Today was destined to be a tough day and it certainly didn't disappoint.
I calculated that today was going to be about 130KM which didn't seem too difficult. However due to a slight change of plan I didn't plan on staying in Kuovola but instead catch the 1722 to Helsinki with the intent of meeting up an old friend who I hadn't seen in 11 years.
I didn't sleep so well as I was way too hot and bed so narrow I thought I was going to fall out! So I was glad when the morning arrived so I could get up, have breakfast and hit the road. So by 0630 I was on the way aware that I had a deadline to meet but with a 3 hour margin felt comfortable that I could make it.
The morning ride was through endless farmland with farms that are looking a lot better than the ones from the first couple of days.Seems that the reason for all the abandoned buildings I am seeing are caused by many factors. Firstly the life of a farmer is not that appealing to the younger generation. Hard to find a wife in the large sprawling communities many are heading to the cities Secondly land is so cheap that farms are being bought up by the neighbors and the land merged into bigger and bigger farms with no need for the buildings.
Reached Lahti by 1030 which I deemed to be just under half way. Had a break with something to eat and drink before setting off on what proved to be a very frustrating attempt to get out of Lahti. Big towns are a nightmare for cyclists particularly ones trying to find the small roads so that they can avoid the traffic, Conflicting signs, no signs at all or signs pointing the wrong way all contributed to me taking almost an hour to get on the way. Plus Lahti is a large and sprawling city so the cycling was pretty boring with large roads everywhere.
I eventually found the road I needed when the one thing that all cyclists hate arrived. A headwind. Already tired from the 300KM I had already cycled it was a real struggle to make any progress. I had over 20KM to cycle into the wind and it really drained my energy reserves. With no obvious short cuts I just had to grin and bear it.
The countryside was very much the same as this morning which was a little disappointing as the maps showed lots of lakes and the guide I was following was saying all sorts of things to look out for. Apart from a few churches, summer houses and glimpses of lakes through the trees it was very familiar. Of course the fact that I was knackered and had my head down didnt help me appreciate the scenery that much :)
Reached the outskirts of Kuovola at about 1500 so still plenty of time. However the complete lack of any signage meant that it was going to be tough to find a car free way into town. Then I discovered a function on my phone that I hadnt seen before (I am no power user, a phone is for making phone calls no?) I bought up the map function and found I could type in my destination and ask for it to find me a route for cyclists. Awesome! 45 minutes later I arrived at the train station where I picked up my tickets and settled down to wait.
Very glad this is the end because after today I dont think I could face a day 4 :) Was great to back on the road but today was 165KM which on top of the rest makes it over 400KM in 3 days over some pretty horrendous potholed roads with virtually nowhere to eat or stay for long distances. Bike held up well but more importantly I feel good. My legs are sore but still strong and I had no problems with my butt or joints. Need a good massage though
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Sunday 28 April 2013
Day 2 - Porras to Riihimäki
Up at 5am and a lovely breakfast of cheese, yogurt, apple juice and coffee. Just what I needed to face the mornings bike ride.
The countryside soon turned from farming land to forest and a 14km preserved stretch of the Oxen road.which was a joy to cycle except that the hills were a killer!!!
Today though was destined to be a short day (106km) as there is basically no where to stay between Riihimäki and Lahti the next town afterwards of any size (which by the way has no where advertised to where I could stay). so I decided to play it safe and finish early.
Reached Hämeeninna around lunchtime which is where the Oxen road ended. A very nice little town with a medieval castle and some museums. Lots of coaches were disgorging scouts and girl guides who were all assembling with banners and drums for some sort of parade.This area is famous for its barracks and garrison so they could well have been preparing for some sort of commemoration. However I had no time to stay so headed for a hotel to get something warm to drink and recharge my camera battery which had expired.
