Day 6: To Koivuranta

Our beds tucked in by the loom

Breakfast: porridge, strawberries, red currant juice, coffee, cheese, salami, hard boiled eggs, crispbread, rye bread, white bread, jam, sweet bread – Gad!   What more could one want? All delicious! 

Loom envy

We had such a great stay with Tarja - such a friendly host.   But we must move on, so the bikes were loaded up and we headed off along the unsealed road.  The first hill won, it was far too soon to be able to pedal to the top – but all was well after that.

Sealed road and sunshine - Noice!!

The sun was shining, birds were tweeting - it was a beautiful day!  We traced our way back to the turnoff then turned northwards continuing along an unsealed road, which was in pretty good shape.  More forest, flowers, farmlands and fåglar (birds)!  It is really so pretty – the wildflowers are still bloomin’ madly – and heaps of birch trees – my favourites!
We made it back to the sealed road, which allowed us to kick along a bit then we took a short cut on another unsealed road. The hills are still appearing more than we need, but we are getting better at them – I think.  They still hurt and I am very glad of my granny gear – which allows me to keep up with Karina – who is swearing about not having one!

The other side of the lake

Hurry up Mum!

Whilst having a roadside snack, we had a chat with a Finnish guy, who was riding to see friends, but was a bit lost.  He said that he had ridden 200km yesterday!!  Yeah, but he was travelling pretty light, small panniers and obviously a bit crazy!  He was going back the way we had come, so we gave him our map and some chocolate and he was off on his way again.

A ferry trip across a cold lake

 

Water Lilies too!

A Lake - nice place for lunch

We had a ride on a much bigger ferry today – there were only 4 cars and one motorbike travelling our way, but there was a long line up on the other side – think they were coming home from work or shopping in Kuopio as we aren’t that far as the car drives!
We had another 20km to go from the ferry and it was all sealed road, so it turned out to be a very pleasant ride all day!  

reflections

Walking along a Finnish path to a beautiful lake

The old school at Orinono Gorge

girl's toilet - a very long drop!

Gary Garmin brought right to the front door of Kivuranta and we signed in easily and were shown our room.  The lake lay glistening in the afternoon sun, just 20 metres from our door.  Very nice!  Showering was the first thing on our mind and we asked for an evening meal at 8pm, so didn’t have to rush.  The guy on reception seemed to be the only person around working.  He took our money for the room, cooked our meal and also for another couple and generally rushed around.

Bring on the Food!

Our meal (28€ total) of roasted pork, potatoes, eggplants, capsicum, tomatoes covered with a herby cream gravy plus tomatoes and cucumbers on the side – OK quite tasty and very filling – and as I had no choice in the serving, I just ate it up.
We went for a walk by the lake, but the mossies were chasing us inside, when we saw a little hedgehog, snuffling along.  We got quite close to it, but it decided that if it sat very still under this bit of grass we wouldn’t see it – totally impossible to photograph – but sooo cute!
so time for a bit of blogging, charging of knick knacks and soon to bed!  I do realise I have missed a couple of days and no photos yet, but just hang in there, they will come...

Stats for the day:  91km; 5:45 hours riding, 15.8kph avg, 49kph max (596)

Day 5: Liukonpellon Luomutila

marmalade & cheese sandwich - mmmm

It was a grey day that greeted us this morning.  Grey being – no breakfast offered and no coffee or tea in the room as well as the grey skies.  So we ate up some of the rye bread buns & cheese (with orange marmalade!) that we had bought for lunch and shared an apple.


this is our load - all together not each!

Cafe closed, not open till 10am

It was cold and raining lightly, so all the wet weather gear was dragged out: covers for the panniers and bags, jackets and waterproof pants and waterproof booties as well!  Fashionable!! Thermals were very much appreciated but our faces soon began to feel really cold too.  Shades of Estonia for sure!  We zinked down to the shop and stocked up our lunch supplies and then hit the road.

Karina - rugged up against the bitter cold wind & rain

Early on, we hopped on a little ferry (for free) and punted across a lake and just on the other side was a small local supermarket, where we went in for a little look and bought some milk.  Helped an elderly lady struggle out the door with a carton of beer and a big handbag!  No English spoken here, but it wasn’t necessary.  

