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*** FINLAND 2015 - WEEKS 4~5 *** |
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This week's
Photo Gallery |
Wild Flora of SE Finland |
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With the aid of the Arboretum brochure's English version site map which supposedly gave details of colour-coded walking routes around the plantations, we set off to walk the 3km circuit; it was soon clear however that way-makings were minimal, and trusting the map and our directional instincts, we followed the path through the rhododendron valley where the plants were just coming into flower and around to the plantations' southern slopes. Only a few of the trees were labelled, but it was the wild flora among the dense ground cover of fresh-leaved Bilberry that attracted us. The other noteworthy feature was that, as we knelt to photograph the flora, this year's first mosquitoes began swarming around our heads; they were early! The path wove through plantations of cedars, emerging onto a farm-track at the arboretum's far corner, lined with several different species of Horsetails, with their distinctive spore-cases at the top of the feathery whorls of leaf-fronds (see left). In Helsinki's Natural History Museum, displays had shown mock-ups of gigantic tree-sized species of this ancient primitive plant from the Carboniferous Era, whose distant descendents here lined the pathway through Mustila Arboretum. Eastwards to Hamina:
through Elimäki, we followed Routes 354 and
357 south-eastwards through forested and farming countryside to rejoin the E18
near
The wild flora during these 2 weeks was so impressive that we have included a separate photo-gallery of Wild Flora of SE Finland. The fortress town of Hamina: before leaving the following morning, we walked
down to the shore for photos looking out across to the distant islands in the Gulf
of Finland (Photo 1 - Hamina Camping).
It was a short drive back into Hamina which is today the easternmost port in
mainland EU. The town was We drove into the centre of Hamina, parking by
the town hall at the epicentre of the town's radial streets network, to get a
copy of the impressive Walking in Old Hamina guide brochure from the TIC. The lady
here was a mine of local information and advised us to start at the Central
Bastion before an afternoon concert began. From St Mary's Lutheran church we
began our tour of Hamina's preserved bastions. At the Central Bastion, concert
preparations were in full swing, but the attendants allowed us to walk through,
telling us more about the canopy construction. A nearby section of preserved
rampart gave a good over-view of the impressive arena and its backdrop of 19th
century Russian casemates (Photo
2 - Hamina Central Bastion). We continued along the
line of the surviving ramparts looking down over the town's modern stadium which
nestles between the 19th century Russian-built caponier fortifications and
outlying parts of the bastion's defensive structures. The path around the ramparts
led past a surviving powder magazine (now an art gallery) to emerge at one of the
guard houses where one of the radial roads once passed through a
The Salpa Linja wartime defensive line:
the following day, 4 June was the birthday
of Marshall Gustav Mannerheim, Finland's legendary wartime leader; what better
day than this for our re-visit to the Virolahti section of the Salpa Linja
defensive line which he caused to be constructed and which served to save
Finland from Russian occupation in 1944. With the Soviet unprovoked act of
aggression in November 1939 resulting in the 105 day long Winter War, Finnish
troops under Mannerheim's
leadership, despite being vastly out-numbered and out-gunned, stalled the
Soviet invasion, causing enormous loss of Russian troops. But the armistice in March 1940 resulted in Finland being
forced to cede to Stalin's USSR huge areas of its eastern territories in South
Karelia, the Salla salient further north, and the whole of the Petsamo peninsula on the Barents
Sea coast. But although Finland retained her independence at that stage, further war with USSR
was simply a matter of time. Mannerheim's solution was to construct a defensive
line to protect the country's new westward-shifted eastern border in the event
of further Soviet aggression. Mannerheim gave the
1,200km long defensive line the symbolic title of Suomen Salpa (the
Finnish Bolt), but it is now usually referred to as the Salpa Linja (Salpa
Line); it stretched the entire length of Finland's eastern border with Russia,
all the way from the Gulf of Finland northwards to Lapland.
This massive project was begun in April 1940 immediately after the Winter War's
conclusion. It involved 35,000 military and civilians workers supported by
2,000 women auxiliaries, in the construction of 728 reinforced concrete bunkers,
3,000 field Our 2012 visit to the Virolahti Bunker Museum and Salpa Linja Museum near Miehkkälä had focussed on the military historical significance of the Salpa defensive line in the context of the Russian 1939~44 aggression. Our re-visit today would concentrate on the botanical opportunities presented by the forest footpaths around the Salpa Linja's 2 outdoor museum areas.
Wild flora amid the trenches at Virolahti Bunker Museum:
just west of the Virojoki cross-roads, we turned off Route 7 onto a forest
road leading to the Virolahti Bunker Museum and the surviving lines of Salpa
Linja granite anti-tank obstacles. Beyond the museum with its displays of
ancient, rusting field guns, we followed the pathways amid the open pine and
birch forest, but our interest today was not the network of surviving trenches
More wild flora gems at Miehikkälä Salpa Linja
outdoor museum: from Virojoki a minor road runs northwards for 10 kms to the
village of Miehikkälä, and just beyond here we reached the Salpa Linja From the end of the trench line, we dropped down to a forest track and line of stone anti-tank obstacles; facing the Finnish defensive lines of tank traps on the opposite side of the ditch a preserved Russian 1944 T34 tank reared out of the forest, an ugly and menacing brutish monster with enormous steel turret; the sight somehow symbolised Finland's heroic struggle in 1939~44 against the super-power might of Russian aggression (Photo 7 - Salpa Linja defensive line). Back along the roadside path, we again found banks of wild Lily of the Valley filling the air with the sweet smell of Finland's national flower. On the opposite side of the road, lines of surviving anti tank ditches extended down into the forest, and up on the hillside, a German-supplied anti-tank gun leered down from the Finnish defensive position. We returned over the hilltop to George after our perfect afternoon of wild flora photography amid the trenches of Mannerheim's Salpa Linja. And that evening back at Vaalimaa Camping, the sun set into cloud to give a flaring sunset sky over the Gulf of Finland (Photo 8 - Vaalimaa sunset) (see left).
