Lady Hamilton 2019

TALLINN, ESTONIA TO HELSINKI, FINLAND (45 miles)

Day 53 Sunday, 21st July 2019

We left Haven Kakumae at 8.45 am and bid our farewells to Tallinn.

We met my sister and partner, Fiona and Steve, in the Hotel Ilmarine on Tuesday, 9th July before we flew home. They were at the end of their cycling trip through the Baltic States, with friends Phil and Rona. We went with them in the evening on a guided trip through Old Tallinn and Toompea – retracing our steps of yesterday but the guide told us some interesting stories. And the tourists from the cruise ships had all gone home! We’d booked a table on the balcony at Lieb but it was quite cold and rainy so we had to eat inside. Anyway, the food was very delicious!

We had to motor all the way from Tallinn to Helsinki across the Gulf of Finland – there was not a puff of wind so we didn’t get the sails out at all. We had to cross the major shipping lane which must go to St. Petersburg. It was very busy with big ships, like the English Channel, with ferries crossing the shipping lanes just like Dover to Dunkirk!

Malcolm drew down the Estonian courtesy flag and put up the Finnish courtesy flag.

Three officers on a Customs rib came alongside as we approached Helsinki – and asked us whether we had wine, cigarettes or weapons on board? Malcolm told them we had 3 wine boxes (he told a porky pie as we actually have 5 on board), no cigarettes and no weapons! And had we come from the UK this year? No, we’ve been away from the UK since 2016 (our 4th season this year). And then they left.

We saw Fred Olsen’s ‘Black Watch’ coming out from behind the island – which we went on in 2013 to Norway from Newcastle.

It’s stern buoy moorings again here in Liuskasaar Marina, otherwise known as HSS for Helsingfors Segeljallskap. I failed to attach the very expensive quick-release mooring hook (we bought in France) first time round so we had to circle round and do it again, but I did manage to leap onto the pontoon over the bow as there was no-one there to take my lines.

Then I find out that the Guest harbour is on another pontoon, and this might be somebody’s specific place. So we had to remoor on the Guest Pontoon. And this time someone did take my lines

 

The marina is on an island and we have to get a ferry to go to the mainland – it’s a very short ferry ride – about two minutes!

We ate in the cockpit as it was very hot – the rest of the spaghetti sauce and new potatoes and salad.

TALLIN, ESTONIA

Day 52  Saturday, 20 July 2019

We decided to go the Estonian Open Air Museum today because there was a display of Estonian dancing, and then go to the Rimi supermarket, a short walk from the museum, to stock up with provisions.

The Open Air Museum is full of old wooden buildings, including many farms.  First stop at Sassi-Jaani Farm where the dancing display is held.  We were both invited to join in with the dancing – it was a bit like Morris dancing crossed with country dancing or as our elder son Jonathan used to say, country prancing. 

We see the same striped skirts worn by the dancers,  do you remember?  They were worn on the island of Kihnu, which we visited at the end of June. 

This is the one of the many wooden windmills.

 

We next go to the Aarte Fisherman’s yard and the net sheds. 

This is a bridal chest full of handcrafted blankets and quilts.

This is Roosta Farm, where we saw a ‘wedding ceremony’ with the table laid with food.  It was brought to the museum from Saaremaa, the biggest island beyond Muhu.  It also had a Moravian church prayer house.  The Moravian Church movement started in 1720s in Germany and quickly spread to Livonia.  The movement was most intense in Estonia during the first half of the 19^th century with Saaremaa as the focal point.  My father went to Fulneck School in Bradford, which was Moravian.  I remember him telling me that he had snow on his bed in winter!   

The church – Sutlepa Chapel – was a hive of activity of Sunday, all dressed in their Sunday best, and exchanging community news.

This is Orgmesta Fire Station – the foundation of volunteer firefighters’ societies began during the 2^nd half of the 19^th century. 

Then, after lunch, we leave for the Rimi Supermarket and walk through the woods.  We have to get a taxi back as we’re very overloaded! Actually the taxi was cheaper than the bus!  It costs us 3.90 euros and the bus costs 2 euros each.   Eat on the boat tonight, on our table in the cockpit, and watch another episode of ‘Mad Men’ Series 4!!