It wasn’t too long before we detoured onto the short cut and unsealed road.  The rain had eased off but there was no sign of sunshine or warmth.  The first half of the sealed road was OK, firm and not gravelly, but plenty of hills to really try our patience – damn those Finnish Hills!  The forest was alive with bird sounds – but no sign of wildlife, no elk, no bears and no wolves… thankfully – tho a squirrel or 2 would have been nice – maybe a badger or hedgehog??  But nothing and no road kills either.

The little ferry heading back across the lake

The drains on each side of the road make it hard to get off and find a nice spot for lunch, so we turned down a small road for pit stop and lunch.  I walked along a bit trying to find a place over the drain, but nothing.  I was just hitching up my shirt, when I heard Karina call out and I looked back and there was a local lady cycling towards me with a big grin on her face.  What are the odds on that!!  So I waited awhile before I eventually relieved my bladder!

We spotted a few smultron growing alongside the road, but they are still not quite ripe – red on one side but not on the other.  Still give a bit of an idea of the intense flavour, but not quite…  later!

Not long after this we turned onto another unsealed road and things became decidedly worse.  Loose sharp gravel made riding hell and we got a bit cranky all round.  The hills added a little drama, not because of the puff up, but the hairy riding down on brakes and loose surface.  We had about 13km of this before getting onto Route 23 and riding with fairly constant traffic before the turnoff to Liukonpellan.  Another dirt road, but not topped with loose gravel.  Still plenty of sharp hills, but more farmland here. 

See the criss-cross bras straps & fish net cups? they were shy
& wouldn't come any closer

And Cows with Bras!  We saw this mob of black & white dairy cows and we could see they had leather straps around their bodies and on closer inspection realised they were bras!  We called out, so a couple came over a bit closer to see us.  We have since seen other herds with bras too!

And so to Liukonpellan – what I thought were cabins, turned out to be a home-stay set up.   Tarja was having a massage when we arrived, so we waited until that was finished.  Her English was very good and this made it really easy to sit and talk.  First Tarja offered us tea – made with fresh mint and this wonderful strawberry cake – Erik (Tarja’s son) was turning 20 the next day and they were having a family party for him.  Her mother had baked the cake (shades of midsommar cake), but Tarja had decorated it.  Cut into 2 layers with cream and banana in between, then covered with cream, sprinkled with grated chocolate and topped with huge chunks of strawberries – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  yummo!!

We unpacked and showered and then went upstairs again.  We were a little embarrassed as I had imagined there would be somewhere to buy a meal (doh!!) so we just had left over bread and cheese again.  But we were invited to share their evening birthday meal – typical Finnish simple meal, according to Tarja.  But very different for us!  Boiled new potatoes – to cover, spring onions in cream.  Also green salad, cherry tomatoes, pickled herring, fried zucchini in sundried tomato oil sprinkled with mozzarella cheese, broccoli plus breads – rye & crispbreads – I am sure Eero would have approved.  And I even tried the herring and am ashamed to say, it was quite nice, sweet and not too pickled tasting. 

Here comes the potatoes!

We helped pack up the evening meal, then stood around in the kitchen, talking about Finland and Australia – politics and social stuff.  It was really interesting to compare but it would seem in many ways that Australia and Finland are very similar.  It was a really great cultural sharing experience, but we were very tired after a really hard day of riding, so at 10:30 we struggled off to bed!

(OK so I whinged about the road and didn't photograph it for evidence?  Well I do have video of it, but it was too cold and wet to get out the SLR - sorry!)

Day 4: First day riding - to Oravi

Day 4: To Oravi

Where's Brock's latte??

Breakfast is ready!

The sun greeted us when we climbed out of bed. Good stuff - so breakfast was served down at the café just near the edge of the lake – so very nice…. And yummy stuff too!

So let’s get this show on the road.  We thought we would check out the market again before leaving town – so picked up some cherries there and after some serious discussions on directions we headed off in the way that Karina & Gary Garmin suggested and all was well.  We found a large supermarket on edge of town – so bought some food for lunch and headed off. 

Just as we got back on the way it started to rain so we covered up our panniers – but it didn’t really set in.  The sun came back and we pedalled through beautiful forests – the ground covered with wildflowers and the bird sounds that I love and huge lakes everywhere.  We turned off the main road and it was really nice pedalling along – and not too many hills - yet!

