~ Field Notes ~
Motorbikepacking expedition 2: Riding to Nova beach from Tallinn
My second trip this year, is to visit a public camping site on Estonia’s northern coast that I’ve found thanks to the super useful forest management agency, Riigimets’ (RMK) online map of all hiking routes, camp spots, and nature places.
I load my Yamaha Tenere up with my winter expeditions tent, some food, water, a sleeping bag, and other essential items for what I’ve started referring to as ‘motorbikepacking’ trips. As you’ve probably already guessed, Motorbikepacking trips are essentially the same regular bikepacking trips, albeit with a motorbike instead of a pedal bike. The main advantage is you can explore places that are further away, yet still a moderately low cost.
Taking the scenic route: my 1000-mile motorbike adventure from England to Estonia.
In summer 2022, I rode my Yamaha Ténéré motorbike over a thousand miles from my home in the UK across Europe to Estonia – one of my longest motorbike trips ever.
The endeavour was tiring, navigationally complex (for someone who’s only ever ridden a motorbike in the UK and US), yet bags of fun. I took a ferry to the Netherlands, rode to northern Germany (stopping at an old Army base I was posted to in 2007), took another ferry to Lithuania; and finally rode to Estonia’s capital city of Tallinn, via Lithuania and Latvia.