Ylämaa had suffered severe damage during the Winter and Continuation Wars and the old church destroyed; in the graveyard of the modern replacement church, rows of graves and memorial plaques in the war cemetery commemorate the many local war dead from 1939~44 (see left). At the Gem Museum by the main road, we met the elderly lady who had shown us around in 2012. It was a joy to encounter this charming lady again, whose family had been evacuated from Viipuri as refugees from the Soviet invasion in 1939; she had been brought up in Sweden until returning years later to Ylämaa long after the war, her home town of Viipuri now lost for ever in Russian territory.
Lappeenranta was established in 1648 as a far
eastern outpost of the Swedish Empire, and being on the shores of the navigable
Lake Saimaa, it became an important trading post. The Russians captured the town
in 1741 and fortified the Linnoitus hillock overlooking the all-pervasive Lake
Saimaa. The town became a popular spa resort for wealthy Russian aristocracy
during the 19th century Grand Duchy, and the development of railways and
industry brought rapid growth. Lappeenranta reverted to Finnish control after
independence in 1917, but much of the town was destroyed in the 1939~44 Winter
and Continuation Wars. The modern rebuilt town remains Finland's largest inland
port with the Saimaa Canal conveying timber and minerals down to the Gulf
We eventually found the Tourist Information
Centre in a shopping centre; the staff were insistently helpful with street
plans and details of summer festivities with tomorrow's grand
opening of the lakeside giant sandcastles display. We recalled from our 2012 visit
shopping at the
market stalls of Lappeenranta's Kauppatori, but reaching the market square
today, it was clear that competition from supermarkets had brought a decline in
the traditional stalls; the market square was now virtually a car park. We
walked back through the huge war cemetery where a sombre granite monument
overlooks row upon row of war graves from 1939~44; one side of the monument was engraved with a
grieving widow with young children (see above right), and on the other face elderly parents grieve
for their lost sons (Photo
10 - Lappeenranta war cemetery). But even more moving was the memorial inscribed with over
6,000 names listing the Finnish war
Further down Kirkkokatu, the Lappee Church was open; this delightful wooden church in the centre of modern Lappeenranta was consecrated in 1794 in what was then forest land beyond the fortress, after the former church on Linnoitus hill was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire (Photo 11 - Lappee wooden church at Lappeenranta). We were able to walk around the church's interior admiring its straightforward architecture and paintings as the organist practised his music (see above left). We camped that night at Huhtiniemi Camping on a hill-top just outside the town (see right); only chaffinches singing heartily in the tall pine trees relieved the gloom of an overcast evening.
We expected huge crowds down at the Satama, but
we parked without difficulty and joined other local families
Mustola lock on the Saimaa Canal:
on a quiet Sunday morning we left Lappeenranta to join Route 6 eastwards, and just beyond the city limits, we
diverted from the highway following a sign to
Vuoksen Kalastuspuisto (Fishing Park) Camping: before heading for tonight's campsite further up the river, we turned along Route 62 past a huge cross-border shopping-park out towards the Svetogorsk border-crossing into Russia; as at Vaalimaa, we could get nowhere near the border post before discretion turned us back. Across the bridge by the dam at Imatra and 2kms upstream, we reached Vuoksen Kalastuspuisto (Fishing Park) Camping. Set on a narrow peninsula in the Vuoksi River, the small campsite specialises in fishing, with its own stocked salmon and trout ponds. We were greeted with hospitable friendliness by the owner who charged €24 for a night's camp, and pitched along the river bank looking out over the wide river; it was a lovely spot (see left), and the following morning with the sky clear, the sun sparkled across the Vuoksi (Photo 17 - Vuoksen Fishing-Park Camping).
Elk hazards on Route 6 highway through the pine forests:
Finns may consider it quite iconoclastic of us, but as with other Alvar Aalto
architecture we had seen around their country, we were not particularly
impressed by the Kolmen Ristin Kirkko, and re-joined Route 6 highway northwards. Apart
from the occasional road-house, this was a lonely road through deserted pine
forests. We made good progress, until that is we reached a section where the
forest-side fencing seemed extra robust. Here we were slowed by emergency
vehicles attending an accident involving just one vehicle which had run off the
road. With traffic so light,
The broad-leafed tree corner marked the start of
the Kokonharju Forest Trail, a way-marked 3km circuit through the preserved
pristine forest of the Punkaharju Nature Conservation Area. The trail follows
the magnificent ridge of the Kokonharju eskers, and includes some of Finland's
tallest trees. The trail's start was close to the main road, with the silence of
the dense forest disturbed by the noise of passing traffic, but the way-marked
path soon began climbing steeply up over the forested esker and undulated along
the ridge for the first 1.5 km (Photo
23 - Kokonharju Forest Trail). This section contained an area of particularly
tall Scots Pines, native to Finland, including a 180 year old specimen which was
measured in 2003 at 40.5m high, and a 41.8m tall Norwegian Spruce (see right). The path
followed the crest of the esker The path continued along the length of the esker to within sight of Puruvesi lake just visible through the trees; here the path dropped down to the line of a watercourse which we followed up its valley, crossing the steam and gaining height into the forest on the far side, passing through a stand of larches, not native to Finland, one of the oldest cultivated plantations in the Punkaharju forests planted in 1880. Along a broader trail through more open, maintained forest, we reached a stand of particularly tall European Larches, including what is considered Finland's tallest tree, measured in 2003 at 46.3m but ironically a tree-species non-indigenous to Finland. The weather all day had been disappointingly overcast and particularly gloomy in the forest, but as we walked back through the arboretum's avenue of larches, the sun finally broke through, giving a bright end of afternoon to light the trees (see left).
