Rummu Quarry canoe and overwatch

Rummu Quarry is a spectacular quarry lake in Estonia. Situated right next to an abandoned prison, mining was halted here decades ago, the pumps were stopped and that resulted in immediate flooding of the mining area, creating a clear blue-water lake.

If you know a bit about our nature or perhaps have been reading my other weekend posts, you might know that the tint of water here is always greenish or brown, due to the rocks, minerals and water plantation.

This makes the blue clear water of Rummu quarry lake even more spectacular with abandoned and sunken buildings and even vehicles seen below the surface.

We start our trip on another sunny day, with clear skies above us. It's a 40-minute drive or so to Rummu, but it's never boring, as beautiful nature lines the road on both sides throughout most of the drive.

A dusty forest road signs us that we're close to our starting point, the Paekalda Holiday Center, where we rent our canoe.

A few more minutes and we're already paddling away from the shore. Looking behind, the cabins of the holiday centre can be seen between the trees, as well as the floating barrel campings that i have blogged about in the past.

These barrel campings look really cool, the only reason I haven't yet tried them out is because.... wait, I don't know. I should.

Anyway, back to paddling :)

The wind blowing in our face makes us work hard to gain ground (or water, in this case). Here's @raili working like a rockstar.

I'm a little overwhelmed since I have to do 3 things at once - paddle, drink beer and take photos.

In the distance is our objective - the quarry hills. I believe these are called the spoil tip, it's the waste that's dug out of the quarry.

But that's about 30-40 more minutes of strong paddling away, so here's a few more shots and then the camera goes away.

On the right side we see the wall of the abandoned prison, watchtowers peeking over the wall and trees.

Finally at the beach near the hills, we pull our canoe to the ground and head for the climb. It might look nice, but the terrain is actually really hard, like sandpaper, so flip-flops are not making it easier for us. There's no official route up there, so we follow the natural passage that rains have created for us.

A look back before the ascent - ruins in the water are the favorite place for divers, canoers, youngsters jumping from the top.

Someone has created a beautiful graffiti on an adjacent building. This whole place has a somewhat romantic vibe to it.

Almost at the top! We can see prison in all it's glory. You can see how the trees have defied everything and grown here, in this harsh terrain.

It's almost a forest here - one could almost get lost. But if you manage to get to the edge, you can enjoy a view of the beautiful Estonian nature.

We snap some photos and then take timeout to enjoy some of that view for ourselves.

If you look closely, you can see outlines of multiple underwater buildings in the water.

In this side of the lake, there are ghastly underwater forests. They're not seen on camera here, but if you manage to walk down there near the lake, you can see the trees below the surface.

On the above photo, you can see our canoe in the lower right corner, sitting and waiting for us.

We slide back down (getting down is much harder, as it's slippery and harsh), but we make it in one piece. Perhaps there's a small hole in my shorts, but.. worth it!

Down below a family of swans visits us. Alas, they're with cute little baby swans and hence a little too protective and angry. They chase everyone out of the water.

I managed to grab a photo of one swan in an indecent position(above). Oops, sorry swan.

We hit the lake again, this time with the wind behind our back helping us.

Eerie trees and plants below the surface are visible now and then as the sunlight plays with the water.

One of the trees has managed to even grow above the water surface, giving much neeeded rest for the tired little birds.

A bit more paddling and we're back. I can say we thoroughly enjoyed the hours spent on the lake and on the quarry hills. If you're from around here, give it a go as well.

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