hello dear friends
back in germany i'm going to tell you about a couple of very nice last days in finland, estonia, latvia and lithuania. I went hiking, partying and bought a nice new tool...
have fun reading!
8/14/22 - 8/20/22
we wake up quite early on this sunny day and look forward to going for a swim before breakfast. However, the water is still very fresh, so it's more like splashing around and after we fried the potatoes. today's destination is koli national park, in the southwest of pielinen lake, with a rather steep rocky coast that promises wonderful views.
after the coffee mugs and the rest of the dishes have been washed, we set off. we're listening to what seems to be a pretty cult finnish hit duo, ada bought a cassette on the market in turko based on the seller's recommendation, but we both can't really get used to it.
around noon we reach the parking lot, which is already at some height, very comfortably. I had already found an approximately 7km long circular trail online, which leads past some beautiful views and does not get too boring due to some steep climbs. we trudge off, it is actually quite warm and the sun does the rest, so that we start to sweat a bit, so we take a long break about halfway along the way.
reading and dozing here in the semi-shade, we continue walking, wonderfully relaxed and follow the paths through forests and across meadows back to the car park. since ada would like to continue her bike trip a little behind savonlinna tomorrow, we look for a place to sleep that is roughly on the route. we find what we are looking for at vihtari, but the map does not give any indication that we will have to roar the last 15 km over a dusty gravel road. in the evening, completely shaken up, we reach a branch of the road that makes a loop on this peninsula. because the junction in question looks very overgrown, we first walk the last 200m until we finally reach a small clearing with a small beach and fireplace area.
ada starts collecting wood and i drive very carefully down the narrow path, remembering my last experiences on unpaved forest roads. after the bulli is halfway parked we cook a delicious curry over the fire.
we manage to eat outside, but then the mosquitoes get a bit too annoying and we read in the light of the oil lamp, in the bulli for a while before our eyes close.
sunday starts with coffee and porridge and after refreshment i go on a small tour of discovery in the water, it's relatively muddy and rocky, but i can stumble in and i even manage to swim for a moment. It's not really nice yet, because the water is cool, but in the morning it still seems a few degrees cooler than it actually is. while i'm drying we work on the bicycle stand of ada's bike, relatively freshly attached, at some point in the last few days it has snapped under the weight of the bags and no longer supports it properly. makeshift we bend it back a bit and it seems as if it would work for the time being. we then pack everything up and let ourselves be shaken up again vigorously as we drive along the gravel road back to the asphalt.
near savonlinna we do a little shopping tour, ada is looking for batteries and camping gas and i've been keeping my eyes open for a hollow adze ever since i've been in finland. this relatively unknown tool looks like an ax at first glance, but it has a blade that is rounded towards the handle and within itself. this makes it easier to work out concave surfaces in a wooden beam or the individual trunks of a log house. Since there are so many log houses here in Scandinavia, I thought at the beginning that something like this could be found in almost every hardware store, but unfortunately that's not the case. it has not been a particularly successful search. but whenever the opportunity presents itself I ask the people. Unfortunately, most of the time the sellers don't even know how to call this tool in finnish, let alone where to buy it.
today i find out the name: kourukirves
Unfortunately, ada didn't really find anything, but at least they were able to buy batteries. we drive a little further to a bus stop just outside of savonlinna and when all the bags are in their place and the bottles are filled, we hug and wish each other a safe journey home. ada will spend a few nice days here in the lake landscape with the bike and then take the ship back to germany.
waving I rush back towards the main road and look for a place to sleep near mikkeli at the gas station stop a few kilometers further, a small, very well-rated lake near löytö catches my eye and I'm there in the late afternoon. a large sunbathing lawn with a carpet washing system, fireplace and floating jetty awaits me.
i spend the evening until the noodle meal reading and searching online for the axe-like tool. The seller also said to me this afternoon that I probably won't find what I'm looking for, because most craftsmen simply order special tools of this type on the internet. in fact, i discover a few shops on the further route, which i can pay a visit to while driving past. when the sun has set behind red clouds, i fall asleep comfortably cuddled up.