A brief visit to Savonlinna: the generally unremarkable town of
Savonlinna is spread along an esker causeway separating Lakes Haapavesi on the
northern side and Pihlajavesi on the southern side, all part of the
all-pervasive Saimaa water system. We had visited Savonlinna in 2012, and
the only reason for going into the town today was to stock up with provisions at the Prisma
supermarket and to seek guidance at the Nestori Information Centre about campsites and walks in the Kolovesi National Park, our next port of call.
Across the causeway, we turned down from the bypass road into the older part of
the town and parked opposite the Olavinlinna Castle, built by the Swedes in 1475
on a small island in the lake to protect the waterway trade routes of their
eastern
The superbly helpful Kolovesi National Park Centre at Enonkoski: reaching the village of Enonkoski, here we found the Kolovesi National Park Centre set in an old wooden mill once powered by the rapids which gave the village its name, koski being the Finnish word for rapids. In contrast with the prestigious but worthless Nestori Centre in Savonlinna, here the charmingly modest lady was a mine of information, providing all the details we needed about walks in Kolovesi National Park, access to them and potential wild-camp spots together with campsites at Kerma further north. We also learned from her the Finnish word for national park, kansallispuisto. She was unable to provide a detailed map, but readily gave us access to her computer to consult the Metsähallitus cartography web site, and although we could not print these out, we could at least get a detailed look at the topography of the Nahkiaissalo nature trail which we wanted to follow. With her help we had successfully garnered all the details we needed, and continued northwards.
The Karvion rapids and Canal lock: a minor road led through the forest around the western end of Kermajärvi to reach Route 23, where we turned back eastwards along the northern side of the lake; an indication that we were back on a main road was the re-appearance of speed cameras. At Karvio, the road crossed the long bridge over the Karvion Canal immediately alongside the short section of rapids which the canal and lock by-passed; the narrow neck of land at Karvio provided the gap through which the waters of Lake Varivesi spilled over rocky rapids to drain southwards into the lower Kermajärvi lake system. The canal had been cut through this narrow land gap alongside the rapids to provide a navigable channel, with a single lock bridging the 1m height difference between the 2 water systems (see right). Just beyond the high arching bridge over the rapids and parallel canal/lock, we pulled into the Karvion filling station and café, and walked back to explore the locks and rapids. Looking down from overhead on the bridge gave a clear understanding of both the topography and the means of linking the 2 water systems with a navigable channel alongside the natural and un-navigable water course (Photo 35 - Karvion Canal bypassing rapids). Despite the gloomy light, we took our aerial photos from high on the bridge, then walked down to the canal-side towpath to explore the landscaped area around the lock, and the protective pontoons which extended each end of the canalised channel alongside the rapids.
Lintula Orthodox Convent: with the sky still heavily overcast, we crossed the canal bridge and 4 kms north along Route 542 we reached the small settlement of Palokki where a dirt road led to Lintula Orthodox Convent (see left). The original Lintula Convent was founded in Karelia in 1895, but with the Soviet invasion of November 1939, the convent had to be hastily evacuated; only one of the icon treasures was able to be rescued and 5 of the nuns died during the forced evacuation. The community of Sisters resettled in Central Finland and the convent was re-established at the present location near Heinävesi in 1946 receiving help from the nearby Valamon Orthodox Monastery (Photo 37 - Lintula Chapel iconostasis. With rain now beginning, we walked over to the Convent church and were greeted by a charming lady, one of the Friends of the Convent, who in faultless English told us more of Lintula's history, its forced evacuation from Karelia and re-settlement here; there are just 9 surviving nuns now all elderly. She showed us the Mother of God of Jerusalem icon rescued during the hasty retreat in 1939 from the Karelian Lintula Convent, and now the centrepiece of the new church's iconostasis (Photo 38 - Mother of God of Jerusalem icon)(see right). We talked at length with this clearly educated lady about our travels and the Finnish language, and in wishing us well, she taught us a new Finnish expression Hyvää matka (Good journey).
