A fantastic find in Oiu, Estonia
Zagan the motorhome is parked up at a small river port by Lake Võrtsjärv, the second largest lake in Estonia. The port is in a tiny hamlet called Oiu, which would be great if you could use it in Scrabble, and has a small summer house, port house with sauna and kitchen, restaurant, boat hire and for us a camping field with showers, loos and electric hook up (N58.39823, E25.97650).
Home for the night – complete with sauna!
Last night it got cold, I crept out of bed at 4am and turned the heating up and popped Charlie up on the bench (he usually sleeps on the floor between the driver and passenger seats) to keep him warm. Then, because we were on a bit of a ‘wonk’, I struggled to get back to sleep. That dear readers was the deciding factor of not going very far or doing very much today.
We left our parking in the hospital car park around 9am, two cars were now in the huge space and no one gave us a second look. However as the gardner was wandering around keeping the place immaculate, we moved to the other side of the town to take Charlie for his morning walk.
Zagan will use anything for a bit of shade!
Charlie was being watched on his walk this morning
Once pampered pooch was happy we set off again and drove around the top of Lake Võrtsjärv, not that we could see it half the time as there is plenty of forest around this area. We found mention of this place on the campingcar-infos website and pulled into a bus stop on the main road while I popped in to check it out. As I wandered around the port buildings a chap walked up and asked if he could help, he gave me a guided tour of what was here and we agreed on €10 a night. I then went and fetched Jay and we parked up. Other than that we have done very little.
Wooden sauna by our beach
We’ve sat out in the sun, Jay has been for a swim in the river, we’ve watched numerous birds flying around, we’ve read and I’ve napped. Jay asked the lady who looks after the place if he could have a sauna (he loves a sauna). After some miming on both sides she set about starting the the fire to heat it – yes folks, a wood burning sauna, the real deal.
Jay nipped back several times, only to be told he needed to wait as it takes two hours to heat up. While we waited I checked out the port’s website and spotted that to hire the sauna was €96 for four hours! As Jay was on his own or maybe she took pity on us, we were only charged €25, but it still made Jay stay in as long as he could stand it. He’s now still very pink and toasty so we won’t need the heating on again tonight.
Jay couldn’t resist a dip in the river
Not sure what food is on the beach but these ‘house martins?’ loved it
I’ve spent quite a bit of the day trying to sort out motorhome insurance for Zagan, why oh why do they make it so difficult? One company will insure us for 365 days outside of the UK, but we’d need another to get a Green Card for Morocco and they’ll only cover us for 186 days outside the UK – grrr! Luckily it’s not due until the end of the month, so I have plenty more time to get it sorted for a ‘reasonable’ price!
Our neighbours for the night
Ju x
Scrabble rules changed in 2010 to allow proper nouns. Happy times!
Wayhey! Only thing is, I’ve not gotten over the past 6 Scrabble defeats and the mere mention of Scrabble in here drops the temperature a few degrees! :-) Jay
We loved the sauna story with Jay getting full value for money, made us roar with laughter. Has he returned to normal colour this morning or still DayGlo pink?
Oi! I’m reading this y’know! Cooled off about 10:30pm as it happens. Cracking place, really liking Estonia, beautiful places to stay for free (or not much money) and very few tourists knocking about. Tonight’s place is just fantastic. Even the sun’s shining, and there’s a beer in the fridge. Cheers, Jay
Hi guys,
I think the House Martin’s are collecting mud and sand to build their nest.
Keep up the good work with the blog, I have been following you from day one, I was a bit peeved when you came home from the last tour.
Haha! Thanks John. I was a bit peeved too… Cheers, Jay