Is it a little cool?  maybe the wind from the lake is a little chilly!

maybe another twig?

Look at the Lupins!

We had lunch on a pontoon on a lake – cold wind coming over the water!  The clouds were building up behind us – huge dark blue grey clouds and thunder beginning to zing around, so we packed up and went on our way.  But again thankfully, we managed to keep ahead of it. 

It was a really nice day of riding - good roads, not much traffic, lots of sunshine - beautiful wild forests, heaps of peace and serenity!!

No 13 with the door open - upstairs

And so we arrived into Oravi and after a bit of trouble finding reception, we got the key and moved into room 13.  Bit institutional on the outside, but very nice inside – Ikea like.  Only problem with this room was the lack of complimentary coffee or tea!!! 

Summer holidays

We showered and then went for a ride and discovered the mossies – or they found us!  Oravi is a sports resort so there were heaps of boats, there’s a ferry over to the National Park on an island (we were too late) and canoes to hire etc  but too cold and the water looked a bit rough.  There were ‘summer cottages’ all along the edge – very Scandinavian! 

Maggie among the wildflowers

We went down to the bar and had hamburgers (vegie also) with chips and a beer/cider.  So all good!  Bit of a drama tho – breakfast only served on weekends – ah well – we shall have to eat our lunch for breakfast and then wait for the shop to open at 9 and buy some more lunch. 

Tucker for hungry bike riders

Day 3: To Savonlinna

Awoke to find the rain had eased tho the air was still brisk!  14C on window sill.
Our plan for today was to catch train to Savonlinna and then take a look at the castle and whatever we have time for.

Karina in small train to Savonlinna

After a mediocre hostel breakfast, we loaded the bikes and Karina led the way back through the city to the train station.  The train was ready for boarding, so we unpacked our bikes and climbed aboard.  There were fancy hangers for the bikes – but it appears that no-one ever takes a bike on board, so it was full of a pram and backpacks.  So we politely moved them to one side and Karina (no cloth arms here!) struggled with the hanging contraption and hauled our bikes up onto their hooks.  Neat!  We found our seats and sat back for the 4 hour journey to Savonlinna.  There were power points so I plugged in the laptop and tried to blog away, but the network was far too weak for uploading photos.  But I did get to check & send some emails. (I accidently deleted photos (doh!!) of this train journey, so am hoping we will see the fancy hangers on another train! - besides the windows of both trains were dirty and hard to photo thru). 
The view was farms and birch and pine forests – and of course lakes.  Small towns flashed by with speeds around 155-160kph.  Pleasant journey and soon we arrived at Parikkala where we had to change trains.  We were prepared 10 mins before arrival, with all our bags by the door, bikes unhooked, so the 2 min stop was enough!  Phew!  Next problem was to get onto the local train – 3 steep steps up, but the friendly guards helped us aboard and off again to Savonlinna. 

Olavinlinna Castle

We arrived there at about 2 ish and just near the train station was a market and several cafes, so we hitched our steeds up to some railings and bought some lunch.  Nothing flash – cheese Panini & KK had chicken wings with a fizzy drink each.  Junk food!  I ducked over to the market but they were packing up so not much to see.  But bought some yummy strawberries and blue berries!  Very tasty!

Entrance to caslte

Cannon

We then went looking for Lossarinta – our accom for the night.  We pushed our bikes up a steep street along the footpath as the traffic was a bit manic.  Then shot down a steep slope and at the bottom was the lake, the castle and Lossarinta!!  Wowee!  The castle was so much closer than I thought – yes, Emma I know you said it was ‘just there’ and you were right.  It looks really old, much older than photos show, they seem to airbrush it a little, but in no way does it look unloved!

Inside the Great Hall - seats 120

Lossarinta was more than what I expected – Charming with a CH!!  We stayed in Room 10 and we were promised breakfast in the little café near the lake’s edge if the rain kept away.  It was a self contained little unit and (apart from the price) it would have been wonderful to stay a week…..  but we are travellers!

Russian quarters inside castle

Looking over the lake

We unloaded all our gear and headed over to the castle and signed up for the 5pm tour.  It is such a Castle castle.  The tour took us up through two of the turrets – steep as - in a spiral of high stone steps, uneven as anything – but breath-taking views of the lake thru tiny windows.  I usually dodge guided tours, but this was a really informative tour because the alley ways, corridors and steps would confuse no end without someone showing the way.  Google ‘Olavinlinna’ for the history of the castle and the wars between the Russians and Swedes fighting over this area of Finland. 