Linnunlahti Camping, Joensuu: rejoining Route 23, we headed eastwards on this fast main road towards Joensuu, passing now into North Karelia. Driving standards declined dramatically as we joined Route 9, the main Joensuu~Kuopio highway, with aggressive overtaking and speeding seemingly oblivious to the frequent speed-cameras. Our satnav guided us faultlessly into Joensuu's city centre; approaching Linnunlahti Camping, we soon recognised the familiar grid of streets and apartment blocks of the city's university area (See Log of our 2012 visit to Joensuu). We were greeted with a smiling welcome from the young student at the campsite reception who told us she was reading Finnish literature at Joensuu University; she seemed unsurprised that English visitors asked if this included studying Elias Lönnrot's Finnish Epic Kalevala. For a city campsite, Linnunlahti Camping was very acceptable with its parkland setting (Photo 40 - Linnunahti Camping, Joensuu); the inevitable background of city traffic noise was tolerable, and the nearby fairground closed and fell silent at 7-00pm. We settled in under the pine trees as a red squirrel trotted past; when we had stayed here in 2012 hares hopped around under the trees. The price had risen from the €17 we paid in 2012 to a still very reasonable €22, and facilities were high standard, modern and clean with a well-appointed kitchen/wash-up/common room and individual integrated bath-rooms providing some of the best showers of all the campsites used so far. There was also a washing/drying machine at good value €2 and wi-fi partly covering the site. Although following a similar route to that taken in 2012 through South and North Karelia, we had also this year covered some interesting new ground, most particularly the Kolovesi National Park and Heinävesi waterway. We shall now head out to the far easterly reaches of North Karelia and Kainuu, to Ilomantsi and the Petkeljärvi National Park, to Hattuvaara and Finland/mainland EU's most easterly point, to Patvinsuo National Park and the Ruunaa Trekking Area, and shall learn more about the impact of the 1940 Winter War on the area of Kuhmo and the Motti tactics employed by the Finns to repel the Russian invaders from their homeland. But that's all for the next edition. As in past years, our trips have become so fulsome that time constraints have meant few editions were actually published during our travels. We are home now, and it will be a busy autumn and winter spent writing up our 2015 travels. So join us again soon for our next episode. Next edition to be published quite soon
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CAMPING
IN FINLAND 2015 - Hamina, WW2 Salpa Defence Line, Russian border at Vaalimaa,
Lappeenranta, Punkaharju Glacial Eskers, Savonlinna, Kolovesi National Park,
the canals of the Heinävesi navigable water-way, Valamo Orthodox Monastery, Joensu:
Mustila Arboretum:
the morning we left Helsinki, the sun was bright but a brisk SE wind brought
clouds scudding across the sky. We headed eastwards on the E18 motorway
through typically Finnish pine and birch forests, with signs pointing to Kotka in SE Finland and Pietari/St
Petersburg in Russia. The predominantly Swedish place names
were noticeable
in this part of Swedish-speaking Finland. Beyond Porvoo, Route 6 turned off NE across open, flat farming countryside towards Kouvolo, our intermediate
goal being the Mustila Arboretum near the small town of Elimäki (
Kotka. Towards Hamina we expected the motorway to end and the road
to bypass Hamina south of the town as Route 7. But the motorway had recently
been extended, and we found ourselves passing Hamina on newly constructed
motorway north of the town heading towards the Russian border at Vaalimaa,
seemingly with no exits. Our sat-nav went into panic mode, showing us apparently
speeding across roadless tracts of forest, trying desperately to re-direct
us to roads it knew! To our relief, we reached the end of the new motorway
extension in 10kms, and were able to turn off onto what was signed as Route 107,
the line of the old Route 7 which would take us back towards Hamina and
tonight's campsite, Hamina Camping. Through Vilniemi village, we found the basic
little campsite where we had stayed in 2012, set under pines
overlooking the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The shore side was tempting, but
the SE wind blowing briskly off the sea was uncomfortably chill, and we pitched
at a more sheltered spot under the pines (see left). And tonight while settling in, we
killed our first mosquito of 2015 and switched on the Bagon diffuser as a
precaution.
A day in camp at Hamina Camping:
this early in the year, most of the statics were deserted and we had the little
campsite to ourselves, the perfect spot for a day in camp. With the sky clear
and sun bright the following morning, our woodland camp was truly delightful,
the peace disturbed only by chaffinches calling among the pine trees.
Behind our pitch, we found this year's first Labrador-tea still in tight bud,
and through a gap in the fence, a path led through the beautiful pine woodland,
the forest floor covered with a rich carpet of Bilberry, patches of May Lily in
bud, sweet-smelling Lily of the Valley (Kielo, Finland's national
flower) and lovely Chickweed Wintergreen whose tiny white flowers glowed in the
morning sunlight. But the mossies were getting worse by the hour, and having
photographed this magnificent woodland flora, we were forced to close the
camper's sliding door and switch on the Bagon. Despite the chill breeze blowing
off the Gulf, it remained a wonderfully sunny afternoon with sunlight streaming down through the pines. Facilities at Hamina Camping were good with a
homely little kitchen, and with wi-fi internet at reception we were able to plan
our next few days according to the weather forecast using the ever reliable
originally founded in 1653 by Per Brahe the Swedish
Governor General of Finland, and developed as an overland and maritime trading centre. Having been
destroyed in the Great Northern War, the town was rebuilt by the Swedes in the
late 1720s with Renaissance-style star-shaped fortifications and a geometric
network of streets radiating out from the centre towards 6 bastions. The
Russians captured Hamina in the mid-18th century reinforcing the fortifications,
and after the fateful Finland War of 1808, the Treaty under which Sweden was
forced to cede the whole of Finland to Imperial Russia was signed in Hamina in
1809. Under Russian rule, Hamina was further reinforced with a huge Central
Bastion and 58 brick-vaulted casemates as munitions stores. But by 1840, with
Finland now firmly under Russian control, Hamina lost its military significance
and the fortress was closed and partially demolished as the town expanded. In
the 1960s the remaining parts of the ramparts and bastions were preserved for
their historical importance, and a huge canopy-like marquee constructed in the
Central Bastion as an events arena (see left).
gate-house (see
right).
Seeing us consulting our map, a local lady and former town guide stopped to tell us
more of the fortress' history. We crossed Mannerheimintie and continued along
the line of fortifications into a park where a memorial commemorated those
killed in the coastal battles of 1939~44; mums with buggies and toddlers
walked past from a nearby nursery school. Back through the town's kauppatori
(market square), we walked up Frederikinkatu past the elegant 1859 wooden town
house built by a wealthy Russian merchant family, back towards the Neo-Classical
town hall (
town hall
garden had been demolished when a motorist had a heart attack and ran into it!
