Day 89 – 28. July 2013

Today I will go to Russia.

Or at least I will try. That is my goal for today.

And so I started at 10am to Narva. The weather is perfect for cycling. About 22°C, sunny and almost no wind.

Some small hills are in the way but they do not really hamper my fast progress.

At 1pm I reached Narva and 30 minutes later the border to russia.

I had to stand in line for a short time on the Etonian side. Then I had to push my bike over the bridge to the other side where the Russians were waiting.

I had to fill out an small paper with all my information, like name, passport, visa number and after a short glance they stamped my Passport and I was clear to enter Russia.

I am finally in Russia !!

There is no welcome sign or Flag at the border so I made a picture a little bit later.

I do not know what the sign says, probably it is some warning to behave in this country ?!!

Almost everything was the same before and after the border crossing. Just the road-signs were hard to read and I have to pay in a different currency now.

I wanted to go about 100 km today, so it was possible to reach St. Petersburg the following day. It was still enough time to go on and my plan was to camp somewhere along the road.

At 90km I stopped at a filling station for some water and a ice-creme. While I was eating my ice, Peter started talking to me.

Peter, Manfred, Odetta and Jenny from Lingen in Germany were also on a bike trip to St.Petersburg.

We talked for a while and they were so interested to here more about my trip, so they invited me to stay in the hotel and have dinner with them.

I was overwhelmed and gladly accepted the offer.

After a shashlik and a shower we sat together drank some beer and talked about our trips.

Peter and Manfred are lifelong friends and started to do bicycle tours in the early 80´s. A few years ago they started at Calais to go the Euroroute R1 to St.Petersburg. This year they do the last part of it. And this time Peter´s girlfriend Odetta and Manfred´s daughter Jenny is with them.

It was very nice to meet them and we talked till midnight and had some more beer. We all had a long day and the next will be also not very easy, otherwise we had talked till the next morning.

Day 89: 92,04 km  all: 3289 km

Day 88 – 27. July 2013

I got up a 7 am and had to take a shower first. The weather was very nice and I did not felt like going to russia today. So I payed 4€ for the camping place and went to sleep again.

In the afternoon I cycled 10 km to the nearest town to bought some food and drinks.

I also went to the beach and relaxed in the sun.

Day 87 – 26. July 2013

After a nice sleep in my hammock, I saw the sunrise over the sea early in the morning and went back to sleep.

At 10 am I had everything packed and ready to go again.

The weather was very nice and sunny but my tire was almost flat again. Since the last few days the rear tire looses air.

After one hour I reached the first filling station, had some breakfast and had to repair the rear tire.

Because I bought a new tire in Tallinn I also changed it.

I also adjusted the brakes and so hopefully everything is OK now.

There was almost no wind and so it was a nice and easy cycling.

At 50 km I found a nice camping ground and decided to stay here for the night. My left knee started to hurt and so I did not want to overwork it.

The camping place was clean, located at the beach (50 m stairway) had free wifi and for only 4€ very cheap.

I also went to the beach to relaxed a little bit.

Day 87: 51,13 km  all: 3197 km

Day 86 – 25. July 2013

In the morning the owner of the place came and showed me around. He did all the sculptures himself and in the winter he also paints.

Everything took a little bit longer so I was at last on the road at 11:30 am.

First I visited a swamp area withe a watch tower in the middle. I even meet some german tourists there.

The weather was getting better and in the afternoon the sun came out and there was almost no wind.

I was pretty fast and after 90 km I found a wonderful place to camp.

It was a wooded area direct at the beach. There was no rain in sight, so I decided to use my hammock for the night.

I had a wonderful view on the beach, the sea and also saw the sunset, the moonrise and early in the morning the sunrise.

Everything from my bed!

Day 86: 90,49 km  all: 3145 km

Day 85 – 24. July 2013

At 11 am I called the embassy to check if my passport has arrived.

The good news was it was finally there and I could pick it up.

So I packed my stuff and at noon I cycled to the embassy.

At last I hold the Visa in my hand.

The man who gave me my passport wanted to take a photo and quickly got his camera.

So at 12:40 pm I stated in direction of russia.

Only after a few kilometers I passed the 3000 km mark and had to take some pictures.

The rest of the day was not very interesting. The weather was cloudy and not very warm, but at least it did not rain.

I saw a camping place on my GPS, located at a lake and I was heading to that lake.

Because I started only after moon I managed to go 57 km.

The place at the lake was very nice. Nobody was there so I just set my tent up.

I even went into the water instead of a shower.

They had also wifi and so could update my blog.

Day 85: 57,66 km  all: 3055 km

Day 84 – 23 July 2013

It was only 15 km to Tallinn where I first went to the german embassy to get my passport.

At 10 am I was at the embassy but unfortunately the Passport did not arrive, so I have to call the next day to check.

Now I had enough time to look for a hostel and to see the city.

