Raplamaa is a relatively flat area on thick limestone layers. Limestone alternates with low hills and some marshland. The county has the least number of lakes in Estonia.

There are several remarkable strongholds and castles of which Varbola is the best known. Catapults, a siege tower and ram help the visitor imagine the past. How would it feel like to attack the stronghold or to resist the enemy from inside? Keava hill fort offers more surprises. Who laid the birch bark path 7000 years ago?

According to historical sources, Estonians destroyed most of the manors in Raplamaa twice in 1343 and 1905 when people rebelled against their oppressors. The interval was long enough for many new manors to be built. One of the best examples today is the Raikküla Mansion, home to the world famous naturalist Count A. F. von Keyserling whom Charles Darwin considered his predecessor, and to his philosopher son Count Hermann A. von Keyserling. The latter sought to bring different cultures together, something that is increasingly important in our world today (see later in the chapter).

Raplamaa is usually associated with the so-called Mahtra War (see Around Juuru), the best known amongst all peasants' uprisings in the country.

Raplamaa is part of the heart of Estonia; it is full of historical and cultural places and was the birthplace of many people who played an important role in Estonia's history.

Around Kohila

3 km beyond Kohila, beside the Tallinn-Rapla Road, stands Lohu Jaanilinn (St John's town), one of the mightiest of its time. The ancient stronghold site is located in the bend of the Keila river on a 3-4 m hill and is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped rampart. The yard is about 6500 square metres. The stronghold was probably used in the 12-13th centuries. Archaeological excavations have revealed a large number of pottery shards, a buckle and an axe.

Traces of a smaller and a few hundred years younger stronghold site were found south of Jaanilinn. 1 km south of Lohu stronghold is the Lohu Manor, once famous for its pictorial wallpapers that are now displayed at the Maarjamäe Museum in Tallinn. The privately owned mansion has been restored.

The former Kapa-Kohila was a modest little village until the building of the narrow-gauge railway and a paper factory in the late 19th century. Paper manufacturing was initiated by the local landlord Karl von Lueder.

Kohila has two manor houses: Kohila Manor in private possession and Tohisoo Manor that used to belong to the von WrangelIs. In the 1920s Benita von Wrangell married the Swedish journalist Carl Mothander who later published a fascinating overview about the life of Baltic Germans in Estonia, Barons, Estonians and the Bolsheviks. Today Tohisoo houses an educational and recreational centre.

Beside the road west of Kohila, at the Urge crossroads at the Tallinn-Rapla Road, lie the ruins of Angerja vassal castle. The castle was established by the Teutonic Knights. The main building had two storeys and was surrounded by a circular wall and a moat. It has been standing in ruins since the Livonian War that began in 1558.

In the 13th century the area around Angerja belonged to the nobleman of Estonian origin, Haenrich van Angern whose descendants were the vassals of the Danish king. At that time this area used to be densely inhabited, shown by numerous sacrificial stones, sacred groves and springs, ancient fields, graves and various bits of jewellery, mostly silver brooches and necklaces.

Around Juuru

Mahtra is certainly one of the best known Estonian place names because of the events that took place there in 1858. The whole of North-Estonia was seething - after passing the 1856 law regulating the rights of the peasantry, people did not think the manors had any right to demand unpaid labour in addition to innumerable tasks they had to carry out for the manors anyway.

Unfortunately, the paragraph concerning unpaid labour in the new law was rather vague and thus open to different interpretations.

On 14 June 1858 peasants gathered at Mahtra Manor owned at the time by Constantin von Helffreich who had decided to improve his marshland and required the peasants to do the extremely strenuous digging work. As about fifty soldiers had been already brought to the Manor, the peasants gathered an 'army' of their own. In due course, 700-800 peasants, armed with whatever they could lay their hands on, stood facing the guns of the soldiers who realised that a confrontation was inevitable and that they were not in an enviable position. After the first shots the peasants charged and the soldiers fled. The simple wooden manor house was burnt down.

The next stage in the story of Mahtra Uprising took place on 22 February 1859. No less than 900 soldiers gathered in the nearby field in order to mete out punishment to 41 peasants. Two of them received the maximum penalty - they had to run the gauntlet with 1000 strokes. And that was not all - should the men survive they faced twenty years of hard labour. Six men received 600 strokes and four 400.