Across at the Lutheran Church of St John, yet another of Engel's designs in
Neo-Classical Greek temple style, we were greeted by a well-informed lady who told
us more about the Winter War, the loss of Karelia and the war cemetery by the
church (
East to the Russian border and Vaalimaa Camping: we drove east from
Hamina along Route 7 to Virojoki, and a couple of kms before the Vaalimaa
Russian border-crossing, we turned down to the coast for tonight's campsite, Vaalimaa Camping, a straightforward little campsite which we had used when
last this way in 2012. We again pitched down at the shore-side grassy camping
area looking out across the Gulf of Finland. The following
morning gusting gales
off the sea drove rain from across the wind-ruffled waters of the Gulf, and we
spent a stormy day in camp with the wind buffeting our camper (see left).
fortifications, some 225 kms of anti-tank stone obstacles
(see above right) and
ditches, 300 kms of barbed-wire obstacles, and more than 350 kms of trenches
(see right). Construction work was interrupted in June 1941 when USSR again invaded Finland, beginning
what is now known as the Continuation War. After a brief defensive phase, the Finns under
Mannerheim's leadership launched a counter-offensive, succeeding
in driving back
the Soviets and regaining some of the territories lost in the Winter War. The Salpa Line was left far behind and fortification work concentrated on the
eastward front line. When however USSR began its major offensive in the Karelian
isthmus in June 1944, the Finns were forced back and had to sue for peace.
Under the terms of the peace treaty ending the Continuation War in August 1944,
Finland lost permanently the territories which Stalin had forcibly annexed, and
work on the Salpa Line fortification ended. Although the Salpa Line was never
tested in battle, it had been a major morale booster for Finland and perhaps a
significant factor influencing Stalin's decision to halt the Finnish campaign.
The Finnish defence forces maintained the Line fortifications however until the
1980s and parts of it remain as memorials.
and concrete bunkers, but what was growing among them. The ground cover was
predominantly Bilberry its bright green new leaf laden with tiny pink flowers (see right) (
bell-shaped flowers, white bodied with pink-fringed frilly tips like tiny
Chinese lanterns (see left). Nearby, and looking readily different in appearance to our now
more practised eye, Lingonberry plants grew, their more erect stems having oval
shaped leaves which tended to curl down at the edges; growing in elongated,
tight cigar-shaped clusters when in bud (see below right), Lingonberry flowers are open and
bell-shaped, the white or sometimes pink-tinged petals tending to curl outwards
at the edges with distinctively projecting style. Having now readily identified
the distinctive differences between these two types of berry flowers, we spent
time down on hands and knees photographing them, much to the puzzlement of the
Russian tourists who were busily photographing the anti-tank gun mounted at the
end of the trench facing eastwards ironically against the threat of renewed Russian attack (see
above left).
Museum
where sections
of the Salpa Line in Virolahti have been preserved to show the scale of the
1941~44 fortifications. We knew the footpaths route from our 2012 visit but
again our interest today was the wild flora growing among the surviving Salpa
Linja trenches. On the hill top stood an ancient field
gun, part of a batch of antiquated weapons which the French had dug
out of some 19th century museum to sell to the poor Finns who in 1939 were
desperately trying to re-arm in the face of threatened Soviet aggression.
Dropping down the hill-side towards the zigzag line of communications trenches,
we could detect the sweet scent of wild Lily of the Valley flourishing on the
slope; tight clusters of Lingonberry buds grew on trench parapets alongside patches
of Bilberry laden with their tiny pink flowers. A sudden downpour forced us to
take shelter in a restored concrete bunker at the end of the trench, where once
men might have taken shelter from falling shrapnel bursts. The sun re-appeared
and we emerged from our unsavoury shelter to continue around the restored line
of trenches. Here we found even more beautiful specimens of Bearberry flowers,
their trailing
stems spreading along the
wooden parapet tops, and being at eye
height they were in perfect position for photographing the pink-fringed clusters
of tiny Chinese lantern flowers (
The southern end of Via Karelia and village
of Ylämaa: the following morning, before heading
northwards, we drove out to the Russian border-crossing at Vaalimaa, or at
least as closely as the border zone controls would allow (
forests fringed with birch and this year's first sighting of spruce trees,
all looking glorious in the morning sunshine. 30kms north, we reached the small
village of Ylämaa. This area produces almost 50% of Finland's granite exports,
and we passed several of the quarries on the approach to the village. The area
is also the source of the semi-precious gemstone, Spectrolite, first discovered
during the construction of the Salpa Line when quarrying stone near Ylämaa for
tank traps. The Gem Village at Ylämaa now has 4 workshops producing jewellery
from Spectrolite, a gemstone which reflects a rich wealth of colours from
golden brown to dark blue.
Our re-visit to
Lappeenranta:
we continued north for 30 kms to reach Lappeenranta, pausing at a large Prisma
hypermarket in the southern outskirts to stock up with provisions. The shop was
clearly targeted at cross-border Russian trade, with signs in dual
language Finnish and Cyrillic. Putin may be adept at invading neighbouring
countries, but clearly is less skilled at managing the Russian economy and
feeding and providing for the mass of its people, who flock across the border
into Finland for both foodstuffs and consumer goods, unavailable other than for
the wealthy few in mother-Russia. We did our shopping and drove down into the
centre of Lappeenranta to park just off Kirkkokatu.
of
Finland at Vyborg. With its modern technical university, Lappeenranta today has
a lively atmosphere, popular with tourists and cross-border shoppers from
Russia.
dead whose remains still lie exiled for ever
in Karelia in what is now Russian territory. A passing young couple translated
the inscription for us, but it was clear that the national sense of outrage at
the rape of Karelia is fading as the events of the 1940s fade from living memory
and the younger generation now accept the territorial loss as irretrievable.
There must be a lesson here as Russian bullying aggression continues today in other parts of
Europe, unchecked by blustering Western rhetoric.
