Baltic Sea Circle day 11
Gemma woke before me with the sound of a hundred crazy gulls and began to pack up around me as I slept soundly for another 10 minutes, clearly needing the sleep! Once awake we sorted breakfast and coffee and packed away the sleeping gear. The boot of our car started off pretty organised but by now we’re just squeezing things in where we can. One last visit to the “drop” toilet and brush our teeth and we hit the road, with the aim of getting to Helsinki by 12:30, giving us a few hours there before our ferry at 3:15.
The roads of south Finland really are stunning, and after filling up with fuel (a now daily occurrence, and in Finland costing us €120 to top up) we hit the highway and headed for the capital of Finland. Even these main roads were lined with the purple and pink flowers, they were everywhere! I must find out if they grow in the UK and plant some in the garden.
After 3 hours, and a couple of turns each driving, we approached Helsinki and the traffic got busier, we found ourselves on the ring road and navigated towards the ferry terminal, looking for a car park. We found one and turned in, grabbed out ticket and headed underground. Our challenge for today was to find a statue in Helsinki called the Bad Bad Boy, and catch his “pee” in a bucket. Luckily we already had a folding bucket in the car courtesy of my Mum. We also grabbed our 5kg of juices and chocolate milk, hoping to find someone to trade with.
We emerged from underground and checked the map, and my sense of direction told me where we should go, even when Gemma questioned me I was sure that was the right way. 10 minutes later Gemma was checking the map again and discovering that we’d followed the wrong path and gone the wrong direction. Google Maps came to the rescue and after 30 minutes of carrying the 5kg bag around Helsinki we found the statue and got a photo. Challenge complete! There was no one who looked like they had anything worth trading so we decided to grab some lunch in a local restaurant. I have never tasted anything so good! Probably because we’d been surviving for a week on random things put into my camping stove. My beef burger and chips was amazing and Gemma chose the Chicken salad which was served in what seemed like a bowl big enough for 4! I think I devoured mine in 5 mins, while Gem was much more sophisticated and took her time. I checked my watch and the ferry tickets and saw that we needed to check in at least one hour before departure so we resorted to Google Maps again to find the car park and the shortest route, which was much much shorter than the path there! We hadn’t found a trade in Finland, no points for us there.
Once at the car we then had to figure out how to get out and spent a few minutes translating the signs in Finnish to English and finding out how to pay and where the exit was. We had to pay at the exit barrier and Gem had to lean fully out of the window to pop the ticket in and swipe the payment card since the Porsche is so low. Once out in the sunshine it was only a few minutes to the ferry and we joined the queue after having our passports checked. The ferry was busy and we decided to sit outside on the deck, which turned out to be where all the smokers came, but we sat in the sunshine on the calm sea and recalled what had happened over our trip. I wrote yesterdays blog and read it out loud to Gemma, a daily routine we normally had at bedtime.
The ferry docked in Tallinn on time, and we descended into the cool bowels of the ship to get to the car. We emerged onto the streets of Tallinn expecting a busy city, which has a reputation for some aggressive drivers. It was busy and the most notable difference was the shear number of road signs and traffic lights. It wasn’t long until we got onto the main road heading east. We had a party to get to, and it was only about 40 minutes away, we would be there just in time for the food! One other thing about Estonians is that they like overtaking, all the time. Even as we were going at the speed limit they were overtaking, so we needed to check our mirrors lots. At last the turning came and we journeyed down a forest lined twisty road for about 10 minutes. We missed the turning we needed to take and after a U turn, headed down the gravelled bumpy track until the venue came into sight. The place was already packed with other cars, vans and off road vehicles and we found a gap next to some German and Swiss folks who kindly said we could join them. We had a chat with a few people, they hadn’t seen us at the start so we recounted our tale of the breakdown just 15km from home.
There was music coming from down the hill so was took a walk and watched some traditional Estonian dancing , before heading to the bar. It had been a baking hot day and despite drinking all day the offer of cold beer was too much. We got a beer and a mocktail for Gemma and sipped the icy drinks outside. The next task was to check out the toilet situation: the rally organisers had provided portaloos, but not many. We took a visit and determined that the “drop” loo from last night’s campsite was by far better than these things. We were not impressed!
It was great to see so many people and their cars. We took a look around to see what other people had done, there were old BMWs and Audis, a full on 4×4 exploring truck and some Ladas parked together in the corner. Then it was time to eat, our second meal of the day that we hadn’t prepared ourselves! We were served pork with mash potatoes and a selection of pickles and sauces. I thought I would not be able to eat much after lunch but sat down and ate the whole lot, it was amazing.
We sat in the cooling evening air and enjoyed the cool drinks, such a difference from drinking warm water in our hot car. The party host then announced on the PA system that the sauna would begin, and everyone was to join in. Gemma and I shared a look and decided to head to our tent! We were intercepted by a few couples in towels, saying how good it was to all get naked together. This might be how Europeans do things but we’re British! Instead we rejoined our neighbours and traded stories of our adventures I’ve the last two weeks. We climbed into our sleeping bags at midnight, noticing how strange it felt that it was dark here and we needed our lantern! The party was still going on around us, until at least 3am. Our ear plugs dimmed the noise but we did not sleep much!
WILD SPIRIT 