The Baltic States
The Baltic States are small, but we managed to spend more than 2 weeks there. We fell in love with the region, but for cycling…. Well. Maybe not the best destination. However, we finally know the order of the countries, something we have struggled with since primary school geography lessons. We especially like the people here, who all seemed very cheery, which was a relief after the national grumpiness in Poland.
Lithuania: gravel roads and back to the coast!
We entered Lithuania unchallenged through an unmanned border crossing from Poland. The original plan was to use minor roads, but the first road we encountered was hardcore gravel, so nope. We soon discovered that there are two kinds of roads in Lithuania; it’s either asphalt and has a lot of traffic, or it’s gravel and has a bit less traffic, with an added bonus of dust clouds. The first night we thought to be lucky, and found a deserted picnic site at a lake. Given the temperature and the fact that it was a Friday, we were suprised that there was only an elderly couple, who left soon after we arrived. We celebrated too soon though, as soon as we got in the tent for some well deserved sleep, the entire village arrived to party. Needless to say we didn’t get a lot of rest. The next day, with an extra dose of coffee, we made our way along the border with Kaliningrad. Fields of grain everywhere. We camped on the shores of the river Nemunas, and could basically wave to the Russians on the other side. Apparently this border is well protected, given the frequent patrol cars that passed by.
On Sunday, after a short day of cycling as Julia’s birthday present, we reached the bay, separated from the Baltic Sea by a peninsula; the Curonian Split. After leaving Dubrovnik 1 month ago, we are back at the sea! We joined the EuroVelo 10 (the Baltic route) in the hanseatic town of Klaipeda. Don’t let the Sovjet style suburbs fool you, the old town is very cute. Plus there is a Lidl, so what else could you wish for? From Klaipeda it was an easy ride to the border with Latvia, as this part is well signposted.
Latvia: more gravel roads and more cute towns
The signs abruptly stop in Latvia, but we managed to find the planned route online. Also, the first 80 km to Liepaja are main road anyway, so it’s hard to get lost. As in Lithuania, apart from the main roads it’s all gravel and sand, so we were fine with sharing the roads with trucks. The weather was perfect, there were hardly any bugs, we camped in the forest and we had our first blueberries, we were very content. After a massive shortcut we wanted to wildcamp on the Baltic coast, only to find out that it’s protected and thus forbidden. As it was late, we found a very crappy campsite, only to figure out the next day there are several FREE campsites on the coast itself. Unfortunately, they are not marked as such in either Google maps or maps.me.
View on Liepaja
The following day we cycled along the coast, through spa and resort towns with wonderful wooden mansions (some need a bit of TLC) to Riga. Cycling into Riga was easy peasy, with a new cycling path along the railway tracks. We wandered through the capital, treated ourselves to ice cream and beers and dinner, before heading out of town to find a place to sleep. We are sorry to report that cycling out of Riga is a bit more stressful, with abruptly vanishing of cycling paths. We dove into a forest 20km out of town and slept like babies.
The whole EuroVelo thing in Latvia is confusing anyway. Both EuroVelo 10 and 13 are going through the country, and around Riga they are overlapping. The 13 is signposted, the 10 is only in a planning stage, so we mostly followed the 13, although between Gauja and Saulkrasti it’s a mess. We had to plough through sand, push our bikes for several kilometers, a bridge was private property, we had to haul our bikes over the railway and cross a highway, all in the span of about 5km. This article sums it up nicely.
The route is 9,950 kilometers long and crosses 20 European countries – but not the A1 highway.
LSV.lv
For our last stretch in Latvia we choose the EV10 again, as the EV13 uses the A1 highway along the coast. So we looped back inland and enjoyed even more fields of grain, before turning back to the coast to cross the border. We had decent roads until the last 15km, so we said goodbye to Latvia on a gravel road. Fitting.
Estonia: finally… Signs.
Our time in Estonia started off perfectly; the EuroVelo routes have signs again and we found a free campsite directly after the border. The Estonian State Forest Management operates plenty of these campsites across the country, and we love them. Most of them are also marked on Google maps, and there is even an app. Fireplaces, benches and pit toilets, sometimes even potable water are available.
No wonder the site was full with locals, and many of them looked like they were staying longer than one night. We however had a date in Pärnu; a friend of Kevin and his Estonian girlfriend. Her family was OK with us pitching a tent in their garden, and even let us do laundry and have a shower. We had a great time catching up, bitching about PhD-life, having beers and pizza and enjoying the beach. Even a morbid city tour was included (“the guy living in this house was electrocuted and the lady in that flat threw her dog out of the window”). Highly recommended. Laden with tips from the Real Estonian™, we followed the EuroVelo 10 (and 13) to Virtsu, where we took the ferry for some island hopping.
We started off on Muhu, where we camped on the beach, before crossing the dam to the bigger island Saaremaa. We even did some touristy stuff (credits to Real Estonians™); we visited an meteorite crater and had fish soup and local cider at the Windmill Pub in Kuressaare. Wildcamping is not allowed on the island, but also here the RMK has several free campsites; we stayed at Veere. It was so nice, and since we had a spot for us alone, we decided to stay an extra day to relax, read and swim.
Then another ferry to the island Hiiumaa, where we cycled for another day, before taking the ferry back to the main land. In the very pretty capital Tallinn we were hosted by Ergo and his wife Kadi. They treated us like family, showed us around and fed us real Estonian treats. So we are well rested, Kevin’s got his hair cut and ready for the Finnish wilderness!
Conclusion
We loved the pittoresque towns of the Baltic and the camping along the coast. We liked the mix between idyllic hanseatic cities, Scandinavian flair and a dash of Sovjet. However, apart from Estonia, the cycling wasn’t great. The roads are traffic heavy, do not have any shoulders, and the minor roads are impossible with a heavy tour bike. We definitely would come back for a city trip, or go hiking, but we would leave the bikes at home.