Lossarinto across the water

 It was getting a bit late when we came out, so we rode on around the lakes edge, past flash boats and wooden ferries tootilng around, until we were back where we had lunch. 

From Huvila Brewery

 We crossed onto the next island and headed off towards the brewery, Huvila – recommended by Em & M.  I ordered a Gold Ale, but Karina had a cider instead.  Karina thought she might like to try goose, while I ordered the Asparagus risotto  - pretty flash tucker and really yummy too.  We skipped the desert and headed off home, after a quick window shop along the main shopping drag.
Along the way home, we bought some vanilla ice-cream. 

Dessert!!!

Our desert plan!  Ice-cream with blue berries and strawberries – ya can’t go wrong!!  Sitting outside – overlooking the lake and the Castle – which is just so close!!!  The mossies and gnats (or Sveea!) eventually chased us inside and we hit the sack. 

So Day 1 on the road – Paradise with cold wet Helsinki just a memory now!

Karl Fazer Rules!

Day 2: arrival in Helsinki

The last leg of the flight left Singapore at 11:45 – which was 2am Qld time – so we were ready for sleeping, but the crew thought we needed another meal…  so we did.  Then swallowed a little white pill and for the first time ever on a plane, I actually had a good sleep – apart from a coupla kids wailing and waking everyone up.  The flight was a nice smooth trip – as much as I remember.

Weird timber sculpture at
Helsinki airport

At 4:30 (11:30am qld) breakfast was served and we eventually landed at 6:15 at Helsinki airport.  Our bikes had arrived at the same time as us – thankfully, so we found a deserted area and proceeded to put them back together.  Karina did well and with some helpful suggestions from her, Maggie fitted nicely back together again too.  So 2 wonderful but heavily laden bikes ready to hit the road!

Ready & raring to go

Pretty balcony geraniums

So, how to get into Helsinki?  Karina had her Garmin up and running and off we went on a Garmin tour – taking the long way I think, but let’s not knock it!  Eventually we were arriving in the main centre and I was beginning to feel I knew where some things were!  Sure enough I saw the huge steeple of the cathedral, then the ‘Mother & Child’ statue and knew that just down the road was a bike shop.

along the motorway

Pizzaeria in the rain

But by then, it was lunchtime, so we went into a Pizza cafe and had a huge single pizza each.  They were just right and weren’t as greasy as some I could mention! We went back to the bike shop and teed up bike boxes for our return in a month’s time. 

Then down through the city centre and across a bridge to Eurohostel to sign in.  We dumped all our things in our room then walked back to the city centre to the railway station to validate our EuroRail pass.  We quietly joined the queue after being told we had a 45min wait.  So we did some people-watching until it was nearly our turn.  We nearly missed our turn as one clerk accidently lit up our number, so when the next number came up – we had missed our turn.  Luckily Olga – a lovely young clerk came to our rescue – teed up our tickets and was so nice that the cranky old bags (there were 2!) were almost forgotten!

some random interesting building - Karina
decked out in rain weather gear

The weather??  Well, it was a chilly 10 when we left the airport but not too bad for riding.  But when we stopped for lunch it started to rain.  Think the temp might have dropped to -40 without ice, but maybe I exaggerate a tad!  It was damn cold, frozen face, cold wet light rain.  But when we came out of the railway station, it had all cleared away and was probably up to 10 again! 

So my opinion of Helsinki hasn’t changed much – heaps of walking looking for a supermarket, then for somewhere for dinner – we got stuck in the boutique area with only flash restaurants.  But eventually we tracked down an Italian restaurant and had a big belly full of pasta & dessert then staggered back to hostel. 

Both tired but got some things done that had to be done.  No sightseeing this time, but we do have another day here on the way home.

http://www.a-trip.com/tracks/view/107261 - here’s the link to the I-got-u map – you can see we did a few zigzags.  It reads that we covered 26km, which ties in with my bike computer stats:

distance 26km, 2 hours riding, avg 12kph (no hills just dodging around bikeways, footpaths etc) max 35kph.