch I try to make pancakes, which doesn’t work out too well with my frying pan.
For dinner I make stick bread and grill some sausages (I have never made bread myself before and it actually turned out to be edible.). To keep warm, I chopped some wood in between. (And because that’s what one is supposed to do if one gets all this for free.)
So the next morning, I go to the ferry and thank the guy for the recommendation. I ask if there are more places like this and he and another guy show me locations of these RMK places on maps and tell me about one place that is very similar on the island we are heading to (Hiiumaa). It’s not really on my route, so I actually don’t plan on going there.
But at some point, I just decided to change my route and head to that place. The closer I get to the islands center, the muddier and icier? the roads become. I was following the navigation app maps.me, but now, when I got close to the campsite the forest paths become uncycleable. So I turn on google maps to have some sattelite images that might help me out. Turns out I’m not on the correct road that’d actually lead to the campsite, so I go all the way back and take the next road. It’s already dark by now. The whole road is covered by a layer of ice. I cycle all the way without falling and finally make it to the log cabin.
Both, in the evening and in the morning I make pancakes (couldn’t buy less than 1kg flour). There is a pan in the cabin, which works much better than my own, so this time I actually get real pancakes!
When I try to leave the campsite the next day, within only 50 meters my bike falls twice. When I pick it up the 2nd time, I find myself on the ice too. I decide walking might be smarter and can’t believe how I managed to cycle on that section last evening.
I take the ferry to Estonias mainland and follow ice covered roads towards Tallinn.
Before meeting my warmshowers host Sanni, I buy some tools I realized were missing in my arsenal and go to some bicycle workshops to get my frontbreak repaired. Actually I was hoping to get a spare part, but I ended up buying a new brake. Now my frontbrake is an Avid BB5 instead of the BB7, they are very similar, so I might be able to use the newly gained spareparts on that brake too, if required. (Hopefully this one lasts longer)
In the evening Sanni shows me the old Town of Tallinn, and later we cook some dinner. Or rather she cooked, since her kitchen is too small for both of us.
The next day, I walk through the city again. Later we meet at some free concert. I don’t really understand anything, but it is fun anyway. Afterwards I invite her for dinner to a Thai restaurant.
We say goodbye and I cycle along the coast towards Lahemaa National Park. On my way I take a little detour to Jägala Jugi, Estonias largest waterfall. In the evening I stay at the RMK Tsitre.
I enjoy the asphalt roads to and through Lahemaa National Park, get good views of the Baltic sea and cycle through beautiful forests.
Unfortunately the nice country roads come to an end. I partly cycle on the main road, but often try to follow the official EV10 route. It is not made for winter touring I guess.
I stay on multiple RMK sites, for a pause or for a night. One of them seems not to have had any visitor this winter. It is pretty tough to get there. A few times I stop to clear my shoes from the snow, but at some point I don’t care anymore. The firewood is so dry, when I try to chop one log with another the wrong one falls apart…
Atleast it burns like gas and I get a warm meal and some tea.
The paths don’t get much better just around Narva-Jõesuu there are decent roads again. I pitch my tent roughly 10km before Narwa. In the morning I start early to get the required PCR test to enter Russia. Unfortunately I still have to wait until the next day and therefore spend a day in Narva, before I cross the border the next day.
At the passport control I need to wait a long time, before being told that due to current Russian laws, entry with the tourist visa is only allowed on airports.
Atleast, when turning back towards Estonia, they let me in without much trouble.
I slowly start cycling back towards Tallinn. All options I can think of go through there, so I can think about what I’ll do while cycling.
In the evening I’m heading for another RMK campsite. It’s for hikers, but how bad can 800m of a hiking trail be?
Well. Very bad.
It’s already dark and I am pretty exhausted. I calculate my supplies and decide to stay another day. (Actually I just didn’t yet want to go the way back up.)
I figure out that it’s possible to enter Russia via land border. I have to get a permit that allows me to enter at one specific border crossing.
3 Options from 5 to 10 days and 250 to 295€. I decide to enter through Finland and take the middle option.
Later that day I find out, that the following days will be quite stormy. And certainly I have the headwind.
The next day I start early. Go back up the cliff and start fighting my way through the wind.
After a few kilometers a cow (or something similar) stands on the row infront of me. When I get closer it just panics and jumps straight through the fence to another cow. Then through the next fence to even more cows.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to turn on the camera early enough :/ sry
I try to avoid the Tallinn – Narva road as much as possible, but have to take it for about 12km. It’s way too dangerous for comfort with the little space reserved for cyclists. Most cars don’t wait behind me or keep distance. Dear car drivers, please consider, that when it’s windy it regularly happens that I get blown onto the car lane. I guess you don’t want to hit me.