The events of Mahtra are remembered in several memorial stones and a dolomite monument in the former manor courtyard. A boulder stands where the beatings took place, known as the Field of Blood.

The best overview of Mahtra is available at the Mahtra Peasant Museum at Juuru, which also serves as the county museum. It introduces the life of Estonian peasantry in the 19th century, displaying various items, such as petroleum lamps, clocks, pipes, old books, etc.

There is a branch of Mahtra Museum, at the Atla Eeru pub, the oldest surviving peasant pub in the country. This was the place where people hatched their battle plans in 1858. One room is dedicated to the Mahtra uprising.

Western Raplamaa

Follow the signpost on the 51st km on the Tallinn-Pärnu road. By the Varbola-Rapla Road lies one of the mightiest ancient Estonian fortifications, the Varbola stronghold (Jaanilinn). It was mentioned in the Chronicles of Henry of Livonia and in the 1212 Novgorod Chronicle when Prince Mstislav raided Harjumaa. It is thought that the enemy failed to conquer the stronghold because of its 10-m stone walls, and had to reach an agreement with the local elders.

The stronghold yard was about 2 hectares, with a well and various wooden buildings. Archaeological excavations at Varbola have revealed over 4500 finds (ceramics, jewellery, spearheads, arrowheads, knives, etc.).

The stronghold was used from the 11th century. The yard later served as the village cemetery and afterwards belonged to a farm so that part of it was ploughed. Today, part of the ancient gateway has been restored and visitors can see the models of a ballista, battering ram and siege tower.

Opposite Varbola across the road lies an irregularly shaped boulder that is considered a sacrificial stone. According to a legend, ghosts move around it at night.

The former Vardi Manor near Varbola by the Märjamaa-Tallinn Road belonged in 1807-1813 to the playwright August von Kotzebue (1761-1819). Born in Weimar, he was ennobled in 1785 upon becoming president of Estonian regional government. Since he had been involved in the theatre in Germany and influenced by no less a person than Goethe, he actively participated in the founding of the first theatre in Tallinn, Revaler Liebhaber-Theater which opened with one of his own comedies. His plays became so popular that he took up writing full time, and in the late 18th century he enjoyed great success also in Europe. Kotzebue wrote 211 plays in all, and Beethoven commissioned him to write librettos to two short operas (Overture to King Stephen, Op 117 and The Ruins of Athens, Op 113).

Between 1798 and 1800 he was head of the court theatres in Vienna, Weimar and Jena. When he lived at Vardi he edited the anti-Napoleon satirical magazines Die Biene and Die Grille that were published in Konigsberg. Kotzebue was understandably dismayed and worried when Napoleon arrived in Russia. He reputedly had a two-horse carriage ready to make his escape at any time.

Kotzebue was also an enthusiastic promoter of potatoes. According to a popular story he had his potato fields rigorously guarded in daytime but removed the guards at night so that local peasant could steal the potatoes and plant them in their own fields. August von Kotzebue had numerous children from his three marriages. Otto von Kotzebue (1788-1846) from his first marriage was a famous navigator and explorer who took part in three Russian round-the-world voyages, two under his own leadership. Alexander von Kotzebue (1815-1889) from the third marriage achieved great renown as a painter of many battles. His best works depict the events of the Great Northern War, military campaigns of the Field Marshal Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800) and other battles that brought glory to Russian armies.

During his time at Vardi August Kotzebue employed August von Hagen (1786-1877) and painter Carl Walther (1783-1867) to teach his children. The first later became a well-know figure in Estonian music. Other teachers were J. C. Petri who wrote several books, the most important of which is the 3-volume Ehstland and die Esten, published in Gotha in 1802, and botanist G. A. Pahnsch (1842-1880) who collected plants and compiled an extensive herbarium, now kept in the Estonian Natural Museum.

There is a bird house in the heart of the manor. One of its walls has a sentence on it: Omnia ab ovo (everything starts from the egg).

By the Koluvere-Märjamaa Road, north of Sipa village, grows one of the most famous big trees in Estonia - Sipa sacrificial lime. It is difficult to measure its real size as its branches stretch in all directions. At 0.5 m from the ground the lime's diameter is 9 m. The Sipa lime is growing around a sacrificial stone.

Sipa Manor in Sipa village used to be the centre of Loodna rural municipality. After the two municipalities joined, the manor became a kindergarten and an elementary school. The 18th century manor was burnt down during extensive unrest in the country in 1905, but was later rebuilt.

