Day 21 - Tallin, Tartu & Riga

I packed up and left Tallinn this morning knowing that I will be back. A great place to lose a weekend or two and pick up some culture while you are t it. I set off with no real plan in mind other than I would not look for hilly twisty roads so I would therefore not be disappointed. It was a hot sticky day with the temp varying between 29 and 32 all day so there was no respite. I first headed East along the coast to the Soviet Unions first ever National park. It is a big thing, 725km/sq and as it was Sunday, quite a few locals were out hunting for berries in the woods. Quite a few of the roads are gravel so not much to see if you get behind traffic.

I turned south and seems like I This part of the world is pretty flat and relatively treeless for once. Lots of cereal fields. Wheat, Barley, Rye, the lot. The temperature and humidity was taking its toll and I had to resort to Ice-Cream and soaking my shirt in water to try keep cool.

I passed through Tartu, Estonia's major centre of learning. It has had a university for over 300 years and allegedly 1 in 5 people in the town is either a student or faculty. Lots of chocolate box buildings but I didn't hang around as it is just a bit too close to Tallinn. I might never finish this trip if I don't get a move on.



Every now and then you come across storks foraging beside the road or else sitting in their nests atop telephone poles. They are canny buggers and don't mind you going past quite close in a vehicle but of you stop or turn round down the road, they take notice and wont pose. Bastards. Only place they seem happy to do that is in the safety of they nest.

In the end, I decided to take the 'motorway' to Riga and there I had my first encounter with the Latvian overtaking manoeuvre. It is: drive 6 inches from the car in front, wait till there is oncoming traffic, floor it and just scrape in the gap in front of the car you just passed. Repeat. Apparently, the death rate on the roads here is appalling. Wonder why.