tamsing

Adventure writing without a Beard – Part 1

At last, a round-up of books by female travel writers and adverturers. Sadly none of them by me – yet….

Amazing how none of them get into the bookshops, as she says!

Beth's Kept Secrets

Outdoor sports and Adventure books written by female adventurers.

Even the most adventurous of us loves to curl up with a good book after a day hiking, cycling, climbing, kayaking, swimming or just working and escape on an adventure from the comfort of the sofa. Adventure writing is our inspiration; it takes us to new places, allows us to experience new things and lights a spark for our own exciting dreams and plans.

However, according to displays in several book shops recently it may appear that it is only men that can go on epic adventures across icy tundra, cycle vast distances, hike through unexplored rainforests or climb the world’s highest peaks. Of course, we know this not to be true; there are thousands of women around the world making equally epic journeys, pushing limits and despite what some bookshops think, they are writing about it! A post on the wonderful…

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Estonia

Pärnu

I took the bus (#72 cost 1 euro) from Massiaru to Pärnu. There was snow on the ground. May 2019

dav — Taken the next day when the sun was shining! Pärnu Bus Station

cof — From the bus station I went past a beautiful Orthodox church, Pärnu

cof — My first stop was a Supelsaksad cafe /kohvik – it was bitterly cold and the hostel was not admitting us until 2pm, Pärnu

cof — Then it poured torrentially so I went to the Uue Kunsti Muuseum ‘New’ art gallery up the street. There was a donky outside to welcome me, Pärnu

I loved the textile exhibition – reegel ja rituaal (rule and ritual) by the Estonian Textile Artists’ Union – a lampshade as if it was covered in dust and what looked like spiders webs, penguins made from felt, and a herring on a T shirt!

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Above from left to top right and then bottom right: Sometimes a herring is just a herring by Krista Leesi; Sume (the lampshade) by Triin Talts; Good Ideas To Hatch by Erika Pedak.

cof — Sama Muster (The Same Pattern) by Marilyn Piirsalu, MONA (Museum of New Art), Pärnu, Estonia

cof — Giant’s Lantern by Kristiina Tuura at MONA (Museum of New Art), Pärnu, Estonia

Helsinki based, Tuura made this work from recycled rubbish, and found objects with school children and immigrant students. It pays respect to hundreds of years of tradition of lantern making in Syria.

There was a great and on-going sound of music and revving which I later realised was a motorbike rally. I had never seen so many leater-clad bearded folk in one place when the event ended and they all descended on the town to eat!

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cof

Pärnu is the riviera of Estonia where the rich come to the beach. It has typical wooden buildings of a much grander style though than I was sued to in the villages.

dav — The back of the school (below) and the side of the Gunpowder Magazine Gym, built near the bastions to fortify the city, Pärnu

rhdr — Local school (red brick) with Estonian flag flying, Pärnu

cof — G W Richmann b Parnu 1711 Constructed the first lightening rod in Easter Europe at the same time as Benjamin Franklin and unfortunately it killed him in 1753. Sculptor Riho Kuld, Pärnu

cof — August Jakobson memorial 1904-1963 professional writer, chief editor various publishing houses, Chairman of Estonian Writers Unions. ‘Vaeste-Patuste elev’ was his breakthrough novel, then ‘Tuhkur-hobune’ depict the life of workers in Räma, a district of Pärnu

I walked back through the Munamaumlaute Park iron where children were happily running and playing in the sun between showers, and where for the first time I could not see the view because there were leaves on the trees.

cof — I stayed at Hostel Louna. I was the only one in this 8 bed room for the first night and for the second I was joined by two women – one from Lithiania and the other from Lativia. We have some nice chats! Pärnu

Hostel details: great staff, no bunks, all clean, fresh laundered covers and towel, hot showers, big windows with lots of light, very good value for money (11 euro a night), great location, kitchen small and could do with improvement, my room was on a busy main road. Beside Tallin Gate and 2 parks, one with fountains, about half way between the bus station with shops, Pärnu museum, churches and tourist areas; and the leafy suburbs, painted wooden villas, above cafe, Museum of New Art and wonderful beach.

Both mornings I was able to do my T’ai chi on the beach – a very long and sweeping strand on the edge of the Bay or Gulf of Riga across from the Isle of Gotland and Sweden. Neptune kept watch!

