A day at the sea

We woke up cooked — we’d had to shut the windows overnight against the mosquitoes, and there was no AC. The sea view was lovely; an AC unit would have been lovelier. The kids shuffled out looking like parboiled zombies.

So we headed for the sea. We almost stumbled onto a shaded beach by accident, set up camp and spent a few hours enjoying very cold water (15 °C according to the internet). It worked like a sauna: warm up on the sun, plunge to cool off.

There’s a wonderful local approach to the beach: pergolas, seating and grills are scattered around, and even today a couple of families were cooking at them. We were near the spot where you can see the northernmost tip of mainland Estonia — after enough swimming we set off on foot. The path was strewn with boulders of every size, and the sea kindly sent a cool breeze to keep us company. We hopped across the stones to the very tip and even picked up a geocache.

For food and something cold we stopped at the local campsite. At one table we were startled to hear Czech: a group of motorcyclists doing the same loop as us — only reversed, north first, and now heading south. Small world.

On the way to Tallinn we stopped at a supermarket (we’re in another self-catering flat). We tested the Estonian deposit system — both plastic bottles and cans carry a ten-cent deposit. In Tallinn we feasted royally on instant Chinese noodles from that supermarket and planned the rest of the trip. And booked beds. (I genuinely cannot imagine doing this kind of trip without Booking.com.) Tomorrow: the capital.