The afternoon was very different as I am no longer on the Oxen road. Only 80km north of Helsinki it was a lot more built up with roads and major highways so I was zig zagging all over the place avoiding the big roads. Arrived in Riihmäki in good time to find a hotel and have a decent meal. Also seems that Turo saw my post about me being in Finland so the plan now is to head to Kouvola and catch a train at 1722 to Helsinki so we can catch up. Going to be tough though because it 130km so I better not get a puncture :)
What I did come across today though were military cemeteries from WW2. This was unexpected but then I remembered that Finland was attacked and invaded by Russia in the winter of 1939\40. Finland had actually broken away from Russia in 1917 and declared independence and now Russia wanted the country back using the pretense that Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was only 40km from the border. The war was fairly short, a little over a hundred days, but it saw a vastly outnumbered Finnish Army made up of mainly civilians without uniforms fighting a highly mechanized Russian force with air supremacy, Almost 70,000 Finns were killed or wounded in the fighting along with 323,000 Russians in what was one of the coldest winters on record. See Finnish Winter War for more details.
Early to bed because I am up early as breakfast is at 0600
The countryside soon turned from farming land to forest and a 14km preserved stretch of the Oxen road.which was a joy to cycle except that the hills were a killer!!!
Today though was destined to be a short day (106km) as there is basically no where to stay between Riihimäki and Lahti the next town afterwards of any size (which by the way has no where advertised to where I could stay). so I decided to play it safe and finish early.
Reached Hämeeninna around lunchtime which is where the Oxen road ended. A very nice little town with a medieval castle and some museums. Lots of coaches were disgorging scouts and girl guides who were all assembling with banners and drums for some sort of parade.This area is famous for its barracks and garrison so they could well have been preparing for some sort of commemoration. However I had no time to stay so headed for a hotel to get something warm to drink and recharge my camera battery which had expired.
The afternoon was very different as I am no longer on the Oxen road. Only 80km north of Helsinki it was a lot more built up with roads and major highways so I was zig zagging all over the place avoiding the big roads. Arrived in Riihmäki in good time to find a hotel and have a decent meal. Also seems that Turo saw my post about me being in Finland so the plan now is to head to Kouvola and catch a train at 1722 to Helsinki so we can catch up. Going to be tough though because it 130km so I better not get a puncture :)
What I did come across today though were military cemeteries from WW2. This was unexpected but then I remembered that Finland was attacked and invaded by Russia in the winter of 1939\40. Finland had actually broken away from Russia in 1917 and declared independence and now Russia wanted the country back using the pretense that Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) was only 40km from the border. The war was fairly short, a little over a hundred days, but it saw a vastly outnumbered Finnish Army made up of mainly civilians without uniforms fighting a highly mechanized Russian force with air supremacy, Almost 70,000 Finns were killed or wounded in the fighting along with 323,000 Russians in what was one of the coldest winters on record. See Finnish Winter War for more details.
Early to bed because I am up early as breakfast is at 0600
Day 1 - Turkhu to Porras
After a horrendous night on the ferry coming over from Stockholm today turned out to be a glorious day of cycling.
I had decided to buy a berth in a shared cabin because last time I did that in 2011 I ended up with the entire cabin to myself. This time I wasnt so lucky. After going for something to eat I got back to the cabin to find that it was full and that 2 of the other 3 sharing were already asleep. Not wanting to waken them I just slipped into bed after brushing my teeth but this meant I had no ear defenders. BIG MISTAKE. The 4th guy in our cabin was a rather large Russian named Andrias and he turned out to be a big snorer!! It was a wet snuffly snore with particularly loud element that not only kept me awake but the other Russian "sleeping" beneath him, I have no idea what the Russian for "for gods sake stop snoring" but I heard that said a few times during the night to varying degrees of success. If it wasnt the snoring it was the party goers in the corridors so between them it was a long night. I eventually gave up at about 5am and got up. Might as well see some of the glorious islands around Turkhu than listen to the snores. Shouldnt have bothered though because there was a fog and therefore couldnt see anything.
Was off the ferry and on the road by 0730 and eventually found my way out of Turkhu heading for Tarvasjoki along the pre historic Hame Oxen road. This is a road that is hundreds of years old and winds through Southern Finland, used extensively by the vikings its of great national importance It started at the 700 year old cathedral in Turkhu and will take me to Hameenlinna.