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I found a pine cone and stood like a tree remembering the garden at Massiaru. A man walked out of the sea. I didn’t see him go in. The same happened on Orkney. I tried being barefoot, but the second day I wore my boots – too cold! Despite having my swimming costume on it was 4 degrees with a bitter wind, so, no! I also tried very hard not to glance at the people looking at me when I was supposed to be concentrating!

I discovered that if I orientate myself towards the sun to start with and move through the sequence (140 + or – moves), I come back to a new front it has moved by then – obvious really.

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Features of the River Pärnu.

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I also enjoyed the Pärnu museum crafts exhibition.

Near the hostel is Jenny Kruse, a second hand shop extraordinaire (avatud = open), Bum Bum a loud beer joint which serves food, a Chinese Medicine clinic, and the famous Tallin Gate.

cof — Chinese Medicine treatment makes people healthy! Pärnu

See my Estonia page for supermarkets and travel info

Visit Estonia webpage

This big food shop was still open 7.30 at Port Artur near the bus station, Pärnu

Estonia

Estonia – insects, lakes and log cabins

April 2019 Massiaru, Estonia

dav — This little critter looks as if someone has been doodling on her in a bored moment – a V shape here, a straight line there, 2 half tear drops with black dots inside, colour that in black, leave that bit orange!

I could not get a photo of the big peacock-coloured beetle. He spent all his time negotiating the grass and falling over at almost every blade. He must have been used to it because he flipped himself over and just carried on.

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Hawthorn was watching a moth which had got caught inside the double glazing, so he couldn’t get to it, but he spent a long time watching and trying, bless him.

Like a battlefield – you could almost see people picking through bodies looking for coins. It seemed strewn with sadness

The new leaves have come out next to the pussy willow which now look like they are bursting with excitement at the feel of the sun.

Spreading their leaves to get every particle of warmth

These wood anemones have taller stalks than the ones from 2 weeks ago, now the air is more benign

As I stand facing the rising sun to do my morning exercises, the sunshine gleams through the dandelion leaves at foot level.

Made in the old style with interlocking logs

The bus passes through mile after mile of forest with the longest straightest tracks dissecting them. Some are dense pine and others are deciduous, more spacious with a matching green floor. Occasionally they have been cleared for agricultural purposes (in the centre of one huge one were 2 storks lazily pecking), or for motorbike racing.

Along the rivers are clumps of bright celandines

I am picking up a few words of the notoriously difficult Estonian language : thank you sounds like aita; tee is street without the s, r and second t; kohvik is coffee shop ; kool is school – you can see why I know those ones!

Everywhere forest is being cleared for agriculture

One evening’s walk I was accompanied by herds of cattle with calves on both sides of the road, lowing loudly

Really unusual pink flowers growing straight out of the ground as if someone had half buried them

We ate these maple flowers, battered, deep fried and sugared

One of my favourite morning spots for ‘standing like a tree’

Dandelion half plays, half delights in the day

All those trees mean that of course the main house building material is wood and they are usually painted beautiful colours which shine in the evening sun.

Estonia

A sea swim in the sunset, a woodpecker, and more

Estonia 2

Place names with too many vowels! Lanksaare, Uuemaa and Urisaare of the startling green Orthodox church.

Local place name. Notice the red and white stripes below denoting the National Walking Trail

Häädemeeste (yep, there’s anotther one!) which is the nearest biggish town (it actually has a Co-op which was open on Easter Monday).

Talking of which: beautifully decorated local eggs dyed with onion and beetroot skins

A small lake nearby where I am staying, Massiaru, Estonia

I have seen some magnificent birds here. There was an aweee(p) single repeated call. A large bird, it looked like a black and grey raptor swept down over the ploughed field with a huge wing span.

Pee pee pee, pee poo pee poo. I didn’t see this one but I certainly heard it. Is it the bird who mimics others? It is as if he is practicing all the tunes he can remembers in case he forgets. Or pretending to be more birds than he is!

They don’t seem to take care when cutting down the trees

A confetti of leaves
A trill of birds
A stumble of stones
A crunch of cones
A prickle of pines
The roughness of riven birch
A needle of fir saplings

Silver birches shining in the early evening sun

The straightest roads I have ever seen. They have ditches running parallel on both sides, some filled with water. Ahead they go, as far as my eye can see.

