Thursday         24/07/08                     Day 12                        Finland

The day started badly.  We were abruptly dragged from our happy sleep by the maid banging on the door, letting herself into the room and declaring that it was now10am and we must check out!  Sporting a couple of the worst hangovers in recent memory, we packed up our things and left the hotel.  In our delicate state, we made it no further than the McDonalds about 100 metres down the road, where an attempt was made to shake-off the headache with a burger and coke.

Feeling much improved, we headed to the Marttiini Knife Factory which had been recommended by lonely planet and some of our German friends from the Sweden off-road tour.  Marttiini started as a small local knife manufacturer but is now internationally recognised for the quality of their blades.  A “king in the world of sharp edges” - we had to have one!  It was a bit of a treat but the factory shop was good value and included free engraving of your blade.

Pleased with our purchases we trundled over to the beach on the other bank of the river, donned our swimming short and broke the football out for the first time.  Our normal samba skills were not flowing so to pass the time until our planned rendezvous with the two Finnish girls, Dave tightened up the rear bumper bolts which had come a little loose while Al discussed football with a local ski-jumper.

Any doubts we had about our afternoon dates were quickly dissolved as they arrived bang on time and led us down to the beach.  There would be no bottling the Scandinavian waters this time and we were soon all in the river to some extent.  After a relaxing afternoon our Finnish hosts said they knew a place where we could pick up a new inverter.  Good looking and practical, very impressive! We said our goodbyes in the Autoshop car park and went in to finally get hold of a new inverter.  We spent a good hour in the shop and could have happily spent much longer.  Our expectations had pigeon-holed the store as a Finnish Halfords which really does not do justice to the plethora of goods on offer: canoes, fishing rods, bb guns, alloy wheels, band-saws, home electricals, garden tools and … inverters!  We also invested in a compact drum bbq as we were cooking for ourselves more than we had expected, and there is only so much you can do with a meths trangia!

Unfortunately we have very little photographic evidence of the past couple of days – but some good mental images!

With the new inverter working away we left Roveniemi and continued south for an hour or so until we found a suitable campsite by a large lake.  We used our last disposable bbq to cook some humungous chicken breasts then retired quite early to make up for the previous night.

Friday  25/07/08                     Day 13                        Finland

We awoke suitably refreshed, although not especially early, and agreed we should take the opportunity to get a bit of exercise in while we had the chance.  It would also raise our body temperatures enough so we could tolerate a morning bath in the lake!

We set off running along the embankment alongside the lake, thoroughly enjoying the chance to stretch our legs and work up a sweat.  A suitable distance from the car we turned back and, never ones to take the easy way out, decided to jog down and sprint back up the tracks heading down from the embankment all the way back to the car.  Suitably exhausted when we arrived back (we didn’t realise how many of the tracks down there were) it was time for the good old lake bath!  We braved the cold, hopefully not upsetting any locals, and soon were clean and back on the road.

Our next port of call was the town of Oulu which, according to the Lonely Planet, was the least crappy of the towns in this region.  We navigated our way to the centre and parked up outside a supermarket to assess the situation and make a sandwich.  Whilst tucking into the hearty sandwich of left-overs from the previous nigh’s barbeque, we couldn’t help but notice, not only large numbers of good looking girls, but also the large number of these carrying copious amounts of alcohol.  Jackpot!  Closer inspection revealed that this was not just the girls but most of the many young people that seemed to be wandering around the town, a little strange but it was a university town after all…

Ever-curious, we set off in search of the tourist information centre marked in the Lonely Planet and, true to form, the book was way off the mark.  Whilst wandering the streets trying to find the elusive Tourist Information Centre, we heard some music in the distance.  Not ones to miss a trick, we duly followed our ears and, much to our surprise, soon stumbled across what appeared to be some kind of festival. 

This area of town consists of several small interconnected islands in the river delta, home to park land, university buildings and, for this weekend at least, a large stage and concert area!  Scattered around, utilising every available piece of land, were even more of the alcohol toting Finns we had seen coming out of the supermarket.  With little in the way of deliberation, the decision was made that this was the way forward and a fine way to spend the evening.