The country side was very rural and full of farming and farmland. Reminded me very much of England the area around Hereford where I have done a lot of exploring in my bike. The only major difference being the lack of hedgerows here in Finland and of course the style of buildings. Talking of which, many of the farm buildings are really old here in Finland. Actually that goes for a lot of the building ive seen both today and back in 2011 when I cycled the west coast. Unlike Sweden which has kept modernising the buildings many of them here in Finland are originals. Its like cycling through a living Skansen, one huge open air museum. What is sad though is that many farms have merged and the farm lands taken over by bigger farms leaving the original farm to slowly decay. So many abandoned farms and buildings.
By lunchtime was starting to look for somewhere to stay for the night. I am very early in the year, actually the season hasnt started yet, so almost all the youth hostels and camp sites are closed. So I was tempted to head for Forssa as this is an industrial town with a couple of hotels. In the end though I risked going to a place that I had tried calling but nobody had answered the phone which was a museum\cafe\ accommodation complex in Porras. Luckily they were open and they had a room, in fact I had the whole house as I am the only one here. Even better they took pity on me as the closest place to eat was a 32KM round trip and made me some dinner. Very nice young couple and a lovely stay.
So a good first day. 131KM and it looks like I have about the same to do for the next 2 days. Lots of aches and pains because this is the first time in almost 2 years since I have done this but it feels good. Nothing broken and looking forward to another day on the road.
I had decided to buy a berth in a shared cabin because last time I did that in 2011 I ended up with the entire cabin to myself. This time I wasnt so lucky. After going for something to eat I got back to the cabin to find that it was full and that 2 of the other 3 sharing were already asleep. Not wanting to waken them I just slipped into bed after brushing my teeth but this meant I had no ear defenders. BIG MISTAKE. The 4th guy in our cabin was a rather large Russian named Andrias and he turned out to be a big snorer!! It was a wet snuffly snore with particularly loud element that not only kept me awake but the other Russian "sleeping" beneath him, I have no idea what the Russian for "for gods sake stop snoring" but I heard that said a few times during the night to varying degrees of success. If it wasnt the snoring it was the party goers in the corridors so between them it was a long night. I eventually gave up at about 5am and got up. Might as well see some of the glorious islands around Turkhu than listen to the snores. Shouldnt have bothered though because there was a fog and therefore couldnt see anything.
Was off the ferry and on the road by 0730 and eventually found my way out of Turkhu heading for Tarvasjoki along the pre historic Hame Oxen road. This is a road that is hundreds of years old and winds through Southern Finland, used extensively by the vikings its of great national importance It started at the 700 year old cathedral in Turkhu and will take me to Hameenlinna.
The country side was very rural and full of farming and farmland. Reminded me very much of England the area around Hereford where I have done a lot of exploring in my bike. The only major difference being the lack of hedgerows here in Finland and of course the style of buildings. Talking of which, many of the farm buildings are really old here in Finland. Actually that goes for a lot of the building ive seen both today and back in 2011 when I cycled the west coast. Unlike Sweden which has kept modernising the buildings many of them here in Finland are originals. Its like cycling through a living Skansen, one huge open air museum. What is sad though is that many farms have merged and the farm lands taken over by bigger farms leaving the original farm to slowly decay. So many abandoned farms and buildings.
By lunchtime was starting to look for somewhere to stay for the night. I am very early in the year, actually the season hasnt started yet, so almost all the youth hostels and camp sites are closed. So I was tempted to head for Forssa as this is an industrial town with a couple of hotels. In the end though I risked going to a place that I had tried calling but nobody had answered the phone which was a museum\cafe\ accommodation complex in Porras. Luckily they were open and they had a room, in fact I had the whole house as I am the only one here. Even better they took pity on me as the closest place to eat was a 32KM round trip and made me some dinner. Very nice young couple and a lovely stay.
So a good first day. 131KM and it looks like I have about the same to do for the next 2 days. Lots of aches and pains because this is the first time in almost 2 years since I have done this but it feels good. Nothing broken and looking forward to another day on the road.
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