Photo is just me mucking about on Finnish dirt roads. Wet, muddy, treacherously slippery, but still good fun. Pointless and silly, but good fun. This eastern part of Finland, on the border with Russia, is home to the remaining parts of Finnish wilderness, and I’d planned to explore it on two wheels on dirt roads like this, but the heavy rain makes that less appealing. Instead. I’ve holed up in a wilderness lodge and I’ll be exploring by kayak and hiking trail (even though I’m a biker, not a hiker). The rain is still pouring so it’s a mercifully short ride. It must be even worse for the cyclists who were in the same hotel, and also the Spanish bikers who can’t be used to this sort of weather. On the way I pass back to the south of the arctic circle. Nordkapp is at over 70 degrees north, the arctic circle at 66 and a bit. Newcastle is at 55. That makes it easy to see why it’s only 7 degrees C outside, even though it’s summer. Summer is this place’s low season, so compared to Norway it’s very reasonable. The sauna and open-air jacuzzi overlooking the lakes and forests of Finland, does a great job of soothing my aching cycle accident legs, and the Finnish food will do nicely at preparing me for tomorrow’s kayaking.
Day 34 Oulanka national park, Finland
13
Jul