Cycling through the countryside

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10 June:
IT'S OVERCAST with winds gusting SSW to force 9 and no let-up forecast for tomorrow. Yachts are tucked in at the docks rather than venturing out into a blustery head sea. I decide on an inland route for my bicycle tour, hoping it will be more sheltered there. I take one of the so-called EuroVelo routes -- a paved road with little traffic that suits me just fine (although, later I veer off to thread my way through farmland on a dusty gravel road). I pass farmsteads with the inevitable old stone buildings utilized as a shed, barn or even main building. The island's history dates back more than 6000 years when seal hunters first used Saaremaa as a base. That's pre-bronze age, long before the Egyptian empire!

I come across the site of Kaarma Moalinn, a prehistoric stronghold. There's not much archaeological evidence other than a circular, grass-covered berm about (I'm guessing here) 5 metres (16 feet) high and 75 metres (250 feet) across, which at one time probably sheltered a small village. A trail passes into a breach and out the other side, and there is a creek flowing next to it. I continue my way across a bridge and into the adjacent forest. I have no idea where I'll end up, but that's the adventure of it -- something I certainly couldn't have done if I had rented a car as my Tallinn guesthouse host had suggested. Sure, I'm not covering as much distance -- it's a mere 42 km jaunt -- and there are attractions on the north side of Saaremaa, such as the Panga sandstone cliffs or the Kaali meteorite crater field further east which I won't reach on this afternoon trip. But I am amply compensated travelling through these calming woods, and I eat my packed lunch in peace on a roughly hewn wooden bench in front of a church built in 1407, surrounded by moss-covered stone walls... and not a tourist in sight!

Returning to the open highway on the return leg to Kuressaare I pedal the last ten kilometres into a strong head wind; it feels like an additional thirty. Now I understand the need for a 24-speed bicycle!

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Photos

Stone cellar, village of Pähkla
When I asked a worker, finishing a modern log guesthouse next door, if this structure was old, he said, "No, not very old," and pointed to the mid-19th century date engraved above the door.

Stone walls
and stick fences dot the countryside throughout Saaremaa.

Peeter-Pauli Kirik at Kaarma
It's massive, it's in the middle of nowhere, yet it must have served its purpose when built half a millenium ago.

Engraved chard
in front of Kaarma church.

Thatched roof cottage
Perhaps the parish priest's residence next to the church at Kaarma?

Getting ready for a long winter
This isn't an isolated scene. It seems just about everyone on the island (and probably across the country) is laying up a huge stockpile of firewood.