I spend more than two and a half weeks in Tallinn. I see a lot different faces of this city, I visit historical and ordinary places, meet interesting people and find one who makes my stay unique. I have a good time in Tallinn and the longer I stay the more difficult it becomes to leave. Life is easy in this modern and liveable city. There is only one con: Tallinn isn't really bike friendly with its often bad cycle paths, its rude car drivers and the very high risk of bike theft. One day I am sure, I have to finish my circle... Tallinn is not too far from home, coming back is no problem.

I had the opportunity to visit a former dormitory and school building in Tallinn. The building is still in use.

The trip with the ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn takes 15 hours. I booked a bed in a shared 4-bed-cabin, knowing about the high chance of having someone in there who snores. But I didn't expect that someone can produce noise that makes my earplugs fail. The man from Azerbaijan snores and talks while sleeping. I keep my good mood and accept only light rest for the night. At 8.00 I get up and enjoy the first views towards Estonia. I am allowed to leave the ferry as one of the first; that's an ease because of all the running engines on the car deck. Tallinn welcomes me with sun and mild temperatures.

I bike down the 70 km from Uusikaupunki to Turku in a little more than 3 hours and buy a ferry ticket for the next morning. Interesting: if you want to pay the ticket you have to pay an extra service fee of 5,- EUR unless you pay via a Finnish bank account...

Then I meet my couchsurfing host Thomas, the brother of my host in Nykarleby. He takes me as his guest although he has already two couchsurfers from England. We have a great diner all together and interesting, international conversations.

My last day in Vaasa/Vasa is nice, the weather is actually okay and I walk a little bit through the city. What impresses me most: the university in an old factory building close to the sea. Everything looks friendly and inviting. Like a Canadian guy said whom I met in town: the Finnish people know how to make it a good life. The architecture in town is very mixed, hard to find a style. Sometimes it looks Swedish to me, then I suspect some Russian influences and of course there are modern, tasteless buildings, too. But everything fits together somehow.

From Oulu Katja and I continue to cycle south, following the coastline of the Baltic Sea. The weather changes from "sun everyday" to a mixture of everything. We have storm twice, rain, sun and clouds. But also the wind changes from South to more or less North. So sometimes we are pushed. Also the light changes, it is time to have a flashlight because it is now sometimes dark at night. That's strange after the earlier light nights in the North. After six days we reach Vasa/Vaasa, where we decide to have a break for a day while surfing the couch of Mirva.

In the beginning of my trip I met Katja in Berlin, she also planned to circle the Baltic Sea by bike. Now she comes over from Stockholm to Umeå by bus and we cycle together for a while. So ends a nice and relaxed stay in Umeå with a diner with my host and Katja. Together we follow the coast up North and enjoy beautiful lake en sea views. One day we meet my dad who is sailing along the Swedish coast.

The more North we go the more difficult it becomes to avoid the highway like E4.

I start in Sundsvall with a fast race down the city mountain and my biggest fear is that I realize at the end of the race that I forgot something in the hostel. But I didn't. The following ride is nice but not spectacular. This changes when I come to a point where my map with the route says that there should be a road straight ahead and where reality has no street like that. From now on I decide to find my own way. And that is not as easy as I thought. A new railway has just been build and many minor streets in the map are now moved or just end somewhere at the rails. Some of the streets I choose are more like paths and at a certain moment I ride a track that is not used by cars since the snow melting this year... Another one seems to be the old E4, the highway along the coast, with some rests of asphalt going straight North. Especially the tracks in the forest are difficult but also fun to drive and take me to places you don't see from the normal road.

I leave Gävle behind; after this break, I need to cycle. The landscape is wonderful and the weather is great. It is summer in Sweden and the people are happy. Camping owners tell me about the enormous amount of snow they had, the late start of this season and that the fish (salmon) is now arriving. Now summer is there. I ride on small roads which I only have to share with occasional local traffic, so I have no problems with the upcoming tourism. From now on the Cykelpåret (the cycle route I follow) brings me more and more often on gravel roads and dirt tracks. Driving needs a lot attention, no sightseeing while pedalling. Pot holes are often difficult to spot in the shadow of the trees. And I have to climb many hills. But still, cycling here is awesome.

Still in Gävle. I take three days off to relax, to rest and to plan the second half of my trip through Sweden. Gävle is a town with about 70.000 inhabitants. It is famous for the "Gävle Christmas Goat". More interesting to me: the old town and the harbour. The city looks very friendly, there is a lot of green and water everywhere and with the sunny weather in these days it feels very comfortable.

I meet Kevin from England, who is on his way to the North Cape to raise money and awareness for a hospice in his home town. Check his interesting weblog for more about his journey. We have an exploring walk through the town and very good conversations. Good luck with your trip, Kevin!