During the Livonian War in 1566 a fierce battle was waged nearby between the Swedish and Polish armies. The Swedes won, and the head of the Poles, Kasper (Jasper) von Oldenbockum, who was called the last knight of Livonia, was badly wounded and soon died.

Friedrich Brandt (1830-1880), former Sipa schoolmaster, son of the manor's tailor, has a notable place in Estonian cultural history. He wrote and published no less than 95 books, mostly romantic stories. His song books became most popular of all, and were printed in large numbers. He also enthusiastically promoted the standard Estonian language.

Teenuse Manor by Loodna-Vana-Vigala Road used to belong to the von Maydells. The well-known Baltic German painter and sculptor Friedrich Ludwig von Maydell (1795-1846) was born there. Among other things he illustrated many Estonian-language publications. He was prolific in many fields of art, for example, painting and designing altars and he founded the art of woodcutting in Estonia. His copper engravings depict the history of the Baltic provinces within the Russian empire.

Vana-Vigala Manor between Tallinn-Pärnu and Tallinn-Virtsu Roads, 9 km from Kivi-Vigala, belonged to the von Uexkülls for nearly 500 years. The original heart of the manor was located in Kivi-Vigala, south-east of the present site, where a mighty vassal castle stood in the 15th century. The latter was destroyed in the Livonian War and the new manor was built in Vana-Vigala.

According to an old legend, Vana-Vigala Manor sunk into the bottom of a river in one night. This is hardly likely, but the building that was started in 1762 was actually stopped for quite some time because the house on the soft clay soil began to sink a bit. The grand mansion was finally completed in 1775.

The park has trees which are several hundred years old and cascading ponds. The burial ground of the von Uexkülls lies in the farther corner of the park, alongside the ruins of a former chapel. A tall limestone wall lines the park in the north, laid in the late 1860s by peasants during a crop failure in return for the grain given by the manor lord. The 222m long wall is therefore called the Hunger Wall. The recently completed choir stand is in the heart of the park. The park has trees of various types and the added labels help recognise the most exotic of them.

Spectacular larch alleys adorn the front of the Vana-Vigala Mansion, also lining the road leading to the manor. The biggest larch in Estonia with a diameter of 4.24 m grows in the park.

Today the mansion houses a school. Two relief marble tablets hang on the walls of the entrance hall. These originate from the Italian town of Pompei that was buried under the ashes of Vesuvius. Boris von Uexküll brought the tablets, estimated to be about 2500 years old, from his extensive travels in the early 19th century.

During the revolt of December 1905 the mansion was burnt down. The house was reputedly on fire for three days. As a result, one of the most valuable manorial archives in the Baltic region, a large art collection and a library were destroyed. The main building was restored by the then lord of the manor before the First World War.

Another sight nearby is the so-called Vigala Deer Park at the Vigala River. It was established over two hundred years ago. Similarly to the park at the manor, this park has also numerous foreign trees, and several attempts were made to settle the deer there. The animals lived within a large enclosure. On a river island in the western part of the park stands a peculiar column that consists of 13 millstones laid one upon the other. The column was supposed to keep off a haunting lady of the manor. One Vigala manor lord was rumoured to have practised all sort of witchcraft.

Oese village south of Vana-Vigala is the birthplace of Matthias Johann Eisen (1857-1934). About one hundred metres from the Oese bus stop, towards KiviVigala, a small path turns right and leads to the former Oese schoolhouse, home of the great folklorist. Although Eisen studied theology, he devoted his life to Estonian folk poetry, especially mythology and ancient beliefs. He also translated the Finnish national epic Kalevala and taught at Tartu University.

West of the Tallinn-Pärnu Road near the Kivi-Vigala crossroads stands Jädivere stagecoach station, which was used as early as the 18th century. The classicist stone house was built in 1821-1822. Today, the stagecoach station is privately owned.

Märjamaa village is located in the middle of a large karst area where spring floods are frequent. Hence the name - Märjamaa means 'wet land'. The mid-14th century church has few windows and thick walls like a fortress. It was indeed a medieval fortified church, one of the mightiest in Western Estonia. It suffered considerable damage in various battles, including those of the Second World War. Its current facade in fact dates from only 1989. An interesting gate stands near the church commemorating the War of Independence (1918-1920) and all those from Märjamaa parish killed in battle. There are some temporary karst lakes called järtas to the east of the village. Two of them are under protection. They are filled with water only in spring, whereas in summer people make hay in them.

