Hiking in the ancient woodlands around Ahja River

Happy summer weekend everyone!

I hope at least some of you have taken time to get outside, either alone or with friends, family and just go places. It's a vital part of your inner recharging process. I love nature and if possible, i will spend my time outside. Luckily i live in Estonia and we have many beautiful places to get out of the city and to explore.

I recently went on a canoe trip to the river Ahja in Estonia with a client. The Ahja river is a slow-running and shallow river in the south-eastern part of Estonia, therefore it is perfect for beginners. Despite the fact that all of us were upside down with our canoes in the water at some moment, i enjoyed the trip thoroughly. What makes these kind of trips worthwhile is the company and the absolutely stunning nature around you.

After our "accident-filled" canoe trip, we retired to a tiny holiday center reserved just for us, with saunas, a pond to jump into right from the sauna, a proper grill and relax in the best atmosphere.

The next day we decided to hike around the Ahja river a little and that's when i had the opportunity to take some pictures and i want to share these with you.

Around the middle part of the river the shores are surrounded by large sand cliffs. The sandstone rises more than 20 meters from the river. The surrounding forest feels ancient and empowers you when you hike there. If you look at the top right of the photo, you can see a walkway rising with the cliffs there. This will take you a little deeper into the forest, but the path mostly tries to follow the river.

Nothing but nature around you.

The river is shallow and rocky. While canoeing, these rocks are enough to send you flying with the canoe ;) Luckily the stream is not that fast so you can recoup in seconds.

This is the Great Taevaskoda, which is considered one of the most popular natural sights in Estonia. Taevaskoda is surrounded with nearly 40km of hiking trails so grab your backpack and go. Around these areas an Estonian cult classic "Viimne Reliikvia " (The Last Relic), was also filmed, in 1969. While hiking around, we managed to spot a few of these places form the movie. If you haven't seen the movie but are a fan of the old classics, read more about it at the imdb.

If you zoom in this photo, you can see many holes and writings in the sandcliff. I don't know about the holes, but how did they get their names up that high, huh?

A view from above, those tourist look tiny.

Found it! "The Risbiter cliff" from the movie "Viimne Reliikvia". This is the place where Hans von Risbiter was thrown out of the carriage and shot and had the relic taken from him.

That's it, guys and girls, for this time, i will look forward to sharing a few more of my explorations with you in the future.

Take care everyone and enjoy the weekend!