HAVEN KAKUMAE, TALLINN, ESTONIA

Day 51 Friday, 19^th July 2019

We flew back to Tallinn from Stansted after a wonderful week at home. 

First we invited my brother, Patrick, and Paddie and Gulden for a meal on Friday.  They told us all about their trip to southern Spain.  On Saturday, we walked down to the Yacht Club for a wine-tasting evening and saw old friends there.  We saw Ralph and Stanley and Alex, our younger son, on Sunday, and played cricket in the garden.  Then had friends come over for dinner on Monday,  June and Richard, Irene and Keith, and Mike and Sally from Pocklington.  On Tuesday we went to Fine Arts and Phags.  In between all this I managed to get to the hairdresser (and so did Malcolm) and the beautician, and sat in the lovely garden, and visited my aunt in Scarborough.  Malcolm had an appointment with our financial adviser and was busy putting in the waypoints for our next country, Finland.  It was a very busy week  – but mostly sunny!

We brought many items back with us –  including more cup o’ soups, coffee, ginger biscuits, boat shock absorbers (very heavy!), injector cleaner, etc. etc.  – so were quite laden down with our hand luggage.  Got trams back from the airport to the bus station and were just in time to catch the bus to the marina.  We arrived in time for lunch and I bought sandwiches at the shop. We had a sleep in the afternoon after our early start at 4.30 am!  Of course, it’s 2 hours ahead here.

Malcolm booked a meal for the evening as we hadn’t got any supplies – in ‘Puri’, the posh restaurant in the marina.  The food was delicious AND we looked over our boat!

 

HAVEN KAKUMAE, TALLINN

Day 50  Monday, 8^th July 2019

Went into Tallinn on the 41 bus – it took about 35 minutes – from our Haven Kakumae. 

First we went to Toompea, a large fortified hill, was the preserve of the bishop and the feudal nobility in the 13^th century, literally looking down on the merchants and lesser beings below.  We’re quite overwhelmed by the number of tourists here in the Old Town,  Estonia’s most fascinating locality.  There are at least four cruise ships in the port.

This is Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox cathedral, built in 1900 right opposite the parliament buildings.  This was in the Tsarist Russification in the empire’s Baltic provinces. 

Then down the cobbled street to the Lower Town, surrounded by its 2.5km defensive wall complete with towers and gates.

We strolled through the Old Town across the Town Hall Square (Raekoja Plats) where there are many stalls selling tacky souvenirs and tourists buying them.  There’s been a market here since the 11^th century and the pastel-coloured buildings are from the 15^th – 17^th centuries. 

We had borsch soup at Lieb, an Estonian restaurant with uses only Estonian produce, and we booked a table for tomorrow night when we’re meeting my sister and partner and friends who’ve been cycling through the Baltics.  Lieb was Tallinn’s Scottish Club so that’s why they’ve got busts of Sean Connery and Robbie Burns!

After that we go on a little train to the Seaplane Harbour.  I love these little trains!

We saw some sailors with HMS Kent (a frigate) on their caps coming through the town to the Holy Spirit Church. 

They’re here for a commemoration of 100 years ago.  The British Government were anti-Bolshevik and supported Estonia in the fight against Bolshevik invasion 1918 -19.  (They’ve been involved very recently in the largest military exercise of the year in the Baltic, with the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian navies.) 

The Holy Spirit Church has exquisite wood carvings and painted panels, including an altarpiece dating to 1483.

Next to the Town Hall: completed in 1404, this is the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe.

  I love the weathervane of Tom, a new one is on the roof now.

I find pictures of Gustavus Adolphus and Christina, his daughter, Queen of Sweden .  I’m reading her biography now! 

Go to Balti Jaam, the railway station, and get back on the bus, 21 this time, which takes us back to the boat.  I collect my laundry which has been dried and folded by the young lady in the Harbour Office – such a treat!  Eat up the remaining sausages, potatoes and broccoli and watch ‘Anonymous’, a film about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays with Vanessa Redgrave as Elizabeth 1. 

