Xmas 2006 - Tallinn, Estonia

Christmas 2006 in Tallinn almost didn't happen for me. Heathrow had been fogged up for three days prior to my flight, and a large number of flights had been cancelled. Fortunately for me, on the morning of the 23rd the fog had lifted just enough for flights to resume. I arrived in Tallinn in the early evening and met the rest of the crew for dinner (the crew being Pete & Doris, Faye, Linh, and the Infamous Wong Brothers). My cold had not gotten better for travelling, and I was sounding like the dear departed Barry White. I then lost my voice completely for a couple of days.

The "old town" part of Tallinn is a smallish medieval village built on a gentle hill. It's quite easy to see all of it on foot, though stout footwear is recommended due to the uneven cobbles. The old town is full of interesting architecture and absurdly expensive gift shops.




We stopped at a cafe for lunch, and to model Steve's rabbit-fur hat, which was very warm even without the ear flaps being deployed:













We spent a few hours wandering around the village. There's a big cathedral at the top of the hill and it is suitably big and impressive. There's a fair few other pointy type buildings around the place too.

Group photo; from left: Ben, Linh, Steve, Faye, Pete, Doris.




















The following two shots were from a scenic lookout point at the top of the hill. On the way up to this lookout a friendly local asked me if I would like to purchase a fake Russian passport, or perhaps a gas mask...










Onwards to a palace type complex with large ornate gardens:










Dinner at "Gloria", one of the swankier places to eat. Our meal cost about 7,000 EEK (Estonian Kroons). That's actually only about £43 each. From left to right, Faye opening a present, Ben wearing his fluffy earmuffs, and Doris & Linh failing to be amused by another of Pete's bad puns.










Down in the harbour. A monument to a shipwreck in the late 1800s:












Wongs on Ice! Ben & Steve show us how it's done:












The journey home was thankfully uneventful. No more fog troubles at Heathrow, and my Eustachian tubes had cleared enough to not explode during descent.

Cycling in Riccione, Italy

Best cycling weekend yet. Four of us (Jason, Rob, Pete, and myself) set up in Hotel Sarti Riccione (http://www.hotelsarti.com/en/vacanza_family.php), which is part of the Riccione Bike Hotels network (http://www.riccionebikehotels.it/en/index.jsp) that stretches up and down the coast. December is very much their quiet period so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. The staff put on a splendid spread for us each mealtime and looked after us very well. We flew in on Friday the 1st, flew out on the 4th, and had two days of hardcore road cycling in between.

We received our hire bikes on Friday night and we immediately took them out for a half hour spin around the local streets. They were very nice full carbon Wilier Thor road racing bikes, set up with Shimano 105 9-speed mechs and a 50/34 compact crankset. Just right for climbing big hills. That night in the bar we were introduced to our cycle guide for the next two days. He was a sprightly chap by the name of Cleto, in his early 60s but with a physiology obviously perfectly adapted to handing out punishment on a bike. He didn't speak much English, but that was probably fair because we didn't speak much Italian (my favourite phrase: "non parlo Italiano"). We managed to communicate well enough through Rob's English/Italian language guide and a lot of hand gestures.

On Saturday we headed out about 10:00am, as soon as the fog (or nebbia as the locals call it) lifted enough. Cleto set a moderate pace for the first 45 minutes to allow us to all warm up properly. We climbed up and down a few rolling hills and then arrived at the coast, where we stopped for a quick snack and to take a few pics:
In the first photo that's Jason on the left, then Cleto, myself, and Rob, with Pete behind the lens. You can just make out the helmet cam I'm wearing.

The second photo is looking back along the coast to where we had come from that morning.


The bikes were perfectly geared for the terrain; I never felt like I wanted a higher or lower gear than the bike could provide. On we went across the green hills and switchbacks.

We stopped at a cafe for a cup of espresso and a bite to eat. In the photo that's Pete on the right with the bad helmet hair.



The Italian countryside was very quiet and picturesque. It reminded me a lot of New Zealand, 'cept the few cars that we encountered on the road were not trying to kill us.

We finally returned to the hotel in the late afternoon, having covered about 108km. We had a big feed of pasta and squills (a local crayfish variant). followed by a decent night's sleep.

On Sunday we headed to San Marino. This was a highly enjoyable day trip that started from below the fog, climbed far above it, and then headed back down through it in a high-speed descent. We were climbing for the first two hours of the trip.

The grades were not particularly steep, so it was quite enjoyable just watching the countryside silently slip by. There was very little traffic. Towards the end of the second hour we climbed over a ridge and got our first look at the castle at the top of the hill we were to climb.


The final climb to the top of San Marino was fantastic. The final few hundred meters was on a pedestrian-and-cycles-only path made of cobblestones, at a gradient of around 25%. This is steep enough that you have to pull up hard on the bars to make forward progress. Cleto whistled the pedestrians out of the way during the ascent, and they obediently parted to let us through. After a minute or so of heroic grinding we made it to the top, where we stopped to enjoy the view and have a well earned rest:











When we set off again it was downhill, bigtime. The descent was 15 minutes of high speed straights, hairpins and sweepers that chilled me enough that I was really looking forward to climbing another hill. We all set max speeds of 60+ during the descent. Very enjoyable.

After that we made our way back to the hotel. Along the way we met a friendly small dog that ran alongside us for 10 minutes or so. It seemed to be quite familiar with groups of cyclists, and may have been on the scrounge for a handout. We were all tired but happy when we made it back to the hotel, just before dark.

Cycling in Italy? Highly recommended. We'll be back for sure. (helmet cam footage to follow)