Bog Blog

The Baltic countries have always etched out a place in our top destinations list so it felt necessary to complete the trio and visit the third and most Northern Baltic, Estonia. We pretty much knew what to expect having already stamped our mark on Latvia and Lithuania.

For some reason we always end up travelling to the Baltic countries in the colder months. This inevitably means that we are pretty much the only tourists in the very quiet of season cities and towns. It makes things a little hard to organise but it also makes for a very peaceful yet exciting voyage.

We decided to go a little Ray Mears style and scheduled a trip into the depths of Estonia's wilderness. This lead us to the Sooma National Park, home to one of Europe's largest and most unique bog lands. We got picked up in Parnu by our private guide who fitted the bill well. He smoked a pipe, had an unruly beard, talked with passion of his homeland, albeit a little too much, and was obviously used to being in the Baltic bog land in the middle of winter, unlike us.

After a short drive to the park we disembarked at an old park house which was still in use. We were given a very in-depth run down of the local history, environment, wildlife, culture etc. The park has a unique fifth season which can happen at any time of year. This is the flood season where almost all of the park is covered in water. For the animals and plant life this is a great thing as the water disperses nutrients over the land fertilizing it. In winter the floods sometimes freeze leaving a frozen reminder of how much the water level actually rose. It is not surprising then that the most effective way to travel around the park during this fifth season was by dugout canoe.

Being the middle of winter and considering beavers had blocked most of the waterways knawing down trees to make houses and dams dugout canoe wasnt an option so we were on foot through the bog lands.

We walked for miles until Julie was no longer able to handle the pain of the cold, especialy considering she had broken her shoulder just days before. The bog which is a very acidic peat area was like a desert island surrounded by forest. The trees struggled for life in the acidic soil growing in gnarly patterns and only reaching small heights after hundreds of years. Snow shoes were essential as without them we would have fallen through the 2m deep layer of heather and sphagnum moss and probably frozen to death.

After a sum what surreal experience of bog walking it was back to Tallinn the capital of Estonia to spend our final night. The old town was beautiful and quaint and the fact that most of the tourist activities were shut did not bother us. After the bog walking, just strolling the streets enjoying the smell of sugar coated pecan nuts while soaking in the medieval surrounds was plenty to keep us happy.

Tallinn was full of restaurants trying to create a medieval dining experience. We thought that we should go and have a look not only for the singing and dancing but the fact that in the middle ages the diet of the rich was basically meat and beer. The food was different but amazing. Glazed cranberries and horseradish to accompany my boar, bear and elk sausages mm mmmmm. I think the honey beer and dried elk meat also must get a special mention however Julie may strongly disagree.

Again the baltic's have impressed. I don't know whether it is the fact that there is always some sort of crazy activity to take part in like ice fishing, bobsledding or bog walking. Maybe its the long and interesting history of good and bad times or the fact that the countries remind me of home with small populations living in cities and towns surrounded by beautiful wilderness. What ever it is I recommend going for a sneaky look for yourself.