Somehow I survive that road.
I see 4 deers running close to the street, about to cross. I try to signal a car behind me, what’s up ahead, but the driver ignores me and emergency brakes last minute. Please wake up drivers…you should have seen the deers even without me gesturing…
Since I have already cycled almost the same route a few days ago, nothing much happens.
I arrive in Tallinn and take the ferry to Helsinki, to meet my warmshowers host Boris.
On my way to Boris’ place, I take some detours to see a little more of Helsinki.
When I’m almost ready to leave, the next day, I receive my permission for the border crossing.
This changes my plans, as I now can enter much earlier than expected. I book an appointment for a PCR test the same day. Somehow I follow my navigation app to the wrong address. 7km into the opposite direction. Now I only have less than one hour left to make it to the already postponed appointment, but even with road maintenance on the way, I manage to get the test done in time.
In the evening I make a big pot of curry, I eat half of it, safe some for breakfast and pack the rest.
While I am packing my stuff I receive the mail with my negative test result, which means I can also pick up the print version.
I planned to follow the EV10, but it neither is signposted nor are the paths cleared from ice. So over the day, every once in a while I try the official route, but always end up back on the road 170.
In Finland there is a network of ‘laavut kodat’ places with some sort of shelter and firepit. The first one I reach is cut off by snow.
So I cycle 16 km to the next. The road to get to the place is covered in ice and snow. Close to my goal I fall, dont hurt myself, but my handlebarbag breaks and the cable of my rear brake takes some damage aswell.
Atleast the place is fantastic.
With glue I repair my broken bag and eventhough one magnet is lost, it still works fine.
The next day I walk the way back.
I continue following the EV10, which leads me through some beautiful areas, but the roads are tough so I stick to the 170 afterwards.
The next day I wake up to a flat tire.
I can’t find the issuer, so at some point I decide to just try out how far I can get before the tire is flat again. Unfortunately it lasts only 3km. So I now take a look at the tire again and find the rock with the sharp edge. I quickly repair the tube and cycle towards the border.
The passport control on the finish side only takes a few minutes. Arriving at the russian passport control, I am told to park my bike at the customs control and the guy takes me to a line for the passport control.
When only one guy is left infront of me, he turns around and says that booth is being closed. So I get in line at another booth. Now when only 3 guys are infront of me that booth closes too and they say the one that closed before is gonna open again soon. So we wait there for about half an hour until someone tells us it wont be opened. So we join another line..
Now the estimated waiting time is like 4 hours.
Atleast I get to chat with a finnish and a guy from belgium. We call it russian roulette.
As I already said before, the booth I was at from the beginning is suddenly opening again. I am like 8th in line and the guy from customs control who sent me there picks me out and gets me the first spot. Finally my bicycle VIP ticket pays out.
(Crossing with a car requires registration which takes a lot of time, so while I am done within 5 minutes, others need 15 to 30 minutes.)
Now some guy wants to look into my bags, but I just have to open half of them and he barely touches them. So the guy says ‘let’s go!’ and I am free to continue my journey.
After a few kilometers I stop at a tank station and try to use the free wifi, which doesn’t work. Then I go in in hope to be able to get some rubels for the first few days until I reach St. Petersburg. Another customer, Vitali, who speaks english helps me, but noone can give me rubels. So he invites me and buys me a burger, sandwich and coke and we get to talk.
He is a seaman and knows my hometown Brake and the company J. Mueller my father works for.
His wife actually finds 1000 Rubels (worth around 10€) in her bag, so I have have some emergency cash. (Thanks a lot guys, sorry I forgot your wifes name)
They invite me to Karelia, but I don’t know if I will be going there. She takes a picture of us with my bike and we say goodbye.
What a fabulous way to arrive in Russia!
In Vyborg I ask another lady if she could change 50€. She calls her son who appears after 10 minutes and it turns out she understood 5000€…
Atleast I now got enough money to make it to St. Petersburg. I cycle out of Vyborg and pitch my tent.
I don’t really feel like cycling the next day. I think it be because getting into Russia was already such a pain and since I finally made it, just needed another short pause.
After my rest day, I cycle further towards St. Petersburg, less than 180km left. I wonder why cycling feels so exhausting after my rest day and only realize I have got a flat tire again after a few kilometers.
I can’t find the hole and figure it might be the patch from 2 days ago. So I just put another patch on top of it and hope for the best.
In the afternoon the snow slowly turns into rain. The road is very high trafficked and it gets worse the closer I get to St. Petersburg. It definitely wasn’t the best way into the city, but I’m not sure there are much better options during that time of year.
I somehow surived it all and arrive at my warmshowers host Sergei. We start with getting my bike cleaned 🙂