A happy reunion in Lappeenranta at the Giant
Sandcastle displays: when we were last in Lappeenranta in the summer of 2012, we had travelled the length of
the Saimaa Canal into Russian occupied Karelia to the former Finnish city of Viipuri
(See 
flourishing industry, was a civilised place free of the
oppressive traffic and aggressive driving standards usually associated with
affluent cities. The central area was relatively quiet, traffic far from
burdensome, with courteous and considerate driving particularly at junctions, and
parking was relaxed. The other noticeable feature was that, despite problems of
the national economy, the municipal authority in Lappeenranta still seemed able
to use its public funds to provide high standard of local services, including
imaginative and free of charge adventure playgrounds for children, and a varied programme of summer concerts and entertainments for
visitors. These included the summertime attraction of the free access Giant
Sandcastle (Hiekkalinna) displays which officially opened today at the start of
the summer season, down by the lakeside harbour (Satama) (see above left), and it was there that
we had arranged to meet Zahra (
strolling along the
harbour-side in the bright morning sunshine to see the sandcastles. This year
the theme was 'Heroes', and rather than one huge sandcastle the displays
consisted of a series of individual figures or groups, sculpted cleverly from
sand, each one representing the creator's chosen hero: there were comic
heroes like Superman and Batman, Finnish sports heroes from the world of
ice-hockey, football, boxing and motor-racing; but most imaginative of all,
heroes from everyday life: a VPK voluntary fire brigade fireman rescuing a child
from a burning building (see above right), and a doctor treating a child. But the entry that won
our prize was the Scientific Hero: a graphic-looking huge sand-crafted figure of
Albert Einstein (
Finnish summer. Having taken our photos, we
had time to walk up over Linnoitus fortress hill before meeting Zahra down by
the Harbour at 2-0pm. Just as we were walking up the cobbled slope, by pure
serendipitous chance Zahra was coming towards us on her cycle. Over coffee and
cakes, we shared our respective news of the last 3 years and reminisced about
our visit to Viipuri where she had introduced us to the architecture of Alvar Aalto; it was so impressive
hearing her chatting in fluent Finnish to one of the girls at the coffee shop and sheer delight to meet with
her again (
the
Saimaa Canal, and Mustola
lock, one of the pair of locks controlling the canal's exit from Lake Saimaa. We
had passed through these locks on our Saimaa Canal trip in 2012. We walked across
the bridge to photograph the view looking along the length of the enormous set
of locks (see above right); as we stood there, the surging rush of water indicated that the
sluices had been opened to drain the lock, and shortly after, the huge steel
gates swung open with the staggeringly deep canal basin's water level now
down to the level of the ongoing canal. Just across the bridge the line
of the earlier canal ran parallel with the more modern set of locks. We got into
conversation with a local man whose family had once farmed near to Viipuri
and had been forced to flee westwards as refugees in 1944. His father's farm in
the now depopulated border zone had since been forested by the Soviets. We
empathised with the tragic history of that period for Finland, with the loss of
so much territory, so many 1000s made homeless and the once beautiful city of Viipuri
now so sadly neglected. As we chatted, a warning bell sounded and the bridge
began to lift for a modern yacht to pass into the lock's deep basin, its high
mast top just level with the lock rim. The lower gates swung to and the basin
slowly filled to the level of the upper canal. The lock's upper gates sank down
and the yacht moved quickly forward towards the next set of locks and on into Lake
Saimaa (
Imatra and the hydro-electric dam on the
Vuoksi River: we rejoined the Route 6 highway to continue our drive to Imatra as a train of loaded timber wagons passed along the railway alongside
the road. Reaching Imatra, we turned into the town and at Imatran Koski we
located the hydro-electric dam
which blocks the now dry rocky gorge of the Vuoksi
River. Parking in the main street amid the Russian tourist cars, we walked
across the Vuoksi bridge and in the now overcast weather the dam across the head
of the gorge had a gloomy air (see right). The Vuoksi River forms the principal outflow
seaward of the entire Lake Saimaa system, and at Imatra this monumental volume
of water was once forced into a narrow rocky gorge, in its natural state creating the Imatra rapids. Downstream from here, the Saimaa waters of the Vuoksi River drain
into Lake Ladoga and eventually into the Gulf of Finland at St
Petersburg. The thundering waterfalls and mighty rapids that once surged through the
narrow gorge here at Imatra had long been an early tourist attraction for
Russian aristocracy since Catherine the Great and her entourage had visited
Imatra in 1792. But after Finland gained her independence in 1917, all this came
to an end when the hydro-electric dam was constructed in 1929 blocking the
waterfalls and rapids and leaving the exposed rocky channel of the lower gorge
entirely dry (
Sweden in 2013. A poster by the bridge however
gave the disappointing news that the Rapids Show, accompanied by light and music
spectacle, did not begin until late June. Despite the gloomy light, we took our
photographs looking across to the dam from the bridge, and clambered down under
the dark trees along the dry channel below the dam. From a small park, we could
look across the wide Vuoksi River bypass channel spreading out above the dam
leading to the generating station.
Kolmen Ristin Kirkko (Church of the Three Crosses) designed by Alvar Aalto: in the northern suburbs of Imatra,
we turned off to find Kolmen Ristin Kirkko (Church of the Three Crosses) designed by the
renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto in
1957. The church is set amid pine forests close to a huge power station which
was also sufficiently formless to have been an Aalto designed building. The
church building's low, almost non-descript appearance, semi-hidden among trees, could easily
have been mistaken for an industrial warehouse; the
adjacent and disproportionately high, slender concrete tower might well have
been a lift-testing sky-scraper (see right). If you
peered upwards through the trees, the tower was topped by a cross, the only
external indication that this was in fact a church (
The church would normally have been closed on Mondays but the cleaning ladies
were there and let us in. We picked up the English language leaflet, written by
Aalto himself but in semi-intelligible techno-gibberish normally produced by the
Google translator. Inside the church, what had appeared externally to be a low, smallish building,
was in fact of vast, aircraft-hangar proportions, but set at bizarrely asymmetrical
angles as you would expect from an Alvar Aalto design. The 'nave' was divided
into 3 smaller sections by heavy, sound-proof sliding partitions, though how
often, in a small industrial parish, this cathedral-sized space was filled
was doubtful. There was however a calm elegance about the curving, asymmetrically
aligned cream-painted walls and high ceiling (see left). The contrasting white chancel, lit
by high windows and skylights, glowed almost luminescently, the east wall with
its eponymous three tall, white crosses set at an angle to the side walls with
an
organ loft above. The birch-wood seating, presumably also designed by Aalto and
set in asymmetrical rows, was the most pleasing aspect of the whole interior
decor.
only one car involved and the sturdy elk-fencing,
this looked like a 100 kph collision with an elk lumbering across the road.