The next challenge was to find a suitable place to stay for the night.  From the looks of things it didn’t seem likely that we would be driving that evening so we needed somewhere fairly close by.  A couple of aborted attempts resulted in us heading further out of town until, as we were passing the festival site, on the opposite side of the road, we spotted a grassy area with several cars and even a van surrounded by what looked like most of the owner’s front room.  If they are happy to lounge around with a three piece suite and coffee table, then it is more than good enough as a camping spot for us!

Armed with several beers, we headed off to get in on the action and, after a short period of lounging in the sun and enjoying the beers, conversation with various locals was soon in full swing.  One beer led to another, this, combined with all the random people we met and chatted to, meant it reached 3am without us noticing (it is worth noting that we weren’t that drunk, it doesn’t go dark here so it is hard to keep track of time)!  It was decided that enough fun had been had for one night and we retired to the comfort of the back of the Land Rover for some much needed sleep.

Saturday          26/07/08                    Day 14                        Finland

Much of the morning was spent enjoying a thoroughly satisfying lie-in, and this was to be the first day that we really began to relax and feel like we were on a holiday of sorts. Having enjoyed the previous night, meeting some friendly people at the festival, we were happy to stay in Oulu and make the most of the final day of the festival.

In need of sustenance we headed off into the town and settled at a popular Tex-Mex restaurant, dishing up solid Mexican food in hearty Texan portions. A couple of hours later, well beaten by the food mountain on offer, we returned to the car to catch up on the diaries.  As would turn into a running theme, we had soon lost interest and found something else to do; in this case we headed for a spot of footy on an open green beside the river.  We rolled back the years for an hour or so with our rusty samba skills to the amazement (amusement? Ed.) of passers-by.  This, combined with the blistering Finnish sunshine, left us well in need of some sort of wash if we were going be remotely sociable that evening.

Being in the centre of a bustling city can pose a few problems when it comes to alfresco washing, even with our low standards!  We were left with little option but to break out the solar shower!  We strode down the road wearing towels, shower gel in hand, to the nearby park and shamelessly cleaned ourselves up.  A quick car-park-shave later and we were ready to roll.

The first port of call was a shop where we could procure beers and some meat for a much anticipated barbeque, but failed in our search for the latter.  Cursing ourselves for not going to the supermarket during opening hours, we grabbed a quick Sub-way and took our beers off to the festival park.

Word had obviously got around about the previous night and we were soon chatting left right and centre to inquisitive Finns.  Feeling like minor celebrities, we were pretty well-oiled when our cue to leave came in the form of a call from one of the girls we spoke to the previous night saying that she and her friends were in a club in town and did we want to join them.  We headed off on a “Challenge Aneka” style search across the town, stopping for a beer along the way, before, with much local help, finding the club.  It was another late night but enjoyable, from what can be remembered!

Sunday            27/07/08                      Day 15                        Finland

We arose groggy and ready to continue south towards Helsinki and eventually the Russian border by the end of the week.

The “coast” road along the Bothenian Gulf is somewhat of a misnomer, as is its Swedish counterpart, both being actually someway inland and quite unspectacular. However boring, we made good progress and stopped in Vasa in the mid-afternoon to replace some of the essential fats lost as a result of last night’s drinking.  And what better way than with a huge kebab?! These things were enormous, but to the pragmatic caricature kebab shop owner’s credit there was a foil dispenser available for customers to wrap up any leftovers and take it away to feed their family for a couple of weeks. We had our fill of the house special kebabs and carted the excess back to the car for later.

Back on the road we were determined to see some of the coast and made it our objective for the evening’s wild camp site. Tired, we headed off on a west bound road until we came to the end of a small peninsula, in the middle of a wind farm! Good enough for us! We parked up under a huge turbine, revisited our kebabs from earlier and caught up on a bit of shut-eye.

Monday           28/07/08                      Day 16                        Finland

Feeling refreshed we kept on southwards towards the town of Rauma, which, according to lonely Planet, had a very pleasant campsite by the sea, with free sauna usage, that would serve as a good base to knuckle down and make some real progress writing the blog.  We arrived in Rauma around midday and made a bee-line for the Prima hypermarket.  On our shopping list was a new pair swimming shorts for Al (his last pair has been left drying on the roof bars and are now assumed to be tumbling down the highway!) and some meat for a barbeque later.  These posed no problem for the well-stocked Prima, which also furnished us with a bargain ready-cooked chicken for lunch.

