I had wondered why the computer in the Y office and in Gunta's house w
as an hour fast. However, I was too tired to question this as much as I should have. Through various hand signals Gunta's mother had told me she would be leaving this morning at 6:30 am and then returning at 8:30 am. I, in turn, told her I hoped to leave at 9:30 am.
I awoke at 7:30 and went to the kitchen - Gunta's mother was there. Strange I thought - she was not supposed to be back for another hour. And then what should have dawned on me two days ago struck me like a hammer blow: I had changed time zones! (I did not expect this until Helsinki) I checked the clock radio - 8:40. I would not be on the road for 8:30. Oh well, I knew the road was flat and hoped the wind would favour (or at least not oppose) me and knew I had a relatively short 130 km day.
Somewhat unusually for a capital city I instantly found the correct road and was soon rolling up the A1 toward Estonia. The wind was kind and was cutting across me from behind giving me slight push. This was the first day of riding I'd had a tailwind. Thank you Mother Nature. I was running straight up the coast and it was not long before I saw the Baltic Sea for the first time. I stopped at a beach for a break and a photo.
I was making great time due to the good road surface and the tailwind and figure I would only be in the saddle around 5 hours today. Awesome. The road was not too busy though busy enough to prevent much looking around. I turned off onto a quiet road near Ainzi that led to a small border post with Estonia. Upon entering Estonia there were several small villages with brightly coloured buildings and I passed a couple of fellow adventure-cyclists.
Having averaged 26 km/h for the day I made camp early, before 6 pm, at a beac
hfront site and could hear the waves crashing about 60 metres away. The other cyclists pulled up and made camp. Following dinner we talked about the stunning array of alcoholic beverages available at petrol garages compared to the very limited non-alcoholic selection. And that the only refrigerated drink coolers that worked were the ones with beer in - a warm coke was something I was getting used to. Andrea told the story of buying a bottle of tonic water, only to notice once the liquid touched her lips that it was already mixed with vodka! Seeing 1-2 drunks a day was common.
We watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon at gone 10 pm and then tried to sleep under the 'white' sky.
as an hour fast. However, I was too tired to question this as much as I should have. Through various hand signals Gunta's mother had told me she would be leaving this morning at 6:30 am and then returning at 8:30 am. I, in turn, told her I hoped to leave at 9:30 am.I awoke at 7:30 and went to the kitchen - Gunta's mother was there. Strange I thought - she was not supposed to be back for another hour. And then what should have dawned on me two days ago struck me like a hammer blow: I had changed time zones! (I did not expect this until Helsinki) I checked the clock radio - 8:40. I would not be on the road for 8:30. Oh well, I knew the road was flat and hoped the wind would favour (or at least not oppose) me and knew I had a relatively short 130 km day.
Somewhat unusually for a capital city I instantly found the correct road and was soon rolling up the A1 toward Estonia. The wind was kind and was cutting across me from behind giving me slight push. This was the first day of riding I'd had a tailwind. Thank you Mother Nature. I was running straight up the coast and it was not long before I saw the Baltic Sea for the first time. I stopped at a beach for a break and a photo.
I was making great time due to the good road surface and the tailwind and figure I would only be in the saddle around 5 hours today. Awesome. The road was not too busy though busy enough to prevent much looking around. I turned off onto a quiet road near Ainzi that led to a small border post with Estonia. Upon entering Estonia there were several small villages with brightly coloured buildings and I passed a couple of fellow adventure-cyclists.
Having averaged 26 km/h for the day I made camp early, before 6 pm, at a beac
hfront site and could hear the waves crashing about 60 metres away. The other cyclists pulled up and made camp. Following dinner we talked about the stunning array of alcoholic beverages available at petrol garages compared to the very limited non-alcoholic selection. And that the only refrigerated drink coolers that worked were the ones with beer in - a warm coke was something I was getting used to. Andrea told the story of buying a bottle of tonic water, only to notice once the liquid touched her lips that it was already mixed with vodka! Seeing 1-2 drunks a day was common.We watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon at gone 10 pm and then tried to sleep under the 'white' sky.
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