Chastened by this, we began taking a more cautionary awareness of the frequent
elk warning signs.
The Siikalahti Wetlands Nature Reserve:
50 kms further northwards, and the closest point to the 1944 realigned Karelian
border with Russia, we approached the small town of Parikkala;
here we turned off to the Siikalahti Wetlands Nature Reserve. The development of Siikalahti
had been extensively influenced by human activity during the 19~20th centuries:
with the need to extend the area of arable land, water levels in Lake Simpelejärvi had been lowered by some
3m, reducing the area of Siikalahti bay at
the southern end of the lake with its depth now a maximum of 1m. The low,
nutrient-rich wetlands so created is now well-endowed with flora and fauna and
attracts migrant birds, with more than 70 species regularly nesting there. The
area is now managed by Metsähallitus, the Finnish National Forestry Authority,
as a protected nature reserve, with information hut, and partially boarded
nature trail with bird-watching towers and hide overlooking the wetlands. 
We set off from the parking area along the
flora lined woodland pathway, which included pink and blue lowers of Lungwort.
The information hut gave details of the migratory pattern of Ospreys which leave
their over-wintering in Central Africa, cross the Sahara and Mediterranean
landing in Cos and the Evros Delta in Northern Greece, and finally cross Eastern
Europe to reach Southern Finland to nest at Siikalahti in early May. The first
lintutorni
(bird-watching tower) gave extensive views over the Siikalahti, and
from here we could see many Black Headed and Little Gulls with their distinctive
dark underside of wings, and could hear a distant Curlew and late Cuckoo. A
board-walk led across flooded meadows where tiny Sedge Warblers perched on the
fence, and at the far end the path crossed boggy woodland with Bog Arum growing
in flourishing patches in the marshy ground; White-backed Woodpeckers are said
to feed here on dead trees although today we neither saw nor heard them. Beyond
here we climbed the second bird-tower overlooking the main body of wetlands with
more Gulls and Tufted Ducks. But rain clouds were visibly gathering, and we
hurried around to the hide for shelter from the imminent storm. The hide was set
on a platform out in the shallow lake and approached along a screened walk-way;
through viewing-ports distinctive Slavonian (Horned) Grebe and Golden Eye were
visible. We settled into the hide (see above right) which looked out directly across to where
Black Headed Gulls were nesting no more than 10m away on small lake-islands (
The Punkaharju esker-ridge:
Parikkala was an unremarkable little town
set alongside a railway junction where the line forked with one branch turning
off along the Punkaharju ridge to Savonlinna and the main line continuing north
to Joensuu. We turned off from Route 6 onto Route 14 which passed through
densely forested terrain to reach the small township of Punkaharju where we
shopped for provisions. The ongoing Route 14 and railway line continue ahead
spanning a wider line of glacial esker-ridges and lake-islands, with a minor
road turning off across a spectacular section of steep-sided
glacial eskers (
Lusto Arboretum and Kokonharju Forest Trail
(
Finland and exotic species such as larch which do not grow
naturally in Finland. The are now over 80 species of conifer and 33 broad-leafed
tree species in the separate plantations at Lusto. Passing a pair of candle
spruces which stood like sentinels at the entrance, we walked initially along
the avenue of spruces. But there was as much interest in the ground cover flora
as in the trees, with Bilberry, May Lilies now in full flower, Herb Paris,
Chickweed Wintergreen and Wild Strawberry.
-ridge through the tall trees, and was lined with
Lily of the Valley (Kielo in Finnish), amongst which we found a patch of
Solomon's Seal, its white pearl-drop earring-shaped flowers spread along its
arched-over stem; this was the first time we had seen this flower.
Kerimäki wooden church: rejoining Route 14 from the northern end of the
Punkaharju esker-ridge, we turned off northwards on a delightful minor road
winding through pine forests fringed with birch and spruce, lit by the morning
sun towards the large village of Kerimäki, best known for its huge ochre-coloured
wooden church set up on a hillock in the village centre. The huge cuboid
structure 45x42m topped with a 27m high dome is considered the world's largest
wooden church, remarkably seating a congregation of over 3,000 people (see
right) (
The church's interior, lined on 3 sides with 3
tiers of high galleries all filled with seating, was painted in grey, the wooden
columns mottled to give a mock-marble effect (
empire from marauding Russians, much-hyped today by the mass-tourism
industry and the imposing venue of Savonlinna's prestigious annual opera festival.
The Nestori Information Centre, supposedly a national park centre run by Metsähallitus and based in an old warehouse nearby, was next to useless, unable
to provide any practical help. We did our provisions stock-up and headed
northwards on Route 471 through magnificent birch and spruce-fringed pine
forests. 