Without a detailed map, something that would later become a theme, we struck lucky, finding the campsite with ease.  On first impressions the LP recommendation seemed justified; a small site on a lightly wooded peninsula adjacent a sweeping sandy bay. Second impressions reaffirmed our intent to stay as we met the very appealing blonde receptionist and enthusiastically booked a pitch for the night.

Our traveller’s camp was soon established: Dave expertly levelled the Disco (strictly necessary for a good nights sleep) with one wheel on a large rock and the other digging itself down a few inches as it spun. Much to the interest of our new neighbours we set to the abnormal camping rituals of washing the mud and mosquitoes-splattered Disco and topping up the gearbox and engine oils.

Also in dire need of cleaning were all of our clothes.  Dave sorted this with the receptionist, gallantly insisting on doing it himself, stating that she was in no way to handle our dirty clothes herself due to E.U. Health and Safety in the workplace legislation.  By early evening we had two cases full of clean but wet clothes, far too much for our travel washing line.  Al struck on a more substantial and innovative solution of spooling out some of the winch cable and winding it around a few nearby trees. These 20 yards of washing extending from the front bumper really enhanced the gypsy camp ambiance we were aiming for and we were content with what must have been the manliest washing line in Scandinavia with the capacity for nine and a half tonnes of laundry, should we need it.

Dave invited the receptionist to join us for a few drinks after she finished work, so we got barbequing, sure to leave plenty of time to make ourselves look pretty for the evening.  It was the maiden meal with the new barbeque we had picked up in Roveniemi and, after a quick assembly with no regards for the instructions, we were soon grilling kebabs like pros.

We prettified ourselves and, using the map marked with the chosen watering hole, we set off in search of some beer and our local hosts for the evening.  Walking along with the kind of purpose only the promise of a beer and a pretty girl can muster, we very nearly walked straight past the Irish bar in which we were supposed to be meeting.  Saved by the shout from across the street we joined the two girls from the campsite and started an enjoyable night with some excellent company.

In deference to the young ladies presence, the evening saw us on our best behaviour.  The girls’ English was of a high enough standard that we felt it best to curb the now rampant innuendo and double entendre that had become rife in almost every sentence!  We carried on chatting into the small hours, despite one of the girls having to work at six the following morning, and eventually found our way back to the car for our second night’s sleep in the much welcome dark!

Tuesday           29/07/08                      Day 17                        Finland

The alarm sounded bright and early, waking us up so we could go and enjoy the early morning sauna that the camp site had.  The alarm was promptly and unceremoniously turned off.  A couple of hours later we emerged to find another lovely sunny day, fine for drying clothes so Dave took the third and final load of washing to be done.  A good morning of lazing about then commenced as we waited for the washing to finish before we could hang it out on our super-strength washing line.

We were kindly offered the free use of two of the campsite rental bikes to aid us in our search for a public library and the internet.  Never ones to turn down a freebie, we graciously accepted the offer and wobbled off into town on two very old and clapped-out bikes.

Library and internet found and with all jobs done, we once again took to the saddle in exploration of the picturesque historic town centre, one of the oldest surviving wooden town centres in the country (all the others had burnt down and been rebuilt at least once).  A pleasant lunch at a street side café followed and we headed back to camp.

Back at the camp site, on the other side of the bay was a large, open-air, salt-water swimming pool.  At one end of this pool there stood a three tier, concrete, colossus of a diving board.  Only a brave few of the many young teenagers and children enjoying the water would jump off the lower two, let alone the top one.  Having already been and scoped it out previous day, we had, at the time, decided that (at about eight years older than any of the others in the water) we were maybe a little bit too old to be playing.  As it often does, the previous night’s beer had flipped that decision on its end and we had vowed to do it!