Birdsong and the screams of bathing children wake me up on this sunny morning. I spend a while in the camping chair with coffee and porridge before I head out onto the boardwalk for a round of yoga.
i also swim a long lap through the cool water until i follow the sandy slopes in the direction of lathi with the bulli packed up. I also use my old sunglasses again today and I enjoy the wind with the window open and nice music.
the sun shows itself from its best and hottest side, which is why i'm quite happy to reach the city, the air-conditioned air of the gigantic hall of kärkäinen awaits me. this is a kind of shop for everything, like ikea, hardware store, supermarket and clothes shop all in one, you can even buy beach buggies here...
some time passes in which i trudge through the full shelves and take a closer look at this huge capitalist outgrowth. after about half an hour of browsing, with a pack of fresh socks in my hand, i reach the tool department. among the axes on the shelf i find the object of my desire, a hollow adze from narex, a czech company from which i also ordered my chisel set about two years ago. i am very happy and my cash from the festival work has now been completely used up.
after a little shopping at lidl, i drive on country roads and arrive about 2 hours later in the finnish capital. It's also uncomfortably warm here and my actually free parking space next to an outdoor pool is completely overcrowded. finally i find what i'm looking for and have a snack. then i walk via kallio, keskusta and the center to the hietaniemi beach in the west, actually i was hoping to see a beautiful sunset here, but unfortunately i'm a bit too late and the sun has already disappeared behind the horizon. in the rest of the light i watch a few people playing volleyball, have a beer and then make my way back and forth through the city to the car.
somehow i just don't really feel like the city right now, i would like to go to a night with electronic dance music, but unfortunately even though it's a capital, but not berlin and therefore it's impossible to find a party or a club on tuesday night. at least for me...
one restless night later, i wake up sleepily from my alarm clock, the first time i have set it for a long time. i had bought a ticket for the ferry online last night and the ship leaves at 10 a.m. so i dig my way through the tough morning city traffic to the terminal of the viking line and spend the rest of the waiting time with coffee and carrots. at some point the cars are piloted onto the ship and i find myself parked tightly between other campers and trucks.
I pack my backpack and decide to spend the 2-3 hour crossing continuing to write the blog.
so i look for a spot with a socket on a glazed observation deck and make myself comfortable, only to realize about 15 minutes later that i seem to have sat down next to the children's play area. Slightly annoyed, I walk up the stairs, let the wind blow in my face and finally find a place at the stern of the ship in the lee of the superstructure.
deep in thought i type to myself and only realized how late it is when we have already entered the port of tallin. i nimbly run down to the vehicle deck and realize that i'm the last one except for two trucks. I quickly start the bulli and roll rumbling off the ferry.
when i arrived in tallin, i first looked for a parking space near the maritime museum, which has been housed in the lennusadam, a restored seaplane hangar, since 2012.
it is a fascinating exhibition of various aspects of seafaring, from the optimist to ice sailors to the gigantic submarine lembit, which is exhibited in the middle of the hall.
a special part of the exhibition deals with the soviet evacuation in august 1941, the german navy had secured the sea route out of the city with a large amount of underwater mines and blasting buoys. in the course of the fighting on land, many civilians also fled to the ships and boats of the military and when the evacuation finally began on the night of august 27, the fleet was attacked by bombers, coastal guns, mines and the german navy. in all, at least 52 soviet ships were sunk and 25,000 people lost their lives. a sad chapter of the second world war, like so many others. however, in addition to the mines, the shipwrecks are also a problem for the ecosystem of the strait.
in the harbor outside the hanga there are other exciting exhibition ships that can also be admired from the inside. I'm looking at a minesweeper and Suur Tõll, Europe's largest formerly steam-powered icebreaker. impressive engineering and very unique to climb through the huge engine room.
towards evening i make my way to the vicinity of pärnu, where a breathtaking sunset over the sparkling baltic sea awaits me just in time today.