This one was a railway running from the coast inland to transport the wood and putting lots of fishermen out of work. It opened in 1923 and was finally taken up in 1975. It was the last public narrow-guage in Estonia

Four long wheee calls, a flap of large wings. I looked up, shielding my eyes from the sun with my hand. Across to a high-up tree it flew and then I heard a distinctive wooden drilling – it was a woodpecker! Much bigger than I expected, I saw it so clearly silhouetted against the blue sky.

I found the river but none of the promised beaver or otter, although there was a dam which looked as if the former had been busy. It was so peaceful that I sat on a stump and inhaled the fresh water smell

So far I have seen two storks – one flash of white at the corner of my eye revealed a gawky version of a heron in the garden; the other striding in a field, surely taller than I.

I walked along the boardwalk, three quarters finished and the scent of new-sawn pine, through the alder forest and came out on Kabli beach

Earlier I had visited further down the coast where ducks and geese took their turns in the air. There was also the wide V-shaped wedge (or bevy, aparently) of swans – necks extended – which swept around the coast.

I have rarely seen a more beautiful sight. The Bay of Riga with an individual, gracious swan on satin water. In and out I went, it was so cold, a little deeper each time – my skin tingled.

A blood-orange sky lazed around a golden sun. Eventually I swam, legs brushing rocks I couldn’t see. Otherwise it was ridged sand underfoot

Later, sitting in gritty clothes, I marvelled at the upside down exclamation mark of magenta egg. The setting sun was suspended a few centimetres from the horizon and the matching pillar, no it was more of a column because it seemed to have rounded edges, was in the sea underneath.

It got squatter, closer to merging with the ocean. I took a stone seat full of the day’s warmth under my bottom. The view was luminous, now a magic mushroom. All the birds went on tweeting as if nothing was happening! The sky was rainbow coloured. The orb started to flatten. Then there was just the merest cap, and at the last a distant errupting volcano, a flying saucer far away, a pink dash and it was gone. My toes were numb.

I think it only lasted around three minutes in total before the sun vanished below the horizon

When I turned round, it had bathed everything in mahogany and chestnut

Yesterday, deer ran across the road in front of me. Today, I disturbed a flock who thought they were camouflaged, but I had already heard and seen them. Off they scarpered, white arses flashing up in the air as they bounded through beige bracken.

The aura of a pussy willow is the same as the cats with the sun behind them

It turns out that the round, glowing bees are wild for the pussy willow. They buzzed so loudly I could still hear them as I walked away.

Can you see the white aura around Hawthorn, one of the resident kittens captivated by something? He is so curious that it doesn’t take much to get his attention!

This morning when I was doing my exercises in the garden and was on the Wood part of the 5 Element chi gung, a tiny rustle caught my ear and there was a mouse beside me on the pile of wood shavings. In the evening I heard that one of the cats had brought one in as a ‘present’. I hoped it was not him.

Dusky pink, plum, apricot: the stalks and trunks. Anything that has the faintest natural hint of these colours picks up the evening sun and the moon sits just above the tree tops

Later I saw a black snake. It was approximately 35 inches long (70cms) with a slight yellow on its head, but it had been run over which was how I got to photograph it and measure the length with my thumb. (I thought better of including it here as it was somewhat damaged and seemed a bit gruesome somehow).

I recommend the Alien Heartbeat blog for beautiful short accouts of walks in Estonia including the people he meets and gorgeous photos.

Estonia

The flora and natural beauty of Estonia

Spring 2019, southern Estonia

Try listening to native Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel here while you feast your eyes on some of Estonia’s lovelist spring flowers and other natural wonders.

Hepatica nobilis or Blue Flower / liver leaf / crystal wort

Blue, white, yellow (alder lily) and purple on the forest floor

I cannot find out the name of this flower

Eight days of sun and purple violets showing between tree roots amongst the dry crunchy leaves of the winter gone

Shy yellow heads: one dandelion-ish, the other cowslip.

It looksed like iris and wild rose in their infancy along what used to be a path which I followed through the forest, stepping over fallen logs, twigs crackling under foot.