Kermankeidas, an excellent
campsite overlooking the Kermankoski rapids:
10kms further through the forests, Route 471 reached the free-of-charge
chain-ferry across the Hanhivirta narrows separating Pyyvesi and Enovesi, yet more of the
Saimaa lakes-system (
Good public services at Heinävesi:
the following morning, before starting our day in Kolovesi National Park, we
drove into the nearby small town of Heinävesi for access to a computer and
printer in either the Tourist Information Centre or public library to print out
detailed maps for the Nahkiaissalo nature trail, and to
shop for provisions for our planned camp-fire supper at tonight's Kolovesi
forest wild camp. The Heinävesi TIC was in the municipal
offices; here they could provide us with map
brochures about the local waterways and rapids, but for computer access we
should have to try the library next door. Here the librarian readily responded to
our request for computer and printer, checked that the printer had enough paper
and left us to it. We immediately
loaded the Metsähallitus web site and zoomed in on the Kolovesi National Park. Within minutes we
succeeded in printing off our detailed maps for today's walk and our wild camp
spot at Kirkkoranta for tonight. The librarian charged us €0.30 for the paper
and dismissed our words of thanks; it is a pubic library, she said! Again we
were impressed with Finland's excellent standard of public services. To see more
details of Heinävesi and district, see
The Nahkiaissalo nature trail
in Kolovesi National Park (
fell-side,
climbing a spur enclosed by a rocky cleft, leading out onto a more open fell-top
with fewer trees, giving distant views across the Kolovesi lakeland (see left). On this
higher ground, Lingonberry was more prominent with some of the buds now coming into full
flower (
Wild-camp and camp-fire at Kirkkoranta in
Kolovesi National Park:
returning to Route 471, we turned off 6kms further north along a short dirt
track down to the Kirkkoranta parking area and landing-stage overlooking the
main lake of Kolovesi National Park; at the Enonkoski
National Park Centre, we had been assured that it was OK to wild-camp here and
to use the supply of chopped wood for a camp-fire. Having waited for a group of
canoeists to stow their gear and paddle off on their watery expedition into the
maze of Kolovesi lakeland channels, we were able to pitch at this magnificent
waterside spot looking out across the Kolovesi water-scape and forests all lit
by the later afternoon sun (
chimneyed
hearth and wooden benches had a well stocked log-store equipped with axe,
bow-saw and sawing bench, and plentiful supply of dry birch bark for kindling (see left)
(
The Kermankoski Rapids and locks: we woke the following
morning to hazy sun lighting the lake and pine-covered island opposite.
Northward through the hilly, forested terrain, we parked again by the bridge
at Kerma to photograph the Kermankoski rapids (
navigable channel to
negotiate the 2m height difference from the upper Kermajärvi lake, bypassing the
rapids down into the on-going water system. Another set of locks and
artificially canalised channel, the Vihovuonteen Kanava, just beyond Kerma
village bypassed further rapids to drop the navigable water course down
into the next part of the lake system. 
Heinävesi and the Pääskyvuori observation tower: we drove on back
to Heinävesi and sat by the little guest-harbour to eat our lunch sandwiches
looking out across the vast expanse of Kermajärvi lake (see left). Finally leaving Heinävesi
after our several enjoyable days in the area, we turned west on Route 476, and just
outside the town followed signs steeply uphill on a rutted dirt road leading
to Pääskyvuori Näkötorni. This 20m high observation tower built on a hill-top
amid dense pine woodland gave distant views over the Kermajärvi lakeland. The
tower
needed to be this height to achieve a line of sight above the high trees, but
the climb was scarcely worth the effort: all that was visible was an endless vista of pine trees and
misty view of distant water with the horizon scarcely distinguishable from the
increasingly murky sky.
The Varistaipale Canal and
flight of locks: from Karvio we turned off north onto Route 542 for 5
kms at the small village of Varistaipale which grew up around the canal and flight of 4 locks constructed here in the 1930s. We walked down to the
flight of locks and the Canal Museum in the former lock keeper's cottage which
documents the history and construction of the Heinävesi navigable water-way. The museum did not officially open until next
week, but we were allowed a brief look; unfortunately all the photograph 
commentaries were in Finnish with no English version available. This was a pity
since by now we had so many questions about the Heinävesi system of
connecting canals. It was clear from the museum photos that in its heyday, the
waterway was used principally for log floating supporting the area's timber
industry. We walked along the tow-path from the bottom lock up through the full
set of 4 locks, and it soon became evident that, unlike the other Heinävesi
canals we had seen whose function was to provide a navigable channel bypassing
natural rapids, here at Varistaipale the 1.5 kms artificial cut had been
canalised through bed rock to create an entirely new channel connecting the
Juojärvi water system into the Heinävesi lakes (
Re-examining the maps again now, we could
understand more of the route of the Heinävesi waterway which forms a navigable route via the series of 6 canals by-passing natural
rapids or by the artificially cut channel at Varistaipale. During our few days
around Heinävesi, we had seen 3 of the canals that link the network of lakes
making up the Heinävesi waterway system, and had learnt much about its use as a
means of communications, for log-floating in the early days and now providing
leisure craft routes. What had seemed initially as
something of a questionable
diversion coming up through Kolovesi to Heinävesi had in fact proved a
huge learning opportunity for understanding the Heinävesi navigable waterway,
and given us what surely must be the trip's highlight, our forest-lakeland day
in Kolovesi National Park and the wild camp at Kirkkoranta. 
Valamon Orthodox Monastery:
after a night's camp at the over-expensive and
dismally forlorn campsite at Karvio (it was one of those sites you were glad to
be leaving), we headed east on Route 23 and took the side lane which led to
Valamon Orthodox Monastery. Being a Sunday morning, the car park was almost full
with many visitors, but we were greeted by one of the Friends of the Monastery
who seemed surprised not only that we were English but that we had been here
before in 2012 (
the ice of Lake Ladoga from the Russian invasion carrying their
icons and treasures in the evacuation of Karelia (see below right). We sat a while drinking in the chapel's graceful
presence, but the peace was short-lived as a tour group trooped in noisily. We
left them to it and walked around to photograph the church's exterior from
across the lawned courtyard. 