I was driving through old town when I passed a bike shop. I had some problems with the pedal and some strange noise from the chain tensioner. I was lucky because the mechanic was very good and skilled. First we changed the chain tensioner (I already had one from Radlschmiede Kaugering) and I also needed a new chain. We had to adjust everything several times, but after 1 hour everything worked fine.

After my bike was in shape I went to the harbor an made a little picnic, while looking at the ships.

I was looking at a very nice big sailing boot and talked to the young man on the boot. The boot and the 3 man crew was from Kiel and they were sailing a little bit around the east sea. He even gave me a little tour around the boot.

I was about to go, when another german joint us. He was a former military officer from Kaufbeuren and is a pilot with his own planes. We also have some people we both know. We talked about flying, military life and his upcoming projects.

I found a Hostel close to old town for 25€ the night. After a shower I went to the very nice old town and looked around. Tallinn old town is UNESCO World Cultural Heritage.

After a dinner and some strolling around the harbor I went back to my hostel.

Day 84: 24,55 km  all: 2997 km

Day 83 – 22 July 2013

Today was a realy hard day.

In the mornig the weather was very nice. Not very warm but for cycling ok. But the wind was even stronger than yesterday. I was happy to go between 10 and 14 km/h. Sometimes the speed droped even below 10 km/h. And it was a relativly flat terrain.

I battled the wind till about 2 pm. At a filling station I stoped and ate some of my food.

A german couple with two children sat at the next table and asked me where I started.

They also came from Munich but live in Finland now. As we talked we found out that they are good friends with „Hille“ one of my comrads from the Transport Squadron and also my Sponsor (druckbanditen).

What a coincident. The world is a small place.

After I got back battling the wind it started raining. First only a few drops but later steady and stronger.

For the next 3 hours I was not only fighting the wind but also the rain.

I decided to look for a Hotel or something similar. When I finally found one, they wanted 50€ for the room. I could get the price down to 30€ but that was still to mutch for a smelly, cold room without a window. It took forever to get some warm whater in the shower. Only good thing the internet connection was for free.

Day 83: 85,02 km  all: 2973 km

Day 82 – 21. July 2013

At 10 am I started to go north to Pärnu. The wind was relatively calm and so I was in about 3 hours in the town.

I went to the yacht harbor to look at some boots and meet a family from Finland who invited me to sit at their table and tell them about my journey.

After the brake I went on to the north. The wind was getting stronger but the clouds dissolve.

In the evening I was looking for a accommodation and meet a finnish traveler group.

 

I finally camped on a field close to the road. I made a tasty dinner and watched the sun go down.

 

Day 82: 88,94 km  all: 2888 km

Day 81 – 20. July 2013

It was almost a week since I had to pack all my things onto the bike. It felt very heavy again.

After a short breakfast with Marcin we shot some short movie clips and finally it was time to say Goodbye.

Marcin was a great help and became a good friend. And I know he will try to help me in any way.

The border to Estonia was only about 10 km away and I crossed it at 1 pm.

I tried to find a typical sign with the country name and the european stars. But I could only find this:

I dont know if it means something?

The weather was nice but the wind was very strong and was coming from the left side. I left the main road and proceeded close to the ocean. The wooded area helped to shield the wind. But after 40 km I had no energy any more and found a small camping ground.

After I set up my camp, I had to cycle 10 km to the next town to get some money and to by some food.

At midnight I woke up from a loud bang. I first thought somebody is shooting, but it was fireworks just 100 meters away. After 5 minutes it was over and I went back to sleep.

Day 81: 39.06 km  all: 2799 km

Day 80 – 19. July 2013

In the morning we first ate the rest of the birthday-cake.

We packt everything and finally a 11 am we first had to go to a big bike-shop only 1 km away.

I did not go to far, because a heavy rain started and I found cover at a filling station. After a few minutes I could go to the bike shop.

I was looking for some spare Tires, but they did not have the exact size. I asked if I could leave the bike for about one hour, because we had to return the keys to Inna´s  appartment.

So we drove to town and gave the key to Inna´s mother.

When we got back to the bike shop the rain stopped and I finally started my trip to a campi ng place about 100km north of Riga.

I was again very fast without my luggage. Maybe too fast. I slid and fell to the left side. I was not hurt but my bike had some bruises.

My mirror was broke and the left pedal was not usable any more.

After 3 supermarkets I found a small Tool-shop and had to by a wrench to remove the old pedal. I showed the owner my old pedal an asked where I would find a new one. He took me two shops further to a pet supply shop.  Luckily they also had some bicycles and spare parts. I bought 2 new pedals for 7,99€ and everything was OK again.

The weather was getting better and the wind was also getting stronger.

5 km from the camping ground Marcin came with a rented bike to intercept me. He also had some food form me.

Together we reached the nice camping ground.

After I setup my tent and took a shower Marcin wanted to go to the border of Estonia to drink a coffee.

We coud not find a coffe, but we ate something and went back to our tents.

Marcin invited me to his tent for a little birthday-party and some vodka-tasting.

Day 80: 95,62 km  all: 2760 km