***  FINLAND  2015   -  WEEKS 17~19  ***

CAMPING IN FINLAND 2015 - Iisalmi, Pielavesi, Kuopio, Tikkakoski Finnish Air Force Museum, Petäjävesi Church, Helvetinjärvi National Park, Tampere, Puurijärvi-Isosuo National Park, Sammallahdenmäki Bronze Age burial ground, Rauma, port-city of Turku:

Jyrkkakoski lake-iron smelting works:  after our final and autumnally chill night at Vuokatinranta, we woke to a bright morning with a warming sun rising above the trees. We called in at reception to say farewell to Anssi and his staff for all their hospitality and help; they suggested an interesting back-route to Iisalmi which passed the lake-iron smelting works at Jyrkka, and as a final act of generosity, presented us with freshly baked pulla (cinnamon buns), "to eat with our afternoon tea", they insisted. With parting thanks for their kindness, we headed west on Route 76 and turned off south on Route 870 (click on Map 1 on right of page for details of our journey). This was another delightfully peaceful road, undulating through pine and spruce forests with the roadside birches glowing golden in the morning sunlight. At Laakajärvi we turned westwards, meandering through the forests; this was certainly a wonderful route, almost traffic-free and well-surfaced, and brought us to Jyrkka and the preserved 19th century ironworks, Ruukin in Finnish, the equivalent of Bruk in Swedish. Exactly as at Möhkö near to Ilomantsi in South Karelia (see log of our visit to Möhkö), the remote Jyrkkakoski ironworks had smelted and forged lake- and bog-iron pellets, but once dynamite made possible industrial scale extraction of quarried iron ore, such small rural iron-foundries became uneconomical; Jyrkka closed in 1915. The blast-furnaces, once powered by water-wheels driven by fast-flowing water on the dammed river which connected the nearby lakes, had been restored and preserved and were now open to public display (Photo 1 - Jyrkkakoski ironworks). Entry to the museum was without charge and we took a brief look at the blast-furnaces which were lined with English fire-bricks.

Click on 3 highlighted areas of map for details of Central~Southern Finland

South to Iisalmi:  Driving on after this unexpected bonus visit, we continued on the back-road eventually reaching Route5/E83 to turn south towards Iisalmi. This main road was festooned with speed cameras, which along with the frequent elk warning signs, meant ultra care particularly in the speeding traffic. Reaching the outskirts of Iisalmi we turned off into the town passing familiar sights from our 2012 visit as we drove along the main street. But this afternoon, we only had time for a brief visit to the Orthodox Church and Cultural Centre.

Iisalmi Orthodox Church and Cultural Centre:  parking by the bus station and Kauppatori, we walked over to the quiet residential street on the far side of Pohjolankatu (North Street) to find the distinctive golden onion-domed Orthodox Cultural Centre combined with the Artos Hotel. When asked if we could learn more about the post-WW2 resettlement of Karelian refugees in Iisalmi and their Orthodox faith, the young receptionist said we should speak to the manager; while waiting, would we like to see the Orthodox Church? As in 2012, we were given the church key and left to walk unescorted over and open up the church to see the icon-bedecked iconostasis and icon-painted walls (Photo 2 - Orthodox Iconostasis). Many Karelian refugees were resettled in the Iisalmi region after their expulsion from Karelia with the 1940 Russian invasion, and the Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias was built in 1950. The icons on the iconostasis with its gilded royal doors had been rescued from the Karelian church at Suistamo at the time of the evacuation in 1940 (see left). We took our photos, re-locked the church and returned the key to the Hotel/Cultural Centre where the Manager was now free to talk with us.

He began with a tour of the Cultural Centre where the dining room was decorated with wall- and ceiling-paintings of saints and the original Valamon Monastery at Lake Ladoga. He told us more of the history of Iisalmi Church's foundation after the Karelian evacuation, together with Cultural Centre and Artos Hotel at the initiative of the priest Father Elias, and showed us the exhibition of icons and treasures rescued from the Karelian churches (see below left) and scale models of Karelian Orthodox chapels (see right). As we discussed the importance of maintaining the cultural heritage of Orthodoxy, his manner became increasingly less formal, and he suddenly announced that the Artos Hotel was to be closed by the church authorities in 2 weeks with the loss of jobs. The closure of the hotel and Cultural Centre seemed to be the culmination of a series of untoward events starting with the enforced retirement of Father Elias, all of which had caused major contention among the Orthodox community. The future of the icons, treasures and church models was unknown, but presumably they would be removed by the church authorities to Kuopio. We expressed of sympathies at this startling news, and were invited to stay for coffee and Karelian savoury pastries made by members of the church congregation.

