The map said 53 kilometres to Rannapungerja. The sign on the cycle path read 80 kilometres. This was just the start of the nightmare.
The route from last night's rather poor - and even overpriced at 16 euros - hotel was straight into a headwind. Road works leaving the stretch as a muddy track and rain setting in all made for heavy going. After three days of beautiful cycling weather the gods were finally getting their revenge.
I decided to put my foot down, but the signposts headed me off the road and onto another rocky track taking in more climbs. The hills were getting steeper and it was looking like a long day in the saddle.
Eventually the track, which appeared to be used solely by lorries servicing some kind of mine, turned back into paved road. The best thing about traveling alone is how simple things can suddenly make the world seem a different place, and I was determined to get some serious distance in as things improved. For a couple of hours I didn't see anyone else until rejoining the highway "3" somewhere near Jouga. It certainly made nicer cycling off-road, but nobody was getting anywhere fast.
Again the Eurovelo veered off 3, this time in the opposite direction towards Iisaku. Estonia name every town and signposts them, even if they only consist of one family and a doghouse. Each mark on the map tentatively promises lunch, but this only arrived with the shops at Iisaku, over 40km into the ride.
Starving, I stuffed my face with way too much bread and cheese sitting on the bench in a playground. It was great to watch everyone else in the village getting around on their bikes, but it was unclear what anyone actually does. Sadly there had been an amazing place to have lunch a few kilometres back down by a lake (photos arriving shortly).
After a rest as hefty as the food it was off again to Rannapungerja. The sun was out and I felt like I was racing to stay ahead of the incoming weather. Again it was off on a detour to avoid all civilisation and generally not go towards the place I was planning to stay.
The tension in my legs was ramping up as I arrived at my destination, only to be told there wasn't anywhere to stay. As I appeared to still be staying ahead of the clouds it was off again to Mustvee, 20 kilometres on 3 but 45.4 kilometres up through the woods.
With each pedal stroke I was gradually getting weirder and started using strange distraction techniques, including working out how many cars could have number plates in Estonia. They have three letters and three numbers - answers on a postcard. Halfway through their is a beautiful town called Avinurme with a quaint hostel. A river runs under wooden bridges and it was really tempting to stay, but almost certainly would have left me with too much to do the next day. The wind was up again marring any benefit from the first consistent stretch of downhill I'd had all day, but Mustvee is on the huge Peipsi lake so I wanted to check it out.
Despite the nice - and completely empty - Ironi hostel the town is pretty disappointing. I suspect it could be much nicer in summer, but it felt a bit deserted and quiet, particularly compared to the countrified Avinurme. Other stretches of the lake had little triangular holiday villas and beaches along a wooded patch down to Rannapungerja, and there appeared to be plenty of bed and breakfasts to break this ride into two days.
Depending on the weather I'm going to head for Tartu tomorrow and then take a rest day there.
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