A few km after Märjamaa by the Tallinn-Pärnu Road, the road turns east towards Haimre Manor. The house has been standing in ruins since it was burnt down during the unrest in 1905. Ruins of a building with high arches can be seen in the grand park that is under protection.

Locals call this building 'the mosque'. According to a legend, the local manor lord had married a Turkish woman and built a mosque for her in the park. The building was probably never used as a place of worship, although its facade does suggest that it could have been. The crescent on it was still visible in the 1960s, enhancing the popular legends about the Turkish lady.

Velise on the Päärdu-Valgu Road was one of the Raplamaa headquarters of the rebels during the 1905 unrest. The locals even managed to form a revolutionary government, the so-called Velise Republic.

In the course of the unrest, groups of armed workers from Tallinn arrived in the neighbourhood, and altogether twelve manor houses were looted and burnt down. On 19 December the rebels were attacked by rapidly formed troops of manor lords and tsarist soldiers, and were forced to withdraw. In January 1906 General Bezobrazov's guards arranged a public punishment session in front of the local community centre in Purku, where 54 men were brutally beaten and four were shot.

To remember the 'Velise Republic' and its bloody ending, local people started collecting donations and in 1936 a monument was set up in front of the Orthodox church.

At the Valgu-Rapla Road, 3.5 km from Valgu and north of the road, stands a dolomite monument to the Finnish pilots killed in 1941. It shows a broken wing of an aeroplane and was commissioned by the Finns.

Turning north from the Päärdu-Valgu Road at Velise crossroads, we come to Sillaotsa Farm Museum, east of the road. The museum was founded in 1982 by the local enthusiast Aleksei Parnabas. The central building is the 1914 barn-dwelling house, displaying various household items and agricultural tools. One of the most remarkable exhibits is the threshing machine, built by a local man. There is also a small dendrological park and a bronze bas-relief of Aleksei Parnabas.

Around Rapla

Driving towards Rapla from Märjamaa, lalase Nature Reserve is located north of the road. Its centre is a village of the same name, near the important ancient stronghold of Varbola. The village has a compact plan, the paths leading as rays to former springs. In 1990 a nature protection area was established here.

Turning south from the Märjamaa-Rapla Road at Jalase crossroads we arrive at Tamme and can visit the Kabala Wool Mill-Museum. The display includes early 20th century machinery for the wool industry. The most remarkable item is the still operating spinning machine which dates from 1896. The Museum got its name from the nearby Kabala Manor, which houses the Raikküla local government.

North of Raikküla, west of the Rapla Road, is a hill covered with spruce trees that is known as Paka Hill. The western side of the hill ends with a 10-m high terrace. This area is under protection in order to maintain the coastal formations of the ancient Baltic Ice Lake. The local limestone and dolomite layers appeared here 440 million years ago. They have good technical qualities and are much appreciated as building materials. The limestone bed is 10-25 m wide and about half of Estonia lies on that; the layer here is fifty metres thick.

Folk legends describe Paka Hill as an ancient meeting place for different tribes where essential issues were discussed. There was probably also a sacrificial grove and a large sacrificial stone on the hill.

Röa village lies before Hagudi by the Tallinn-Rapla Road. This is the birthplace of the sculptor Anton Starkopf (1889-1966). A monument to him lies west of the road, between the road and the railway. A path from the Kärneri bus stop leads to it.

Starkopf studied in Munich and Paris. After Estonia became independent in 1918, he took part in founding the school of art called Pallas in Tartu. Starkopf's work is highly diverse, encompassing portraits, female figures and monuments. One of his favourite materials was granite, but he also made wooden sculptures.

An alley leads to Hagudi Manor from the Tallinn-Rapla Road. The manor belonged to the von Krusenstern family for nearly 250 years, and it is the birthplace of the most famous family member, the explorer Adam Johann von Krusenstern (1770-1846), who sailed around the world. The manor is being restored and a monument to the explorer has been set up in front of it (about Krusernstern see Lääne-Virumaa, Kiltsi).

