23/24th May - The Baltic Sea, Estonia & Tallinn

On trips like this you occasionally see things that appear totally random, often your going to fast or its to tricky to stop and look or take a photo.  Yesterday’s was the bronze bears on a roundabout, todays was a giant metal spider and other creatures at a junction between a side road and a main road.

I could see on the map that the road I was on ran parallel to and only a few miles from the baltic coast, so I decided to try and visit the sea side.  I took several side roads off the main highway, but the view was always blocked by thick woodland.

But then eventually I struck gold and there it was in all its glory, the Baltic Sea!

Clearly this deserves a selfie - luckily today was a little cooler with an ideal 22 degrees on the clock.

I had actually pulled into a lay-by and it just goes to show how the UK is lacking in the adoption of electric vehicle facilities when even the remote lay-by’s here seem to have charging points.

Back onto the main  road, it wasn't long before I entered Estonia - the border crossing here was a big affair, still with all its entry lanes and security cameras in situ, but the customs buildings appeared to have become cafe bars and small shops.

The road once again went close to the coast so I diverted off to see if the Estonian coast was any different.   

Definitely not Cornwall!

 

The route into Tallinn went the way of most routes into capital cities, pretty unpleasant in terms of roads and traffic.  I had booked an AirBnB type place just outside the city for 2 nights to give me chance for a look around and to re arrange my packing for the cooler weather that was sure to start once I crossed the straits into Finland. 

The temperature dropped to 12 degrees overnight and it started raining heavily the following morning.  Once it had stopped I walked the 30 minutes into the old town for a spot of sightseeing and people watching from street-side cafes.

Tallinn is a pretty old town and would make a good weekend break venue, though when I last looked the flights from the UK are not very plentiful, unless you are London based.

I’m up at 5am (it seemed like a good idea at the time!) to catch a ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki, so I’ll go and pack & leave you with a few snaps of Tallinn to whet your appetite.