Palopaikka Guesthouse/Camping at Kiuruvesi:  we walked back across the town, still bemused by the curiously bizarre events of the afternoon and news of the Hotel/Orthodox Centre's imminent closure. Resuming our journey, we re-joined Route 27 and headed westwards towards Kiuruvesi and tonight's campsite, Palopaikka Guesthouse/Camping. Route 27 was another road festooned with speed cameras, and judging by the aggressive speeding and overtaking by local drivers, you could understand why. We doggedly stuck to the speed limits as other cars zoomed past with apparent indifference to speeding fines; or perhaps they knew the cameras were simply duds! At Kiuruvesi village, we found Palopaikka Guesthouse/Camping. The name meaning hearth or fire-place, Palopaikka sounded so homely; in fact it turned out to be a rather grubby, curious building looking just like all the other industrial units amongst which the so-called guesthouse was located, at an industrial estate in the village outskirts, the air filled with an ambience of industrial noise. The café/reception was locked, but eventually a woman responded to our phone call and opened up; she could speak little English but we argued down her over-inflated price and booked in. The stark camping area was nothing more than a concrete patch by the barrack-like apartments which seemed well-used by itinerant workers. After last night's glorious setting at Vuokatinranta, with magnificent sunset across the lake and welcoming hospitality, this was a sorry, dismal place in a gloomy industrial setting with indifferent welcome, far from the homely atmosphere its name was intended to conjure up; but it would have to serve for tonight as the sun set over the chimney stacks of the neighbouring industrial units!

South to Pielavesi and the Birth-place of Urho Kekkonen:  Palopaikka's facilities were limited in the extreme with no kitchen/wash-up; it was one of the trip's least acceptable, purely functional stop-overs. Kiuruvesi was clearly a major logging centre with a huge timber yard opposite the camp-site where heavy lorries were loaded with cut timber from the railway sidings, and a huge sawmill and pulp-paper works at the edge of the village. We departed on a bright morning to turn south onto Route 561, another delightful traffic-free minor road winding through the forests (click here for map of our journey). After 60 kms, we reached Pielavesi, a service centre for the surrounding rural hinterland, and on the far side of the village, found the Orthodox church built in 1958 to serve the Karelian refugees who had been re-settled around Pielavesi (see above right). We had learnt this year of another historical monument in the village outskirts, the birth-place of Urho Kekkonen, the longest serving and controversial President of Finland from 1956~81. His father Juho Kekkonen had obtained the tenancy of a leasehold farm at Pielavesi in the early spring of 1900 and moved with his wife Emilia to the farm in the summer of that year. Their first son, Urho Kaleva was born at the farm cottage on 3 September 1900. The Kekkonen family left Pielavesi when the future President was 6 years old, and the farm cottage was eventually restored to its original state by the National Board of Antiquities and preserved as a memorial to UKK; from farm-cottage to Presidential Palace in one lifetime (Photo 3 - Kekkonen's birth-place) (see left). We paused at the cottage, little more than a wooden shack, for photographs and to eat our lunches of muikku- and poron-kukko (fish and reindeer filled pasties) bought yesterday in Iisalmi market.

Rauhalahti Camping at Kuopio:  we continued south, bumping along on the poorly surfaced minor Route 554, passing whooper swans browsing in a road-side field, and in 40 kms reached the larger village of Karttula where we turned eastwards in heavier traffic to join the Route 5 motorway into Kuopio. After re-stocking with provisions at a huge K-Market hypermarket, it was a short drive to Rauhalahti Lomakeskus-Camping. Recalling the less than satisfactory experience here in 2012 when, although offering a winter-opening reduced price, the facilities available were severely restricted and welcome totally perfunctory, we viewed Rauhalahti as a purely functional stop, there being no other campsite within bus-ride of Kuopio. In fact today, things had changed markedly for the better: we received one of the trip's most hospitably helpful greetings from the charmingly smiling lady at reception; her welcome simply could not be faulted: everything was prepared ready - city street plan, site layout plan, bus details and timetable, but most of all, full facilities available along with wi-fi, all for the reduced price of €20/night. Rauhalahti deserved commendation on such a service improvement. We drove around and settled into a quiet corner close to the facilities buildings, with the autumnally golden birches of the lovely parkland setting lit by afternoon sunshine (Photo 4 - Rauhalahti Camping, Kuopio) (see right).