I’ll stop writing the Blog for a couple of weeks because we’re going to the same hotel as my sister in Tallinn tomorrow, and flying home on Wednesday.  Back to Tallinn on Thursday, 18^th July.  A big thank you to all my readers! 

We love Tallinn!  Except for the number of tourists ….

DIRHANI TO HAVEN KAKUMAE, TALLINN

Day 49 Sunday, 7^th July 2019

Leaving Dirhani at 8 am with a Finnish yacht behind us.  There are two small children on the bow!

We meet a small island with a grey seal conservation area beside it – but see no seals, AGAIN!

There are taller cliffs here than we’ve seen before – still not as high as Boulby. 

We had to motor all the way, the wind was light and variable. 

We can see Tallinn on the horizon with its steeples and new tall buildings but we’re turning into the harbour through a fleet of racing dinghies, and the start siren sounds.  We don’t why they’re starting the race just outside the harbour? 

We circle in the harbour whilst I put the lines on and the fenders out, and jump down onto the pontoon for the last time for two weeks.  It’s cheaper here than in any of the marinas close to Tallinn – we’re paying 250 euros for two weeks, they charge 500 euros closer to Tallinn.  And it’s a secure harbour with a locked gate so we can comfortably leave the boat here while we fly home. 

We meet the harbour master who’s done the deal in the Port Office and he shows us all the facilities, including the heated sheds for winter storage.  

After supper, we watch the final episodes of ‘Mad Men’ Series 3.  Malcolm’s already ordered Series 4,5 and 6 from Ebay!

We’ve done 1,002 miles since we set from Fehmarn on 21st May.  That’s quite an achievement – sailing all the way along the South Baltic Coast from Fehmarn, Germany, to Tallinn, Estonia!

And we’re now E24.36.00 and our yacht insurers will not provide cover beyond E25.00.00!

DIRHAMI

Day 48  Saturday, 6^th July 2019

Blogged all morning whilst it was so windy.  Went to see the kite-surfers in the afternoon.  Can’t think how they avoid the rocks!

Then strolled down to the shop to buy bread and icecreams (Magnums are very popular here!).  Took a photo this holiday cottage with pretty flowers and roses climbing up the trellis – I’ll be back home on Wednesday but miss my garden so much.

We went to the concert in the fish restaurant in the evening.  They told us it would start at 6 pm and we had to be there for 5.30 pm.  We met two couples at the concert who shared our table.  They were very chatty and told us that Estonia has over 2,000 islands.  One lady told us that she lived across the bay from the harbour where we’re going, Haven Kakumae, and they’ve built it on what was an old Soviet fishing harbour.  It’s very new and modern with brand new facilities and heated sheds for winter storage of yachts.  They’ve also built flats behind the marina with mooring rights on the doorstep.  It’s quite near the Estonian Open-air Museum which they said was very good.  The other lady told me that she was in marketing and I told her about ‘Mad Men’.  She’s going to watch it!

 

The Brazilian guitarist, Eduardo Agni, now living in Estonia, has composed some Amazonian songs, and has a very unique way of playing the guitar, almost like a violin. 

The partner of the first lady has a floating pod (www.floating.ee) with a high concentration of Epsom Salts, and it’s anti-stress!  They both have motorbikes but the first lady wanted to wear a dress so they’ve come in a car from their weekend house in the woods, about half way to Tallinn.  The other couple came on the motorbike, and he takes Malcolm for a spin down the road. 

After the concert they were sharing a sauna.  They’re very popular in Estonia, which is close to Finland, its closest ethnic and linguistic buddy, and they have them at all the marinas here.  Not that we’ve indulged.  We don’t do naked at our age!!

DIRHAMI (Port Dirham)

Day 47  Friday, 5^th July 2019

We decided to go to Haapsalu  (where we should have stayed yesterday) on the (small) bus.  It took 40 minutes!