After standing around for several minutes, not to look too keen, we started the long ascent to the top tier.  Once up there, with lots of people milling around, there was now definitely only one way down that didn’t involve humiliation…

A few minutes of summoning up the courage (whilst pretending, nonchalantly, to be enjoying the view) followed until a three count was agreed on. One… two… threeeeeee… we simultaneously leapt towards our impending doom with enough time for an exclamation of ‘oh crap’ from Dave as we hit the murky green water.  As we strolled back round the beach towards the car we knew, deep down, that we were coolest kids at the pool that day!

After the morning’s excitement, the rest of the afternoon was spent in the café of the campsite writing the diaries, reading and generally taking some time out.  We ended the evening with some delicious chicken roasted over an open fire before promising to make the sauna the following morning and going to sleep!

Wednesday     30/07/08                      Day 18                        Finland

The day started as well as a day can, sweating it out in the on-site sauna followed up by a cooling dip in the sea.  The only down side was the hour at which we had to rise to do it!  Since we have been on this trip, the extra effort required to get up when sleeping in the car has meant that mornings, on the whole, have not been the earliest, but with the sauna closing at eight and having already missed out on Swedish meatballs, we were not prepared to forego another Scandinavian cliché, even for sleep!

Breakfast eaten, gypsy camp packed away and goodbyes said; we once again hit the road.

It is a strange way of living, never anywhere for more than a few days, new and often very interesting people are continually met, yet no sooner have we managed to remember names (or not as is often the case, apologies to those concerned), then we are making tracks once again and the cycle continues.  This obviously has its good and bad sides and it is something we are getting used to - I am certain there will be many more interesting people and ‘goodbyes and good lucks’  to come!

We were heading in the direction of Helsinki, Finland’s capital, with plans to stop off in Finland’s former capital, Turku, on the way.  A couple of uneventful but enjoyable hours were spent in Turku, walking along the river’s edge, taking in the sights and grabbing a bite to eat before continuing towards Helsinki.

As in most capitals, the plethora of one way streets, high volumes of traffic and road-works that always seem to be on the road that you want to use, makes getting around by car a bit of a challenge.  Having this at the end of a long day combined with a poor map, lack of parking and the first two hostels we tried being full makes for a somewhat frustrating time.  By the time we had reached the third hostel, a lack of patience and alternatives meant that even the fact that they only had one bed free was not enough to deter us!  Taking one for the team, we pulled the car round to the front, and Dave prepared for a night camping at the side of the road, of course taking full advantage of the hostel’s facilities that Al’s key entitled us to!.

Tarted up we headed out to see what Helsinki’s night life has to offer.  Not very much, apparently; at least not on a Wednesday.  Several fruitless hours later, popping into the odd place for a pint, we were yet to find anywhere that wasn’t virtually empty.  Accepting defeat and consoling ourselves with the promise of some big nights out in Russia to come (as well as a burger for the walk home) we retreated to our respective sleeping quarters for the night.

Thursday         31/07/08                      Day 19                        Finland

Dave came in from the street, having probably had the better night’s sleep, and we both enjoyed a good sauna before taking the Disco to a free car park north of the city centre, near the football stadium.  In glorious sunshine we ambled into the centre, to the library, to make use of the free internet facilities and managed to spend several hours updating the diary, adding photos, and catching up on news and emails.

After the near clothing crisis before the big wash in Rauma, we decided to take precautionary measures. Dave argued that by investing in dedicated pyjamas he would save on pants and Al was enthused by the idea of some silk pyjama shorts – who wouldn’t!  PJ’d up, we returned to the car to find we had received a parking ticket with a €40 fine. It turned out that only 90% of the car park was free, and guess what, we weren’t in it.  With ignorance as our alibi, we duly filed the ticket and made for the Russian border, post haste!

As we drew close to the border queues of lorries on the hard shoulder became more frequent, presumably parked up ready to cross the border first thing the next morning.  This was just our plan.  First we made a short final stop at Lidle, to pick up some essential supplies including fajitas for dinner, and some intriguing Bear and Elk Pates!

Around 15 miles from the border we pulled down a track into some woods to eat our fajitas and wild camp our last night in Finland.  On reflection we both felt sad to be leaving a country that had been thoroughly enjoyable, and also apprehensive about what Russia would have in store for us over the coming weeks.  This is where the adventure would really start!

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