09/09/2023

James ran and I swatted mosquitos whilst doing Pilates. It was a driving day with stops.

The first stop was a forest installation of megaphones. University students created them. Lying inside, you should hear amplified forest sounds. Unfortunately, there was no wind so little to hear. Other than one bird and Corrie having a pee!

Our second stop was Rouge. The guidebook described it as the prettiest Estonian village. More the location than the village. Pretty, as there were ground undulations and water. The driving has been pretty boring through Latvia and Estonia so far … flat, fields and forest. Very long, very straight roads with not much habitation.

We did the short walk up to the crow’s nest observation tower, only to discover a food festival. Result. Interestingly most of the signs were in Russian … had to put Google translate onto Detect Language. We met a British lady gin and vodka producer who had moved to Estonia 13 years ago with her small family.

Pudding was an ice cream from the village shop. A local apologised for cutting the queue and then asked what we were doing here. He went on to quite forcibly state that in 2 years, Russia would invade. They had built the military infrastructure on the other side of the border. Once the Ukraine was sorted, Russia would invade Estonia. It’s sobering to reflect that the borders we know now have shifted over centuries and will continue to do so.

Our destination was Lake Peipsi, the 5th largest lake in Europe and forms the border with Russia.