Finnish lake district

Di. 01.08.2023

On the Swiss National Day we drove a little more than an hour north to Lahti. There we met Tony, a longtime friend of Sarah's family. Tony is a Finnish basejumper who regularly comes to Lauterbrunnen to jump off the high cliffs of the valley. We were greeted by a wild waving man with a bright red T-shirt with a Swiss cross on it. Sarah certainly hasn't seen Tony for 10 years. He led us to the ski jumps of Lahti where we had lunch and then we could get on top of the highest of the three ski jumps with a lift. From there we had a really great view over the whole town, the woods and the many lakes. Or rather could have, because the weather was very rainy (for a change…). By the way, in the summer there is a swimming pool at the finish of the big ski jumping hill. This is probably unique in the world. Instead of going for a walk at the harbour, we drove a bit through the town and finally to a museum cafe. Around 5 p.m. we said goodbye to Tony and drove further north, especially over the Pulkkilanharju, an eight-kilometre-long but only a few metres wide headland in Lake Päijänne. Look for the pictures on the internet, because in the sunshine it would have been a great route to ride, but it was raining out of buckets, so we have not a single picture of this.

Mi. 02.08.2023

At least the temperature was comfortable again that day. It was probably 22 degrees, but still cloudy. We started the day very late. We had lunch in a small restaurant in an even smaller town. It is quite typical here to offer a lunch buffet with different vegetables and meats. Per person you usually pay 10 euros and can draw as much as you want, water, coffee and dessert are included!

In a bigger place called Varkaus we stopped at a rest stop for a pee break. But there were two monster trucks on display and we found out that there was a kind of stunt show taking place at this rest stop that evening. So, we decided spontaneously to stay and watch the show, because the weather was pretty good. The show lasted with a break of 2 hours and included tricks on small and large motorcycles, synchronous drifts with half broken cars, a stuntman had himself tied to the hood of a car and the car drove through burning wooden slats or a scrap car that deliberately drove at increased speed over a jump to land on the roof. This and another car were then driven to scrap by the huge and very loud monster truck. Just when the monster truck show was on, it poured out of buckets and we got soaked.

Do. 03.08.2023

The region we were in is known as the Finnish Lakeland. As the name suggests, it has a lot of lakes and national parks. That was our goal for the next few days, but first we wanted to visit the easternmost point of Finland. But since it was still a bit far away, we visited the second largest open-air museum in Finland, the Pielisen Museum, on the way. The old buildings were transported from everywhere especially for the museum and you could admire the houses and old objects all the way back to the 17th century.

We had a crazy idea for the night. Maybe our mommies should stop reading 😊 No, half as wild. Literally, because we were also in the area with the largest numbers of wolves and bears in the country. We had already informed ourselves about a wildlife safari, but the cost of a night was simply too high. So, we tried our luck with wildlife sightings in our own safe way. We parked deep into a forest that still offered some clearing. Before we had bought a liver sausage and cat meat at a petrol station. Now we scattered it on small trees and shrubs, then sat in the van and waited. But after 2.5 hours the sun had set and because we were now so far south, it naturally got dark again. And we didn't see an animal.

Fr. 04.08.2023

On Friday, we drove an hour from our sleeping place to the easternmost point of Finland. We drove an hour through practically nothing but forest. We passed about 10 houses. In Finland, the border with Russia is restricted. You cannot travel within three kilometres of the border without a permit. The most easterly point is the only entry point for which you don't need this permit. But it has yellow posts all over it to tell you how close you are to the border. The path is cordoned off on the left and right. The border with Russia itself is a river and in the middle, there is a small islet, where the border posts are set to 0.1 metres in accordance with the treaty.

We would have liked to travel to Russia. Instead of taking the ferry to Tallinn, we would have liked to travel to St Petersburg and from there to Estonia. It is still very easy to obtain a visa for Russia, but it is a matter of time. And since we had never really thought about it before, we do not have the time to do so. But yes, if we had time, we would have gone via St. Petersburg.

After this visit we drove to the Koli National Park, to the very cosy campsite Koli Freetime right next to a small lake. We enjoyed the evening with a sauna and not doing much more.

Sat 05.08.2023

We were going to visit Koli National Park. It was the first time since Ireland that we took out our bikes. The weather forecasted a 50 percent chance of rain. So, we packed up our rain pants and jackets and started cycling. The bike path is also the same as the hiking trail and since it rained often and heavily in the last days it was a very adventurous ride with lots of mud and deep puddles. On the way it started to rain but soon stopped again. After a little over an hour we arrived at the visitor centre. We had lunch and then left for an hour-long round hike. After 5 minutes we were already at the first lookout point. The view was magnificent. We saw over the huge lake Pielinen with its many small and larger islets. The lake is 894.2 square kilometres in size, 28 kilometres wide and 93 kilometres long, imagine that. And: it is 'only' the fifth largest lake in Finland.

As we marvelled and filmed and took pictures, something inclement started to unfold from behind. We could see the wall of rain coming at us. Now, what do we do? Put on rain pants and keep walking? We had already ridden our bikes through water and rain. But we decided to walk the 5 minutes back to the visitor centre and let the heavy rain pass by. Good idea, because there was also a thunderstorm. After 15 minutes the fun was over and we started our short hike. From the other side it was also a beautiful sight. Forest as far as the eye can see, between the trees the fog rose up, on the left the grey clouds and on the right blue sky and sunshine. We found out that 50 percent chance of rain in Finland means that the weather changes every 30 minutes. Rain, sun, rain, sun. We've never seen a change like this before.

After the round we returned to the visitor centre and indulged in dessert. We quickly got in touch with the shop assistant, Paula, originally from Rovaniemi. She worked for two winters in Davos and misses good fondue. Our chat lasted a long time and at the end she gave us her postal address and she will receive a great parcel with good fondue from us for Christmas.

At about 6 pm we were back at the campsite. We took the normal road back. That evening we didn't go to the sauna any more. That was the cool thing about the campsite: For 28 euros a night everything was included: sauna for one hour a day or using a canoe or rowing boat.

Sun 06.08.2023

This Sunday we slept out. The weather was finally beautiful and warm. We took advantage of that to empty out the bus completely and clean it. We had a huge mess on our square, but it was good to wipe it out.

When we were finally finished, we pumped up our newly purchased StandUpPaddles. The beginning was a bit shaky, but after a few minutes we were paddling beautifully balanced over the lake. Sunshine and light wind, it was good for the soul to finally have warm, sunny weather.

Also, tonight we enjoyed the sauna and afterwards we filmed our van in detail. This means that you can look forward to a video showing and explaining our self-converted campervan. We don't know exactly when it will go online yet.