The bus stopped near the Railway Station – but the trains to Tallinn started in 1905 and stopped in 1995. Must have been a Beeching moment!  Haapsalu was the favourite summer resort of the Russian imperial family and aristocrats. Rumours spread in the early 19^th century about a new miracle: healing curative mud.  Stories about the magic mud inspired many tsars of Russia to visit Haapsalu. They came here from St Petersburg in ships before the railway was built.  The unique 216 m railway platform was fully roofed so that members of the Tsar’s family could step out of any wagon without getting their feet wet.   

Next to the Episcopal Castle.  It was built in the 13^th century as the centre of the Osel-Wiek Bishopric, which was western Estonia’s centre of command from the 13^th to 16^th centuries.  A turreted tower, most of the outer wall and some of the moat still remain. 

The museum takes you through head-banging arched tunnels where there’s lots to read about the bishopric, the serfs, the clergy, and the building of the castle.  

 We take a spiral staircase up to the café as it’s raining again and find a table inside.  We had no choice but to have pasta on the very limited menu.  It’s quite cold so we felt justified!  We continue up the spiral staircase to the tower, and get back down outside with long black metal stairs built with EU funding (we think!).  We suddenly come face to face with a Japanese tour group! 

Next we go to the Dome Church, the Haapsalu St. Nicholas Cathedral built originally in the 1260’s.  It apparently is the biggest single-naved church in the Baltics.  It has the simple interior of the Cistercian monastic order, rose window above the portal and no tower because of the belief that it is extreme arrogance to get too close to God.  The acoustics in the church are exceptional and they have many concerts here: a sound persists for 11 seconds which provides an exceptional experience for the listeners and a serious challenge for the performers!

The Baptismal Chapel where the full moon (in August and February) shining through a window casts the shadow of a woman to the middle window.  She is known as the ‘White Lady’.  Apparently a canon once dressed his beloved as a choirboy and brought her into the castle.  Women were threatened with death if they entered the castle and the girl was walled in a chapel wall ALIVE when the secret of the young couple was revealed!

It absolutely pours down as we return from the castle to the supermarket. 

We have to shelter under a porch.  The supermarket (Rimi again) is quite near the bus stop at the station.  We shop for supplies for tonight and the next couple of days.  Catch the bus at 4.10 pm and arrive back on the boat – pretty soaked – by 5 pm. 

Eat on board tonight and watch 2 more episodes of ‘Mad Men’.  Only 3 to go now at the end of Series 3.  We’ll take the DVDs home on Wednesday and maybe buy more series to watch if the cold rainy weather persists. Brrrh!

KUIVASTU (MUHU ISLAND) TO DIRHAMI (mainland Estonia)

Day 46 Thursday, 4^th July 2019

We leave at 7.50 am and I take photos of the cliffs at the end of Muhu Island.  They’re only 8 metres high so not a patch on Boulby Cliffs, north of Staithes, which are supposed to be the highest cliffs in England.

We were surprised to see a large ship coming down the Moon Sound. (We think Muhu was known as Moon by Arthur Ransome.  The island was taken over by the Germans after the Russian Revolution in 1917.)

Many more Finnish yachts streaming down the Sound.  It’s only 48 nautical miles from Hanko (Finland) to the second biggest Estonian island of Hiiumaa, just north of Saaremaa.  We see the ferry going from mainland Rohukula to Hiiumaa and it also goes to Vormsi, another smaller island between Hiiumaa and the mainland..

We take many dog-legs in the buoyed channel.  I’m so pleased that the skipper has put the waypoints all in and printed out the waypoints for each journey.  We should be going to Haapsalu (which we pass quite close by) but it’s going to be very windy tomorrow and Saturday, and that’s why we’re going to Dirhami, further north: our only window on Sunday to get to Tallinn. 

 

Many rocks on either side of the entrance to Dirhami.  They must have come from Finland!  We will be rock hopping all the way through the Finnish archipelago. 

The harbour master takes our lines in Port Dirham (Dirhami) and says we can pay at the harbour office when we’ve tidied up the boat. 

