Camino Pilgrim

I fell asleep very early yesterday. I was just so tired. This means I also woke up early and didn’t have much to do. Around 1.5 hours before sunrise I was already out the door and into the darkness. It was quite eerie walking past the cemetery with candles lighting up the graves in complete silence and darkness.

I did not need the phone flashlight anymore once I got into Polli village. There instead of going uphill to the private manor, I took the road to see the lake that goes right into Karksi-Niua. My hunger was a driving force and they have a gas station that opens at 7 in the morning.

The lakeside was such a beautiful moment. I think going into Karksi-Nuia was the best decision I made all day. The official Camino skips this town by a few hundred meters. I even saw the church that the official trail passes.

I decided to connect with the trail several kilometers after Karksi-Niua town. Either way I would need to walk on hard surfaces almost all day. This way I had a nice pedestrian route with benches to accompany me for 4 kilometers.

All of Camino Estonia that is left now follows the same highway leading into Valga. The kilometers signs on the small highway are counting down to the end destination church. The Camino trail however tries to go onto graves roads on both sides of the highway as much as possible.

Especially the last long stretch away from the highway was a real pleasure. It got so nice and quiet again. Not having to worry about cars hitting you really let the pressure off. I sat down in the middle of gravel roads several times to just relax and enjoy the day. I do need to warn that having a GPS map on your phone is a very necessary for this day. Especially if you plan to start in the dark.

Unfortunately I was unable to get a stamp from Teegepera church today, so that will need to wait until next time. Only 50 kilometers left of the Camino!