In preparation for the European Mobility Week

which is scheduled to start in six days and is meant to promote the use of public transportation and nonmotorized vehicles we did some biking trips. Two of them. The last one was shorter and perhaps more to the theme - biking mainly for mobility purposes rather than for fun and sightseeing. This trip was today. We took a train to Keila and from there, after stopping to stock up on water and rain capes, pedaled to the baseball field. Mike had agreed to be the field ump and I did not want to miss the championship games. Naturally, I checked out the weather report in the morning and was glad to be affirmed of the mostly sunny and 10% chance of rain outlook. Sadly, I was disappointed. I dare to say the games weren't half as much fun as the last couple of Amigos games and the weather man flat out lied. Not only did it rain for 10-15 minutes every 4 innings or so but it also rained hard on our 20 minute ride back to the train station. Capes didn't help much.

But the first biking trip we took on Tuesday and Wednesday was much more fun. To gather the sights under the common denominator, I'd use the word "military". We visited the western parts of our home county; to a previous government it had seemed like a good area to set up military establishments in. Let's see what I recall we saw: lakes in old limestone quarries dug by convicts, a 70 m ash hill growing young birches on top, young men nearing army age posing with rifles in an abandoned prison campus, spouses in slightly dampened never fitted clothes and frizzy hairdos sitting in antique upholstered burgundy chairs in a nice restaurant having lunch, a pink church building just off a nice wide and important highway that about four semis in an hour pass at any given point on a Tuesday afternoon, a military base for "imported" personnel turned into shooting grounds (target practice area) a decade after exporting that personnel, the location of one of the 22 concentration camps in Estonia, dark painted water tanks in every single back yard and meticulous flower beds in front yards of a gated "garden" community where guests with maps can let themselves in, trails through a 40 m2 peninsula that had been fenced off and used for military purposes only, a building that used to lodge a nuclear submarine and that is still heavily guarded, one squad of young solders with painted faces having their lunch break/CPR training and three squads walking in lines probably for their first end-of-summer assessment, country's tallest (50 m) lighthouse after we lost it from sight somewhere between the huge windmills and found again after deciding to move towards the source of the wind, a thrilling view to the sea after stopping at one of the corners of Peter the Great's fort planned to have cut into limestone but not quite finished, and many abandoned military buildings here and there all along the way.

For the future reference, let me type that the two roads absolutely worth taking with bikes were the ones going north just opposite the Padise manor house (the middle one, the one best hidden and not paved) and almost opposite of Maeru tavern (to Madise and Klooga respectively). The eastern trail road of Pakri peninsula is quite bumpy but still manageable, whereas the western road is awfully windy and can slow lighter weight bikers ;) down. Also, I tend to judge businesses by their web site but am glad that we nevertheless gave Allika Holiday House a chance. Now I can attest they may be trusted. The hosts are very friendly, and just as they say, offer many things free of charge. Things like kitchen/shower/sauna, fish from the river, fruit from the trees, absolutely must-take cold fresh spring water from their spring, cricket song at night and sheep alarm in the morning (completely tolerable, most likely even enjoyable). We even got firewood and grill for our s'mores for no extra fee and good wishes for the road of course too. The only things is, if you are not prepared to share your path with a sheep, you might reconsider. Or if you absolutely cannot stand to hear cars go by while sleeping outdoors.