Turning towards Ohulepa from the Hageri-Kodila Road at Kodila-Uusküla, we come to Ohulepa village. Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, folklorist and creator of the Estonian national epic, spent five summers here as a young man. The house bears a plaque to commemorate him.

In Uusküla near Rapla, an old chimney has been designed into a memorial to Otto Tief (1889-1976) to mark his birthplace.

Tief studied law in St Petersburg and later fought in the War of Independence (1918-1920). Between 1920 and 1930 he worked as a lawyer, was an MP and minister of justice. During WW II he was among those who tried to maintain Estonia as an independent republic, but their efforts failed. Tief was arrested in 1944 and sentenced to ten years of hard labour in Siberia. After that he lived in the Ukraine and Latvia.

The first professional Estonian musician, Johannes Kappel (1855-1907) was also born in Uusküla. He graduated from St Petersburg Conservatory as an organist and composer, worked in St Petersburg and organised several song festivals in Estonia. Kappel died in Germany.

The most remarkable sights in Rapla include the church with two towers and a late 19th century stone bridge across the Vigala River. About a hundred years ago the previous church became dangerously unstable and had to be demolished. A new capacious church was built in its place. No other rural church in Estonia has two towers. Several items in the church come from the previous one, such as the 800-years-old baptismal font and a beautiful baroque altar.

The neo-Gothic Alu Manor near Rapla was built in 1875 according the project of Paul Friedrich Wilhelm Alisch. It has three storeys, with high arched windows and a square corner tower. Since 1999, the building belongs to the Estonian Defence Guard.

Kuusiku lies 6 km south-west of Rapla and is primarily known for its meteorological station. The recorded winter temperatures here are often the lowest in the country. Kuusiku has a long tradition of plant breeding. Among its best known achievements is breeding the Swedish turnip that was later grown all over the Soviet Union. Today, the testing and experimenting with various plants continues.

The wooden mansion now accommodates a kindergarten.

The classicist Raikküla Mansion with its six columns has been slowly decaying over the last twenty or so years, and is waiting for renovation. On a small hill in the far corner of the green area in front of the mansion stands a modest monument to the former owners, the Keyserlings. This family boasts famous scientists, philosophers and politicians. The most prominent is perhaps Count Alexander Friedrich von Keyserling (1815-1891) who settled in Raikküla in 1847. The grand mansion had been completed in 1820 and the Count acquired it after marrying Zenaida, daughter of the Russian minister of finance, Count Georg von Cancrin (Jegor Kankrin). The manor was part of her dowry.

On his scientific expeditions, Alexander Keyserling explored the Ural Mountains, the Pyrenees and the Carpathian Mountains. He was keenly interested in geology, zoology and botany. He compiled handbooks about birds and plants, wrote thorough geological overviews, tackled biological problems and earned the recognition of Charles Darwin. He was elected as a member of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences and as the head of the Estonian Knighthood.

Besides all that, he found time to run the manor and improve the life of the peasants. He began charging money instead of forced labour for the rent of the peasant cottages. The villagers knew how to appreciate what he did for them. For example, when the other local landlords had to find shelter in towns after the Mahtra Uprising in 1858, Count Keyserling could calmly stay at home without any fear of revenge attacks. As head of the Knighthood, he had to negotiate between other landlords, the peasants and the authorities in St Petersburg.

Alexander Keyserling is considered to be the founder of the first rock garden in Estonia in 1881. A mighty oak once grew near the manor, known as the Bismarck oak. The German chancellor was a friend of the Keyserlings and visited Raikküla on several occasions. The Count liked to entertain his guests under the oak tree, which was then named after the most prominent visitor. Another oak, the Count still exists, about one km south form the manor. The villagers used to celebrate St John's Eve there and the Count had beer made for the occasion and brought to the oak in barrels that contained five buckets of beer. Men then measured their strength; the strongest were able to lift the 80-kg barrel to their mouth and drink from it. The Count himself reputedly also managed this feat.

Alexander Keyserling is buried in Hauametsa (Grave Forest) cemetery about 1.5 km southwest of the manor. There is a signpost pointing the way.

The Count's grandson Hermann Alexander von Keyserling (1880-1946) also achieved international recognition. He was a philosopher, especially keen on the Orient. He attempted to blend different cultures and thus reach a different level of thinking. He founded the philosophical educational establishment 'The School of Wisdom' that started in Darmstadt in 1920. His son Arnold (born in 1922) is also a philosopher and cultural historian. He has visited Estonia several times.

