Day 3 - Riihimäki to Kuovola

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

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

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.

Day 7 – Rauma to Turkhu

Woke early and packed up anxious to be on the way. I had no idea what the day had in store for me but I knew that I really wanted to make the evening ferry home. Not to be a pessimist but anything can happen on a bike so wanted to leave myself with plenty of spare time.

Breakfast was served at 0730 but I snuck in early so was on the road in good time. I had intended to go look a bit at the old town (Rauma is 1 of 6 medieval cities in Finland) but after 5 minutes and thought better of it, I can Google for photos later :)

Looking at the map (which for some reason my guide is publishing at a much smaller scale) I could see that taking the route they suggest would easily be 180KM+ ride. I really wasn’t too sure that I wanted to do that sort of mileage especially as I had done 200KM yesterday and it would eat heavily into my emergency time. So I decided to cut out the “scenic” bit through the archipelago as previous such diversions have proved to be rather disappointing.

About the only major event of the morning was being caught in a thunderstorm which luckily moved on pretty rapidly and from which I dried out quickly. Today had been forecast to be dull and raining which would have been great but sadly it turned out hot and sunny again.

Susie once again provided fantastic base camp support and booked my ticket for tonight despite having hardly had any sleep the night before and having to wade through the website in Swedish, way to go girl!

My “short cut” I took at lunchtime was a disaster and I ended up cycling back the way I had come but on a different road. I was able to ask some passing cyclists who put me straight. I asked them where they were off too and they said the archipelago which I had cut out. It was very beautiful they said!

Sometime in the afternoon I didn’t notice but I dropped my map. Turned around and resigned myself to a long process of backtracking to find it when after 1KM I spotted some fellow cyclists. I stopped and asked if they had seen it and the chap proudly produced and said “this one?”. A random act of kindness, thank you sir!

I kept an eye out for the Mumins as I approached Turkhu but sadly there were none to see. I stopped at a supermarket and bought a punnet of strawberries. By now I was very tired and even the fact that I was cycling behind a rather curvy girl in a bikini there was just no power left in my legs.

Passed another accident which left me rather baffled. An old gentleman had fallen off his bike and had blood all over his face and knees from where he had hit the gravel. The sad thing was that it was right next to a bus stop where a teenage lad was sitting. He didn’t seem to give a damn which I found sad, I washed the guy with what little water I had left and helped him to his feet before departing giving the teenager a heavy scowl.

Rolled into Turkhu at 1630 with just under 3 hours to spare after 155KM. Picked up my tickets at the ferry terminal and found somewhere to get some food after giving myself a body wash and rinsing out my cycling top. I smell rank.

So that’s part 3 of around the Baltic finished.

1100KM in 7 days, no punctures or mechanical problems with the bike, No saddle sore and the only pain is my left achilles tendon which has never bothered me before. No rain, in fact hardly any cloudy weather has meant that I got through an entire bottle of factor 30 just on my arms, face and legs.

Can’t wait for next time as it will involve Estonia and maybe Russia (have to do some research about that!)

Day 6 – Kristianestad to to Rauma

Slept really well last night and after a quick breakfast was on the road just gone past 0730. No sooner had I left the hotel I came across the scene of a Road Traffic Accident.

There I was motoring along on the bike path that ran parallel to the road when I saw across the other side of the road what I initially took to be an advert or sculpture. It was only when I got closer I could see that it was a white van lying on its side in the ditch with its wheels sticking up in the air. My initial thought was “wow bet that hurt” and I almost took a picture but thought it bit ghoulish. anyway as I was passing the driver’s door popped open and the driver got out followed by his passenger! I immediately stopped and rushed over to see if they needed any help but thankfully apart from being pretty shook up they gave me the thumbs up saying they were ok.

After that the cycling got a lot less interesting with the best part of 90KM spent on the same road going through endless woods with the occasional village. Not that I was complaining as the pace was fast and I had set my sights on maybe reaching Turkhu in 2 days, not 3, thereby getting home on Sunday and not Monday.

