Aegviidu – Napu

Two days on the Oandu–Ikla hiking trail, 27 km from Aegviidu station to Napu, on 9–10 October 2026. We took the morning train out of Tallinn, walked south through rain-soaked pine forest and forest roads, cooked lunch at an RMK campfire site, caught a rainbow over the fields in the evening, slept in the shelter at Noku campfire site and crossed Kakerdaja bog in fog the next morning. The film is the whole thing with no talking and no music.

Getting there

Aegviidu is on the eastbound railway out of Tallinn, 42–56 minutes by Elron train depending on the service (timetable from 28 September 2026). The trail leaves straight from the station: RMK counts this section of the Oandu–Aegviidu–Ikla trail from the Aegviidu visitor centre, about 100 m from the platform, and the white-red-white waymarks lead south. Check times and tickets on elron.ee; weekend morning trains fill up in autumn. More on the area in our Kõrvemaa guide.

The route, section by section

Distances are measured along the published trail on our map. RMK counts the whole section from the Aegviidu visitor centre to Napu campfire site as 27 km, with Noku at 19 km (RMK). The map now shows our phone's own track. It sampled sparsely, so the distance it measures (about 25 km) falls short of RMK's 27 km, and the straight stretches across its gaps follow the marked trail. The whole 370 km trail, section by section, is in our Oandu–Ikla guide, and the campfire sites on this section in RMK campfire sites we have slept at.

The night at Noku

Noku campfire site sits at the edge of Kakerdaja bog, where the boardwalk starts, named after the old Nokko farm. RMK has three open lean-to shelters there, two fire sites and room for about ten tents. We slept in one of the lean-tos. The lake in the dusk shot at 10:31 is Kalajärv, at Kalajärve campfire site just before Noku, which is a good fallback if Noku is full.

It was 4 °C, wet, and quiet except for the rain on the roof. We cooked on the stove, dried boots by the fire and were asleep by nine.

Kakerdaja bog in the morning

We left the shelter at first light and walked onto the boardwalk in fog so thick the lake at the far end only appeared at the last bench. The boardwalk is narrow, in places a single plank wide, and was slick with overnight rain. It is the reason to do this hike in autumn. Our Kakerdaja bog guide has the trail, the parking and the shorter loop if you only want the bog.

How the days went

Clock times from the phone's step counter, for planning the same trip:

Eight hours station to shelter including lunch, filming stops and short breaks, with 18–20 kg on the back. Without the camera work, count on six to seven. In October the light goes soon after 18:30, so a later train leaves no margin; the first train would.

Gear

Sony a6700 with the Tamron 17-70 mm f/2.8 for everything static, a GoPro HERO11 Black for the walking shots, one tripod between us. Packs of 18–20 kg each with the tent, mats and two days of food. Boots, not trail runners, for the bog. Everything we carried is on our gear page.

Getting back

Napu is a hamlet off the trail with no public transport; RMK's section ends at Napu campfire site. We had a car waiting. Without one, walk on to Ardu, about 14 km by road west of Napu: a village on the Tallinn–Tartu highway with buses to Tallinn (check times on peatus.ee). Or carry on south along the trail to the next section.

The film

The full 17-minute film is at the top of this page and on YouTube. The chapters follow the sections above. The section before this one, north of Aegviidu through the Järvi lakes, is in our Järvi – Aegviidu guide.