A visit to Kuopio:  the following morning was disappointingly overcast with wet drizzle for today's visit to the city of Kuopio. Kuopio, founded in 1775, is now a prosperous city of some 100,000 population, set on a hilly spit of land between 2 arms of Lake Kallavesi, part of the immense waterway system of NW~SE oriented inter-connecting lakes gouged out along the line of retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age and flooded by melt-waters to form the lake system. These eventually merge into Lake Saimaa, giving Kuopio distant access to the sea via the Saimaa Canal. Joensu's University of Eastern Finland has a campus at Kuopio specialising in Health Studies (see log of our 2012 visit to Kuopio). Leaving George at the campsite, we walked up the hill to catch the 11-10am #7 bus from the Rauhalahti Hotel. The route into the city led through outer residential suburbs and around the western side of the city past the Itä-Suomen Yliopisto (University of Eastern Finland), and turned along Tulliportinkatu into the city centre to the terminus at the Kauppatori opposite the neo-Gothic City Hall (see above left) (Photo 5 - Kuopio City-Hall). The rain had stopped and sky brightening as we walked across the market square to the fruit and vegetable stalls and coffee stalls . But the immediate impression was the absence of chaotic building works which had so dominated the Kauppatori in 2012. All the excavations and construction work had been completed, with a new glazed but unobtrusive superstructure entrance to the new 3-storey underground car park and shopping mall which was being excavated in 2012 with all the resultant mess, noise and disruption. With the construction work completed, the Art Nouveau building of Kuopio's Kauppahalli (market hall) was now revealed in all its elegant glory (see right) (Photo 6 - Kuopio's Kauppahalli). The fish and meat arrayed on the market-hall stalls all looked temptingly good, but we confined ourselves to photos (Photo 7 - Kauppahalli fish stalls). Back over to the market square, we browsed the stalls which had trays of Puolukka (Lingonberries) at €3/litre, still not fully ripe but at last beginning to be seen on market stalls 2 weeks later than usual this summer. Paul asked for Yksi litra Puolukat, kiitos (One litre of Lingonberries, please), and this time received commendation on his Finnish pronunciation from the stall-holder (Photo 8 - Buying Lingonberries) (see left). As we left the stalls, an elderly gent stopped us to ask where we were from. He told us proudly in his slow and deliberate English that, now retired, he had formerly taught political and social history at the University in Kuopio; he seemed taken aback by our travels in Finland.

It was approaching lunchtime, and when in Kuopio there was only one place for lunch - Hanna Partanen's bakery for her Kalakukko, Kuopio meat and fish pies. A couple of blocks from the Kauppatori, we found the rather insignificant-looking bakery where the renowned Kalakukko are produced and sold (see right). You usually buy slices of the large pies, but the man serving suggested we try the mini-Kalakukko; he produced 2 from the back of the bakery and wrapped them in foil for us, explaining the crusty pie-filling was a mixture of minced meat and Muikku (lake whitebait). We took our pies outside to eat for lunch; they were delicious! (Photo 9 - Hanna Partanen's Kalakukko).

Kuopio Orthodox Church Museum:  when we were last in Kuopio, the Orthodox Church Museum had been closed for several years for renovation which, along with the chaotic reconstruction works in the Kauppatori, had then made it a rather futile visit to Kuopio in 2012. The Museum had now re-opened and after our lunch, we hurried up Puistokato (Park Street) to find the newly presented museum displays (see left). On arrival, we took the opportunity to ask the receptionist about the closure of the Iisalmi Orthodox Cultural Centre/Artos Hotel, the future of the icons and treasures in Iisalmi, but of more concern the premature retirement of the long-standing Father Elias from his priestly duties which had caused so much distress among the Iisalmi Orthodox congregation. The lady understood our concerns and suggested she try to arrange for us to talk with the Orthodox Archbishop's Secretary. In the meantime we began our visit to the displays.