when the spectacle comes to an end, i start cooking and enjoy a portion of pasta with pesto. after a short round of reading I fall asleep.
today i sleep in really late and spend the morning quite slowly with an audio book in the van, at some point i make myself a coffee and read while i enjoy the sun. when i finally set off i drive over the border to latvia in the early afternoon. the streets are dusty and because it's so hot i'm looking for a place to swim. the road follows the course of a long lake and i park at a wonderful, small and shady bathing spot. i dive in the cool water and swim to a jetty on the other side.
back at the bulli there is a little snack and then i doze for a while in the sun before i jump in again and drive on to near sinole.
again at a lake i park in the half-dark and go looking for firewood, unfortunately the fireplace is a bit away from the car and the mosquitoes are quite annoying, but i sit very comfortably on a wooden bench by the campfire with a beer and dreamily look into the flames while listening to the audio book.
after the collected wood has been burned and i can't stand the fight with the mosquitoes any longer, i went to sleep.
the next morning i take care of washing the dishes while the coffee is boiling. after a short drive i reach gulbene, a small town, it's time to fill up again.
so i fill up the car with fresh diesel and when i want to pay, my visa and the cash register don't seem to understand each other. so i leave my ID at the gas station and drive briskly into town to withdraw cash from a machine, which works without any problems. once again i ask myself why these little problems seem to arise from time to time, and i plan to have at least 2 credit cards with me for the next trip across national borders.
after this confusion i drive on to kuprava, in 1971 a large factory and some apartment blocks were built here, since 1992 the factory has been shut down and nature has started to decompose the steel and concrete, it is a fascinating area of industrial ruins. after a small snack i loaded my backpack with the cameras and carefully set out to explore this deserted area.
especially crossing the connecting corridor between two of the administration buildings at dizzy heights was quite exciting. even today the sun is roasting extremely and so i decide, after having hiked a large part of the area, to go to a lake as soon as possible. in kaunata on the shore of the big rāzna lake i find a nice place to stay and after i walked about 200m into the water it finally gets deep enough to swim a bit.
back on land i enjoy the semi-shade of a large pasture and read a bit until i drive on to a parking lot near slutiški in the early evening. there is a small ancient log house village that i would like to explore the following day.
unfortunately the weather isn't particularly wonderful this morning, so i stay in bed for quite a while and drink coffee while i'm on the phone with ari. soon after that i pack my backpack and go on a tour of discovery through the small village, there are maybe 10 houses in all, i have a bit of the feeling that everything seems a bit inflated here, so more worth seeing than it actually is, especially since the houses do not stand out particularly crassly from those of the other villages in the area. nevertheless, it is beautiful and about in the middle of the village is a kind of museum with various small exhibitions. the exhibitions are accompanied by a sound system that plays stories and sounds as soon as you step into the individual rooms and there is a lot of old stuff to admire.
in the early afternoon i'm back at the car and register that today is also a saturday, so i quickly check resident advisor to see if i'm lucky and there's a party in vilnius that i can attend.
there is actually a techno event in kablys, but first i have to get to vilnius, the capital is pretty much on my route and before i find my place to sleep at the edge of a park, i take a break at a gas station, the blog wants to be written also.
Arriving at the parking lot, I cook myself a large portion of rice and dress up to go out. looking for fresh tobacco i find a mate-lemonade under the passenger seat in the bulli and then trudge through the old town, because the club is about 3 km away to the west.
it will be a nice night with decent techno, lots of dancing and nice talks. I'm very happy to have found a club more or less by accident and to have had such a nice evening dancing.
thank you very much for taking the time to read, hugging you from afar and happily saying:
see you soon
love
pauli
previous posts of the scandinavia trip:
scandinavia 1 ger
scandinavia 1 eng
scandinavia 2 ger
scandinavia 2 eng
scandinavia 3 ger
scandinavia 3 eng
scandinavia 4 ger
scandinavia 4 eng
scandinavia 5 ger
scandinavia 5 eng
scandinavia 6 ger
scandinavia 6 eng