Baltic Bike Tour Day 4: Last day in Estonia

Today we cross into Latvia.

The hotel breakfast was fine but there were zillions of people (!) it being a sizeable hotel (6 floors!). We walked into Town Hall Square aiming for a coffee shop. There are zillions of bike riders too, a convenient and obviously popular form of transport for the locals heading off to work, school or uni!

The area was nice and quiet at 8 a.m. - and cooler(!); it is predicted 28 deg C today.

The cafe search gave us a focus whilst absorbing some more of the flavour of the city vibe. We returned to the hotel via the garden in Kaubahoovi plats, the nearby ‘Father and Son’ sculpture, the Leaning House, and some interesting art work by the river. There is a wonderful ‘Bronze Pig’ sculpture outside the Tartu Market Building.

The Leaning House (the locals call it the ‘Pisa Tower of Tartu’) was erected in 1793 and one side rests on the old city wall while the other side is on a base made of pylons and so it leans.


Departing Tartu was tortuous in the by now busy city traffic. After a short bus transfer of about 45 kms to Otepää, a small town nestled in southern Estonian hills and valleys and a well-known winter holiday destination for holidaymakers who love the snow.

The Puhajarve region we cycle through initially is beautiful, with many lakes - the so-called “Estonian Switzerland” (!) which is probably a ‘bit of a stretch’ ... but it IS very attractive.

I don’t know who suggested that Estonia is flat because today was definitely HILLY (we climbed 415 m in total) and some of it was thigh-burning!

Nevertheless, the first half of the ride today was on stunningly good bike path for the most of it up to Kääriku. It was so pretty: green forests and pink, yellow and white flowers carpet the slopes; we encountered lots of very fit-looking people out roller-skiing.


At Kääriku was a pretty lake with people swimming and kids playing with their parents. MF and one of the other guys went for a swim and we had a picnic lunch here in the shade - the ONLY spot this trip where we have stopped and not been besieged by marsh flies or mosquitoes!!!

The park area by the lake had fireplaces stacked with wood, BBQ areas complete with cooking implements, good toilet facilities and even a hot tub!!

From here our notes advised it was to be 8.8 kms of gravel. I would have to say it was the longest 8.8 kms I’ve ever cycled; it was technically really demanding through forest on sandy single track on places, sandy gravel roads in others - really hard, hot work. Harry Harper would have been in his element!

We reach a very tall tower in the middle of the forest at a place called Harimägi Hill - 11 levels to climb to the top! But well worth it for 1) the great views 2) a cooling breeze and 3) no marsh flies (!!).


The route continued to Sangaste which is famous for its 19th century castle built in the style of Windsor Palace. The castle was a further 4 kms on the other side of the town and it was a hard slog as we had to be there to meet the bus at 3 p.m.; the hard trek on the gravel section had taken its toll on the timetable.

We only had time for a look around the outside. There was a film crew doing a marketing exercise so there was stuff and crew all over the place anyway. We enjoyed a cooling icecream in the archway of the castle entry and then walked around the back where there were lovely grounds and a lake whilst we waited for a few of the others to arrive.


From here, the bus transfer (235 kms) led into Latvia where our destination today is Sigulda, in the Gauja River Valley which is the most popular resort in Latvia.

Enroute, we stopped in Cēsis to visit the medieval old town and castle but as we walked to the castle, I noticed an exhibition called the Burning Conscience which piqued my interest. We had a quick look at the castle and backtracked to the exhibition which tells about the resistance of the people of the historical Cēsis district to the Soviet and Nazi occupations.

The girl managing the exhibition spoke excellent English and gave us a superb explanation. Fascinating. But very sobering. https://www.fold.lv/en/2018/11/exhibition-burning-conscience-in-cesis/

After Cēsis, we travel past meadows of lupins, stands of pines - and ominous skies!

I fell asleep pretty much straight after we set off (nearly half an hour late as the stragglers came in) and it was probably half an hour of driving before crossing the border onto Latvia - seamless of course because Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are all signatories to the Schengen Agreement; and joy of joys share the Euro currency with the rest of the EU (it’s a pleasure not to have to keep making conversions and calculate how much money to withdraw - at least until we return to Poland!). I awoke to a different language on the signs: letters like ‘a’, ‘i‘ and ‘e’ with ‘-‘s over the top like the word ‘strādā’ - an accent called a ‘macron’; and other letters with an accent called a ‘cedilla’ underneath.

Coming into Sigulda, the bus driver stops to show us the popular Bobsleigh and Luge Track which was opened in 1986 and is one of the few tracks in the world that is accessible to both professional athletes and visitors. The total length of the bobsleigh and luge Track is 1200 m, it features 16 curves, and allows for a maximum speed of 125 km/h.

We had a lovely meal just around the corner from our hotel at Mr. Biskvīts, sitting outside and watching the world go by. We had yummy pasta and delicious cake - a BIG carb night which I think I really deserved after our bike ride today!

Cycle: 33 kms

Steps: 7800