The Orthodox Church Museum's purpose is to preserve the cultural heritage of the Orthodox Church of Finland; its exhibitions display the icons, vestments, treasures and artefacts rescued in 1940 from the 2 Karelian Monasteries around Lake Ladoga and the Petsamo Monastery on the Barents Sea. The 3 monasteries each had had a turbulent history, suffering under the various wars and unrest between the Russian and Swedish Empires. Valamon and Konevitsa in Karelia closer to the Russian imperial capital of St Petersburg had periods of enjoying royal patronage from the Tsar's family; one of the exhibits was the peaked cap and gloves worn by Tsar Alexander II when he was assassinated by a bomb in 1881, and presented to Valamon by the late Tsar's wife; what the monks were supposed to do with them is unclear, but they finished up on display here at Kuopio! Petsamo had been destroyed and its monks murdered by Finnish bandits in the 17th century. But the brutal end for Valamon and Konevitsa came in February 1940 when the monks just had time to escape a similar fate at the hands of the Red Army when the Soviets invaded Karelia; some of the monastery's icons and treasures were rescued in carts across the ice of frozen Lake Ladoga, and these now make up the exhibits here at Kuopio.

We began our visit, examining the displays of icons, and trying to reconcile the English-translated textual commentary with the exhibits. The museum's main exhibition is named Riisa, from the Russian word Риза, meaning the decorative metallic cover placed over an icon; the Riisa, made of moulded silver or gold and decorated with jewels such as pearls or rubies, normally revealed just the face, hands and feet of the holy person depicted on the icon, while protecting the rest of the painting from damage from the wax of votive candles or from incense smoke (see above right). One of the highly ornate jewel-bedecked Riisas displayed had covered the icon of the Mother of God of Konevitsa, commissioned in 1893 to celebrate the Monastery's 500th anniversary; it had been rescued at the time of the 1940 evacuation (Photo 10 - Jewel-decorated silver Riisa). Another Riisa similarly jewelled dated from the 18th century and had also been rescued from Konevitsa (Photo 11 - Konevitsa jewelled Riisa). Icons portrayed the founding fathers of the Monasteries, Saints Sergei and Hermon at Valamon (see above left), St Arseni at Konevitsa, and St Tryphon at Petsamo. Other icons portrayed the Virgin and Infant Christ (see right), and St George the Victorious busy at work skewering his dragon (see below left). Vestments from Petsamo Monastery showed how the Orthodox community of monks had adopted the designs and colours, particularly strawberry-red, used by the Skolt Sámi in their traditional festive clothing. Side displays of artwork set out the history of the Orthodox Church in Karelia and Finland from its Byzantine origins, and the transference of allegiance at Finnish independence in 1917 from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Greek Orthodox traditions of Constantinople, becoming an autonomous archbishopric of the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1923. The exhibits concluded with further artefacts depicting the festivals of the Orthodox Church year and an ornate silver sepulchre of St Arseni of Konevitsa.

As we viewed the exhibits, the Archbishop's Secretary joined us, clearly phased by the fact that 2 complete outsiders (and English at that!) should take such an interest in recent events at Iisalmi, in seeking explanation for what had clearly been a controversial issue. Summoning utmost tact, we enquired what would be the future of the Karelian icons and tsasouna models at Iisalmi if the Artos Hotel/Cultural Centre closed, and had account been taken of the feelings of distress caused to the older members of the Iisalmi Orthodox congregation by the decision to suspend Father Elias from his priestly duties? The Secretary hesitantly began to defend the enforced retirement, thanking us for our interest, and undertook to see what could be done, hinting that the suspension might only be temporary. We urged that everything possible should be done to achieve reconciliation in what had clearly been a history of bad feelings between an elderly troublesome priest and an authoritarian Archbishop. It was a curious encounter, and we felt that we had done our bit to see that natural justice and quality of Christian charity be given due reflection.

