A hike in Estonia With Us

Apart from the capital Tallinn, Estonia is a country little frequented by Europeans of the West, yet its nature

   deserves some attention!

In August I went on an adventure in the Baltic countries mainly in Estonia in order to take a hike. It was the first time I went for a hike of several days and Estonia was a good destination for the land is relatively flat; So not too much trouble with the altitude.

 
Hiking in Estonia!
Estonia is a very green country with many lakes and forests; a perfect place to find lots of hiking place! There are two paths through the country, one of 371 km and another of more than 600 km. So I went along with my cousin perform the first of Oandu to Ikla. 

 

 Hiking; landscapes

 The first part of the trek takes us across the Lahemaa National Park; a large pine forest in sandy soil dotted with marshes. Pines and sand gave me the impression of being in Arcachon!

 But my greatest expectation during this hike was crossing several marshes. Why you ask? Because when you cross a swamp, the road turns into small boardwalk! There is also information boards throughout the marsh to present the specific flora and fauna of this ecosystem, and observation towers to make you admire a 360 ° panorama. It turns out that the marshes are home to small carnivorous plants and a wide variety of spiders, one can walk on water! For arachnophobes, do not worry, I have not seen one!

During the hike you will pass many lakes where you can swim (and wash at the same time) with a particularly large close to the "city" Arduous. Estonians seem to be very close to nature people, and as soon as summer comes, they spin all spend the day at a lake or camp for the weekend.

Like berries? Watch where you step and watch Fourets alongside the trails, you will surely see them blueberries! A treat :)

 

Hiking; practical information.

When hiking, you do not come across many villages with a supermarket or a convenience store; so make your food as soon as you can! We had ours in Tallinn then Aegvidu (first city crossing); locate on map!

In Estonia it is prohibited to camp or camps wild fires so you have to respect the sites created for this purpose. Scores of camps dot the hiking and they consist of a minimum location for the fire (a bit like a barbecue), a wooden table protected and wood cutting for the fire. There is also often dry toilets. However, we noticed that more we got into hiking, the camps were less advanced; those of Lahemaa National Park are all very well maintained! 

 You can also get detailed hiking to the starting point of Oandu to better plan the mileage based camps cards. Attention calculate your shot well because sometimes there is no camp for 27 km.

 

meetings

Throughout our hike, we have not met many walkers. However they met were all adorable! Estonians are nice people and are willing to give you assistance.

Some gave us water when we were dry, others have lent us their solar chargers for our cell phones, and a German backpacker has prepared us porridge for breakfast! Estonians are usually quite surprised to come across tourists, especially in remote areas and all wanted to know how we had been aware of this footpath.

I am personally totally conquered this country and its people, who even when they do not speak English do their best to help! :) 

Advice 

•  Mosquitoes and other bugs: my friends, plan mosquito repellent and citronella ... Estonia has many lakes, marshes and streams and therefore mosquitoes! Horror; as soon as one stops working they jump on you!

     It is the same for horseflies! The trail through forests they are EVERYWHERE. I often lost my temper because of these insects [fill in a rude word]. For this to gesticulate hand to keep them away and you beat regularly to hunt those placed on you, I do not have any other advice ...

•      Water: Locate on the map rivers and lakes to predict where you will make your water supply and take enough containers to take as much as possible every time! Indeed, it may be that you do not croisiez water point and you can find yourself in awkward situations. One night we even had to knock on people in the countryside at 20:30 asking for water. Remember to take sanitizing tablets!

•  Ecology: I've always been a big fan of Lush cosmetics that are handmade, natural and usually possible bios. They are quite consistent with the preservation of nature. Having planned to wash into rivers, I wanted to have the least possible impact on the ecosystem and so I took my trip home a solid shampoo and toothpaste solid pellets (éthifrice). In addition to these environmentally friendly products also allow you to lighten your bag! I recommend it 100%.

• Obviously there is not that these two major trails, there are plenty of other smaller to walk a few hours or days. You will find all the information according to the Estonian region where you are by looking at the website of RMK (Estonian Association managing forests): RMK

You have to present all the information to you! :) Otherwise check out our other destinations on our travel blog!