We have a meal in the fish restaurant with quite a few others – on boats or in a nearby B and B.  It’s been recommended on Captain’s Mate and it’s the only restaurant in the area.  There’s absolutely nothing here except a small beach by the harbour!  We had a starter platter of roe, smoked salmon and raw white fish, followed by perch (for M.) and fried white fish for me. The perch and white fish are locally caught but the salmon is from Norway.  We found the fish rather tasteless as the Baltic Sea’s salinity is much lower (0.1% in the north to 0.6% in the centre) than ocean water (which averages 3.5%).  Bring back Whitby’s famous Fish and Chips!

KUIVASTU (Muhu Island)

Day 45 Wednesday, 3^rd July 2019

Staying another night at Kuivastu as the strong wind is blowing from the NW and we don’t want to battle up the Moon Sound.  There are many dog-legs ahead as it’s shallow and we have to keep to the buoyed channel.

Have a leisurely morning – unusual for us as we’re always either sightseeing, shopping, washing, blogging or things to do with the boat (the skipper knows all about that!). 

A different harbour-master – they take turns, 2 days on and 2 days off.  They greet every yacht as it comes in and take their lines – even in yesterday’s heavy rain.  So informative and so kind!  Finnish boats stream into the harbour. 

We walk out to find Arthur Ransome’s ‘Old Russian Inn’.  “It was the last symbol of the Russian.  It was a typical Russian posting-station, a low, one-storied building with pillars along the front of it …”

Even in 1922 “there were no horses, no vodka, no sleepers – nothing, in fact, of former glory.”  He got water from the well and milk from the innkeeper’s daughter “who milked a cow and gave me my can full of admirable milk.”

This is the Cobblestone Road, leading to the 19^th century battery built to defend the straits.  The locals built the road and these were Russian (Tsarist) cannons.

Muhu Uisk – an Estonian sailing ship modelled on a Viking boat originally.

I go to the handicraft shop near the ferry and buy small presents for Patrick, Paddie and Gulden.

We have a Union Jack flying at the harbour – because we’re in town tonight!  And this is Liliann who was in the Gulf of Riga Regatta – which they all completed!!

We have a meal in the café and take silly pictures in Muhu clothes  (cut-out faces)  – they seem to love orange!  I’ll post them later!

KIHNU TO KUIVASTU (MUHU ISLAND)

Day 44  Tuesday, 2^nd July 2019

Because of the situation of having high winds coming from a different direction each day, so the wave heights and direction are affected, we’re having to plan very carefully to get to Tallinn.  We need to get to Tallinn because we’ve booked a flight home from there a week tomorrow and we’re meeting my sister and partner next Tuesday after they’ve finished the cycling trip. 

This is the sand spit which stretches northwards from the island, about 3 miles long!  We go very close as we’re travelling in a narrow buoyed channel only 3.5m deep.  Quite hairy!  The spit protects us from the waves but we can see white horses on the other side. 

Then suddenly we’re out into the open sea and it’s very roly-poly, after the strong west wind of yesterday.  A 3 ginger biscuit day for me!  We put up the main with one reef in (and later two) and the foresail with two reefs as well.  It steadied the boat but  I couldn’t prepare lunch so we had it much later at 4pm in the harbour at Kuivastu! 

We entered the Moon Sound, of Arthur Ransome fame in ‘Racundra’s First Cruise’.  Do you remember he wrote ‘Swallows and Amazons’?  ‘Racundra’ was built in Riga in 1922 and the Baltic was where he learnt to sail.  

We had our oilies on for the last 2 hours of the journey as we could see the thunderous black clouds looming in the distance.  And it rained in torrents!   Fortunately the sea flattened off as it was then sheltered by the big island Saaremaa in the west.    

The harbour master greeted us and took our lines but we didn’t go to see him until much later, about 8pm, when it stopped raining and thundering.   This is a ferry port with 3 busy ferries doing the crossing between the mainland and the harbour.  Most people treat Muhu as the doormat of Saaremaa, there’s a causeway between the islands, but they’re really trying to put Muhu on the map and stop people racing through.

He told us that last year he’d had 430 Estonian yachts, 417 Finnish yachts, 230 German yachts and only 14 British yachts! 

We later had Spaghetti Carbonara and salad at 9 pm and watched two episodes of ‘Mad Men’ Series 3, which we’ve got to watch before Tallinn.  Not as good as Series 1 and 2 though!