Came across a place for lunch by complete accident and had one of the best lunches so far in a little cafe next to the village shop. All the village drunks sat outside looking a right mess but the food was great.

Reached an area that if you look at the map looked like it was going to really beautiful. Turned out to be very industrial. I should have used my better judgement and taken the more direct route out but like an idiot I followed the suggested which was once again poorly marked and pointless. Decided to make my own way to Rauma and diverged from the suggested route without getting lost. Missed 2 towns (including Pori) hence saving myself not only time but knocking off mileage.

It was still a 200KM ride to Rauma where I arrived in good time to find a hotel that good value, make up a little on the 2 expensive nights I have had. Tomorrow looks doable especially if I skip some of the route as I really want to make the ferry home.

Day 5 – Vasa to Kristinestad

Making the most of a nice hotel by getting a late start. Ate a hearty breakfast and was on the road by 10.

Actually in hindsight I don’t think it was a good idea because it’s so much hotter and my timings are all out by 2 hours (I explain later what I mean by that).

The morning ride was tough going and I really struggled to find the right pace. My Achilles was very sore and stiff for the first couple of hours which dropped my morale a little. Then I started having all the normal problems of indifferent sign posting, inattention and just plain mad map reading. Ended up going down dead ends and missing turns on at least 3 occasions in the morning session which combined with my Achilles and the fact the roads were terrible out me in a bit of a foul mood. Why the hell was I doing this I kept asking myself.

Once I got out of the forests the roads got a lot better and the map reading came a little more straightforward. I found the right pace for my ankle and the distance mileage started to mount up. Was a very pleasant second half to the morning rolling through endless farmland surrounded by arable crops of every description. Came to an area where they grow all the cucumbers and tomatoes that stretched for miles down a road that I swear was dead straight for 30KM.

Stopped for lunch at a cafe and this is where I paid the price for starting out late as they no longer were doing lunch. Had to make do with a pizza (that was actually very nice, either that or I was starving). The village had a war memorial which was the first I have seen with the graves of what looked to be Swedes who died fighting the Russians. I must look it up and see what it was all about, I wonder why the memorial is here.

The afternoon ride was hot with temperature bouncing around in the high 20’s. Had to stop frequently to apply suntan lotion as I sweating profusely.

Got lost again going around a little town which I then compounded by going the wrong way and ending up at an industrial harbour, not happy at all.

A day of ups and downs that ended up in Kristinestad which seems to be quite a popular tourist spot. The 2 main hotels are owned by the same guy who charges a fortune so settled for a reasonable priced room in a 1960’s style motel. Cheap, clean and with free internet I am not complaining.

Day 4 – Pietarsaari to Vasa

Took it slow this morning as I wanted to make the most of the nice hotel that Susie had booked me. Despite the pain in my Achilles it was a very pleasant evening last night spent talking to a Swedish and Dutch chemical dry cleaner technicians. Don’t people have weird jobs!

The cycling today was just fantastic. Rolling countryside with farms and tidy little villages with hardly any major roads. Finland is so beautiful with its mixture of lakes. forest, sea and summer houses. It sounds silly but I spent a good 30 minutes talking out aloud to an imaginary audience explaining just how wonderful everything was. Actually if I was to be honest I really miss my Susie and would so love to have had her with me. I was even doing the calculations of how much mileage she could do (not a lot) and how much we would get to see.

Passed the battlefield at Oravainen which was a pivotal battle in the Finnish War of 200 years ago. In fact I cycled through a battlefield that was a continuation of this war last year just outside Umea. Not much remains but I came across a few monuments. I wonder how history will remember my tiny contribution to history on Tumbledown?

Lunch was at one of the many ABC service stations that are dotted along the E8 that I am following, They do a cheap 11€ lunch that actually is good value in a country where food is expensive.

Arrived in Vasa in good time so decided to make the most of being in a big city (not many left) and checked into a SAS hotel. Washed my bike kit for the first time in 4 days and rested my Achilles. Still have 400KM to go so making the most of a little luxury.