There is nothing quite like the chaotic energy of Day 1 of a multi-day bike tour. You spend weeks planning, packing, and obsessing over gear lists, only for reality to hit you the second you wake up.
Our morning in Tallinn started with a classic logistical oversight: I didn’t have a cup. So, while Rike elegantly ate her yogurt and oats, I sat there drinking hot coffee straight out of my glass French press like a feral mechanic. I managed to pull it off flawlessly without spilling a drop or burning my fingers, even if it looked completely ridiculous to anyone watching. Fuel is fuel.
Once rolling, we broke away from the city grid and tracked the coast. We paused briefly just to watch the waves and let it sink in that the tour had officially started, then pushed on toward the Keila Waterfalls.
Keila is the third largest waterfall in Estonia, spanning about 60 meters wide with a six-meter drop over a beautiful limestone ledge.
Down at the riverbank beneath the falls, I spotted another bikepacker who had successfully navigated their rig down to the water. Naturally, I took that as an immediate challenge to find a way down myself. Stripping off my cycling shoes to wade into the freezing river water was exactly the kind of mid-morning refreshment the legs needed.
Then came the road to the Pakri Peninsula.
We had mapped out what looked like a promising string of gravel paths along the coast. It turns out “gravel” can occasionally be Estonian for “surprise beach.” The solid track quickly dissolved into patches of deep, loose sand. Instead of dismounting like a sensible person, I took it as a personal challenge to see how far the bike could plow through. The verdict? Gravel tires actually do surprisingly well in the loose stuff—right up until you remember you are carrying pounds of heavy camping gear. At that point, physics wins, momentum dies, and you are just fighting to stay upright.
We eventually dragged ourselves out of the sandbox and made it to the Pakri Lighthouse, parked the rigs, and cracked open some lunch.
The lighthouse sits right on the edge of a striking 25-meter-high limestone cliff, offering a massive drop-off view of the Baltic Sea. Built back in 1889, it’s the tallest lighthouse in Estonia at 52 meters.
While Rike took the opportunity to crash in the grass and soak up the sun, I tackled the 275 stairs to the top to check out the panoramic views of the coast. The view was worth the vertical steps, but the real surprise was waiting for me back at the bikes.
When we geared up to leave, my front shifter flat-out refused to pull the chain up into the bigger ring. My little sand-riding experiment from earlier had caked the mechanics in fine grit, rendering the upper gear useless. Not wanting to do a full roadside teardown, I manually forced the chain onto the big ring, accepted my fate, and decided that was a problem for “Camp Me” to solve later.
Further down the road, we found a traditional Estonian wooden village swing near the Harju-Madise St. Matthias Church (Harju-Madise Mattiase kirik). We decided to pull over and take a break there to spend some time on the swing before continuing our ride.
Before tackling the last stretch to our accommodation, we made a detour toward the Rummu Quarry. I had missed the Erasmus Student Network (ESN) trip there earlier in the semester and just wanted to catch a quick glimpse of the place. However, it turned out that entering the site would cost €8.50. Since I wasn’t willing to pay an entrance fee just to get a brief look at the quarry, I decided to skip it. I just took some photos of the murals at the entrance instead, and we kept moving.
We wrapped up the day’s ride at Kallaste Turismitalu. Before even thinking about cooking dinner, we washed off the day’s road grime and sand with a swim in the campsite pond.
Then, it was time for bike surgery. I had to flush the whole derailleur with water, manually working the mechanism back and forth until the last of the Pakri sand finally grated its way out. Once the grit was gone, I re-tensioned the shifter cable to get everything snapping cleanly across the rings again.
The absolute best part of the evening, though, was a massive coincidence. At the camp, we ran into the same elderly couple we had met the day before while picking up Rike’s rental bike in the city. They were on a very similar route to ours, though their itinerary was fully pre-organized by Tallinn City Bike. We ended up sitting outside with them all evening, sharing dinner and swapping stories about our first day on the road late into the night.