To commemorate the Keyserlings, the plays of Eduard von Keyserling (1855-1918), nephew of Alexander, are staged each year at Raikküla. He was a prominent Baltic German writer whose works include those about the life of local nobility.

Uku Masing's birthplace in Lipa village. Masing (1909-1985) was one of the most fascinating figures of Estonian culture of all times. He was a theologian and writer, an expert in Finno-Ugric mythology, translated the Old Testament from Hebrew, also literature form Latin, Greek, Japanese, Catalan and many other languages, wrote complicated and sensitive poetry and prose. His works were prohibited in the Soviet period, although several were published in the West.

In 1989 a monument to Uku Masing was unveiled in the courtyard of his home farm in Lipa village. It stands under the tree that had reputedly been a great inspiration to the poet.

The Estonian painter Johannes Võerahansu (1902-1980) was born in Keo village near Raikküla. He studied art at the Pallas School in Tartu and later in Paris. Afterwards he taught young painters at Tartu Art School and Tartu State Art Institute and then in Tallinn. Most of Võerahansu's paintings depict landscapes, village scenes and portraits.

His home now houses the museum about his life and art.

Before Kehtna, a road turns east from the Rapla-Käru Road at Metsaääre, towards Keava. Driving from Keava towards Ingliste, we first pass the decaying heart of the Keava manor complex and reach the Keava hill-fort, west of the road. The ancient hill-fort lies on the southern part of a steep ridge. The Russians successfully attacked Keava as early as 1054. In the early 2000s the archaeologists discovered that the Linnaaluste village nearby was one of the largest Viking-period villages, founded in the 7th-8th centuries. However, according to pollen analysis, people cultivated land there already one thousand years before that. About one kilometre north of the hill-fort, once stood another one, which was even older.

Valtu Manor near Rapla by the Rapla-Türi Road is directly connected with the development of the town of Rapla. The brick factory established near the manor in the late 19th century greatly advanced local life.

Talking of Valtu, alas, one must use the past tense. The manor was among the most beautiful classicist mansions in Estonia, which was destroyed in the course of revolutionary unrest in 1905. Only a few auxiliary buildings have survived.

North-east of Kaiu, by the road at Toomja, stands a monument to local people who were deported to Siberia in March 1949.

Around Järvakandi

In Purku by the Rapla-Järvakandi Road there is a huge boulder in front of the schoolhouse: It commemorates the events of the 1905-1906 unrest. The notorious General Bezobrazov meted out cruel punishment to the peasants here.

At the start of the path leading to Lipa village (first mentioned in 1241) stands a monument to four men of Jalase village who avoided conscription to the Soviet army. They were caught and shot in July 1941. These Jalase men were the first war victims in Rapla parish. Next year the local people set up a monument, which in set up a monument, which in 1944 was dug into the ground and then brought out again in September 1988.

Järvakandi Manor is located about 10 km north of Järvakandi. The visitor must turn off from the Rapla-Järvakandi Road at the Purku crossroads towards Valli village. The manor lies in ruins and the burial chapel in the park has been looted.

The manor was closely connected with the development of Järvakandi hamlet and its famous glass-works. In 1879 the local landlord von Taube built a bottle factory on the manor land. The first bottles and jars were ready in September. In Soviet times also window glass was produced. Today the glass-works focuses on various glass containers. Glass is made of Piusa glass sand, Tamsalu limestone and imported soda.

Around Käru

In Käru by the Rapla-Türi Road we find both the heart of the manor and the church. The Käru Mansion has survived, but was reconstructed to accommodate a schoolhouse and suffered damage mer historicist house with turrets has lost most of its grandeur. An interesting sight is the smithy that looks like a small fortress. Käru Church is rather modest, but a charming wooden building, dating from 1860.

By the Viljandi Road in Käru, a monument has been built to commemorate the Baltic Chain of 23 August 1989 when about 2 million inhabitants of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia held hands to demand their freedom. The chain stretched from Tallinn to Vilnius and covered about 620 km (approximately the distance, for example, between Paris and Liverpool, or Los Angeles and San Francisco).

In Vahastu by the Kuimetsa-Türi Road stands the Vahastu hill-fort with a steep north side. Excavating gravel has greatly damaged the site.

Calvin Stark

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