England to Estonia

[brosbloke]

I am planning a charity ride from England to Estonia. Early route ideas are to go via Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
If anybody has already done this route and could share any contacts, local dealers/ mechanics, knowledge, places to stay - all bright ideas, suggestions welcome.
Thank you.

[Jenna]

Made the run back and forth to Estonia (and most of eastern Europe/Russia) many times between 99' and 2001 when i worked out there.

we always traveled from Kingston Upon Hull to Europoort and then used the E35(A12) east traveling through Utrect, Apeldoorn, Hannover, Berlin, Slubice into Poland. As we had two bases (Krakow and Tallinn) i sadly never got the chance to drive the section between the two (always flew) so cant help you with that section.

Estonia its self is a terrific place with some of the nicest people you will ever meet in the world, Traveled over most of the north of the country... Tallinn sadly become a bit too tourist for me but Tartu is along with Krakow probably one of my fave places in the world.. true east meets west feel. If your into history (especially social history over the last century and half) then you will love Estonia.

I still have quite a few paper maps of both Poland and Estonia which i'm happy to loan out if its any help.

Places you must go if you get time...

Poland:
Krakow: Wavel, St Marys Church (Veit stoss) and the market square & Rynek Glowny (and the night clubs below it!).
Podgorze: POW camp and the Kazimierz (watch 'schindlers list' first!)
Klodzko: Tatra mountians.
Mikolajki: 1000 lakes (beware of the bugs in summer though!)
Wieliczka: salt mine ( bit tourist but still mind blowing in scale!)

Estonia:
Talinn: Town hall square.. medieval at its best!... oh and some top bars and clubs!
Baltic coast: Head for Vosu on the north coast (so nearly moved here to live)
Tartu: Town hall square, university, Toomagi, observatory.. oh and the old bar in the hill... amazing!
Tartu: also probably the most museums in 5 sq/km in the world.. KGB HQ is a must
Narva:Russian border and gateway to St Petersburg.

I did do the run going east west via Newcastle, Stravanger, Oslo, Stockholm, Turku, Helsinki and Tallinn but its slow and can be very inhospitable during the winter months, plus the cost of living is way more in these countries so the cost of travel is also proportionally high.

[severs]

In Germany, on the Baltic coast at Laboe near Kiel is the U-boat memorial and museum (an actual type VII boat), very interesting.

[brosbloke]

Can't wait to go after reading this ! I am actually heading for a particular place in Estonia. In Polvamaa there is a place called Ristee. How come, well, we are Ristee Towers FC www.risteetowersfc.com (http://www.risteetowersfc.com) - a name I made up. Now that Google turned up a real Ristee the idea of going there is irresistable - does Ristee appear on any of your maps ?

[Snaphappy]

What way are you travelling the two main motorways in Germany travel to my north and south A30 - A2. bed and breakfast available, if I'm here, send some dates, from Northhants to us is about 500 miles via dover / harwich,

[Jenna]

Ristee‎ +58° 0' 0.00", +26° 43' 1.20"

lol from the look on google earth its a farm house in the middle of nowhere ( about 25 miles south of Tartu) Definatly been through it a few times as its right in the middle of the area where we used test, its also where we did the EOS Rally (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKVVXex21KA).. (footage filmed in Tartu and Otepaa and surrounding villages)

The nearest big towns are Tartu and Otpeaa which is a winter ski resort with a monster ski jump and so on ( used to part of the world championship ski rounds)....

[Gotham]

Ristee‎ +58° 0' 0.00", +26° 43' 1.20"

lol from the look on google earth its a farm house in the middle of nowhere ( about 25 miles south of Tartu) Definatly been through it a few times as its right in the middle of the area where we used test, its also where we did the EOS Rally (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKVVXex21KA).. (footage filmed in Tartu and Otepaa and surrounding villages)

The nearest big towns are Tartu and Otpeaa which is a winter ski resort with a monster ski jump and so on ( used to part of the world championship ski rounds)....

Hello!
The "Ristee" is actually "Risttee" and it means Crossroad. There are many farmhouses called Risttee. Also there is one village called like that (N57.95045 E26.42261)
Map Ristee (http://www.regio.ee/?op=body&id=24&marker=642992|6425648|Ristee|symbol_circle_anim) and maybe this is better if it works Ristee (http://kaart.otsing.delfi.ee/?c=web&q=ristee&x=0&y=0)
South-Estonia is very nice indeed. If you need any help, you can contact with me and I try to help as much as I can. When are you coming?
There are quite many interesting places and cool roads for andventure bikes.
River crossing (http://www.undertaker.pri.ee/galerii/v/soidud/laupaevane_valjasoit/09_G.jpg.html)

[Jenna]

ahh well there you go, explains why there is naff all of a village then... thanks

Gotham where in Tallinn are you?

[Gotham]

ahh well there you go, explains why there is naff all of a village then... thanks

Gotham where in Tallinn are you?

Actually I live in Tabasalu which is bordered in east by Tallinn. But at the moment I'm in Mustamäe (Black Mountain) - working.

[brosbloke]

Hi,
Whereabouts are you located ? I will be in Dresden and Leipzig at the end of the month, maybe we could make contact.

[brosbloke]

Ristee‎ +58° 0' 0.00", +26° 43' 1.20"

lol from the look on google earth its a farm house in the middle of nowhere ( about 25 miles south of Tartu) Definatly been through it a few times as its right in the middle of the area where we used test, its also where we did the EOS Rally (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKVVXex21KA).. (footage filmed in Tartu and Otepaa and surrounding villages)

The nearest big towns are Tartu and Otpeaa which is a winter ski resort with a monster ski jump and so on ( used to part of the world championship ski rounds)....

Brosbloke update 6 May 08.
I am astonished and grateful for all the replies - thank you all. I am an old geezer and intend to trundle East on my little Bros 400 until I bump into somewhere called Ristee, having stumbled across one in Finland and one in Estonia. I've gone for Estonia because E comes before F. I rather fancy avoiding autobahns and going by whatever the Eurocrats now call B roads. I'm thinking of 10 - 14 days for the round trip - let everyone roar past with their hair on fire if they want. If the bike goes terminally BANG somewhere then some surprised farmer will find it in a ditch and I'll get back any old how. Sorry it's not a fab trailie but then what do you expect for £800 quid off e bay ? Everything on it works, it starts, does not clank, leak oil or fluid and thrums along like a Honda should. I say should because my brother bought one of the first CB77 Sports and we had it seize solid on us past Gatwick airport at 90 mph two up when a circlip came out of the left piston and the gudgeon pin stuck solid in the bore. I got cold feet about Hondas at that point and bought a Velocette Viper. My brother bailed out too and bought a Rocket Goldie. How we both wish we had kept them now.
The key driver for this trip is to raise awareness, and hopefully money, for the Crazy Hats cancer charity - having lost my father, mother in law and now my beautiful daughter to this horrible scourge. So, if anybody has any bright ideas, experience or connections that could help this cause I would like to hear from you too. As my grandson is now connected to our football club it would be nice if a little money could go there along the way. Thank you again to all the kind people who have responded so far.

[Gotham]

Hi,
Whereabouts are you located ? I will be in Dresden and Leipzig at the end of the month, maybe we could make contact.
In Tallinn which is the capital and it's in N-Estonia.
PM-d to you.