Sunday 8th August mileage 4617 Tallin Estonia

Another full continental breakfast and then off for the ferry to Tallin Estonia.  Tomtom took me to tyhe Silva line and a boat had just left at 10:30 so I knew there was a boat from the Viking line at 11:30.  Plenty of time eh!!  Looked at map and thought I can do that without tomtom and so set off.  Eventually arrived at a cruise boat where the guide helped me by putting the street address for the viking terminal into tomtom.  Arrived in a panic with just 5 mins to spare befrroe they halued up the gangplank metarphorically speaking.  Here arev some pictures of the ferry and shots of Helsinki taken from the boat as it leaves.

€51 was the cost of the ferry to Tallin.  On the boat there were already about 4 bikes and they were just parked on their side stands and not tied down. I asked the deck hand if I needed to tie down the bike.  He said he would because the ferry company do not pay out on any claim if the bike was not secured down.  Her showed me a box of ratched straps and indicated I should do it myself.  Selected one and straight away the hook was not big enough to secure into the slots in the ships deck.  So selected anpother with a larger hook and this one the ratched didn,t work (cannot find the apostrophy on this keyboard) so went back to the deckhand and he said "yeh you have to make a loop in the large hook device and then fasten the small hook device to it" so this is what I did and eventually I haqd secured my bike  "Simples  **!!"

Spend the crossing listening to the entertainer who played acoustic guitar and sang songs like Blackbird and Mrs Robinson so quite up my street.  I thoought he was good.  Read my Europe guide book on Estonia and decided to spend the day in Tallin and then move east along the north coast.  The book mentioned an "Occupation Museum" that detailed all the events of the Russian (1939), then German (1940 - 1944)and then Russian (1944 - 1991) Occupations of their country.  Spent three great hors in the museum absolutley mesmerized, watched 6 20 min videos detailing the events of each period.  The exhibition included items of peoples personnel effects when they were shipped to the Gulags,  KGB bugging devices, uniforms of German and Russion army personnel, a Volga blag limousine the kind that only officers of the state could own, and that had priority on the roads and didn,t have to obey the traffic rules etc.  The one shown below actually belonged to the head of the KGB in Tallin. Also big bronze statues of the russian leaders that were taken down when they gained independence.  Prison doors from the Gulags,  and a set of photos taken by a man called Lindrum who was one of the people who went and lived in the forests for years rather than succumb to the oppression of then state.

Left at about 5 pm and set off for the only campsite in Tallin about 2km east of the city centre.  Pitched tent and cooked the usual.

It had been very muggy and sweaty all day, and just as I had finished cooking the heavens opened and thunder and lightning and lots of rain.  So I took my meal and eat it in the veranda of the reception area and started talking to people who were also sheltering there.  A family of two adults and two childrew about 10 years old arrived just before the storm and just got their tent ptched before they had to shelter also.  A backbacker girl arrived fresh from the airport. Her name was Anita and she was Australian and had just flown in from UK.  After the storm she pitched her tent next to mine and I could not believe how small it was it was about the size of a coffin.  Where she puts the backback when she is inside I do not know.

Recharged all my camera batteries while waiting for the storm to pass.

Off to bed.

TOR