Back down to the Kauppatori, we took another look around the stalls and bought a half litre of Mustikka (Bilberries) for our breakfasts (see right), before walking over to the bus stop for our bus back to the campsite. It had been a much better day in Kuopio than our fruitless visit in 2012: the city's landscape was certainly much improved with the absence of building works and completion of the underground car park and shopping mall, and the Orthodox Church Museum's renovated displays were impressive. And who knows what difference our intervention in the Father Elias episode will make.

A cross-country drive to Tikkakoski:  an early start this morning for our long drive across country to reach Tikkakoski near to Jyväskylä for today's visit to the Finnish Air Force Museum (click here for map of our journey). We re-joined Route 5 motorway south with traffic light on a Saturday morning. But there was no question that driving standards in Central Finland had declined in the last 3 years, with marked increase in speeding, inconsiderate overtaking, and concomitant increase in the numbers of speed cameras which festooned road junctions on main roads. We turned off across country on Route 69, a quieter road passing through forested countryside laced with many lakes, the most prominent of which was Konnevesi which gave its name to the lakeland national park in this area. Eventually reaching the main north~south Route 4/E75, we turned south for 15 kms for the turning to Tikkakoski where the Finnish Air Force Museum is based (Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo).

Finnish Air Force Museum:  seniors' entry tickets were a very reasonable €4 for what is an impressive collection of 24 aircraft set out in a large, well-lit hangar, covering the whole period of the Finnish Air Force from its foundation in 1918, through the period of WW2, to current modern-day jet fighters (Photo 12 - Aircraft displays). The number of preserved planes is relatively small since after WW2, Finland was regarded as a co-belligerent with Germany and required by the victorious Allies, particularly USSR, to scrap all its military aircraft. The aircraft collection, displayed in chronological order, does however include specimens of almost all the aircraft which Finland managed to acquire from the early days (see above left), through the Winter and Continuation Wars, and post-war. These include from the lead-up to the Winter War a Hawker Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim purchased from Britain and Brewster Buffalo from USA; those supplied by the Germans during the Continuation War include a Messerschmitt 109 (see above right) and Fokker XXI; and post-war early jet trainers such as the De Haviland Vampire (see below right) and Folland Gnat purchased from Britain, DC-3/47 military transport aircraft from USA (see left), MiGs from USSR, and Saab Draken from Sweden (see below left).

One of the aircraft displayed was an American Brewster Buffalo fighter, acquired by the Finns during the Continuation War, which in June 1942 was attacking Soviet aircraft in Eastern Karelia. It was itself shot down by Soviet fighters and the Finnish pilot, Lieutenant Lauri Pekuri, crash-landed the badly damaged aircraft in lake Seesjärvi; he survived and managed to return to Finnish lines. In 1998, the plane was raised from the lake-bed and is now displayed at the Air Force Museum, on loan from the Naval Aviation Museum in Florida. The Brewster, a typically chunky US WW2 aircraft is displayed un-restored in the same state as when lifted from the lake with its propeller damaged from impact during the crash-landing (Photo 13 - Brewster Buffalo). An information panel explained the reason why early and WW2 Finnish aircraft carried the blue swastika on white roundel emblem: the White forces during the Finnish Civil War had acquired a Thulin aircraft, piloted by a Swedish aristocrat, Count Eric Von Rosen who had painted his personal good luck charm, the ancient swastika symbol, on the aircraft; the blue swastika was adopted as the insignia of the Finnish Air Force at its foundation in 1918, and continued to be used as Finnish aircraft markings during WW2. It also featured on the Mannerheim Cross and on the Finnish Presidential flag. Because of the political embarrassment of association with the black swastika used by Nazi Germany, the Finnish Air Force changed its aircraft-markings after WW2 to the blue-on-white cockade in use today.

Another display described the contribution of a Luftwaffe Stuka squadron which had helped the Finns stem the advance of the summer 1944 major Soviet offensive. The Luftwaffe aircraft were withdrawn to Estonia as the Germans retreated into Lapland, and after the war the part played by the Luftwaffe was glossed over because of Finnish resentment at the German scorched earth destruction in the north, political embarrassment of having allied with the Germans and being treated as co-belligerents, and to avoid political denigration from USSR immediately post-war. Only after the demise of communism in 1991 was a memorial to the Luftwaffe crews raised. Among the displayed post-war aircraft was the enormous Ilyushin Il-28 jet bomber, developed by the Soviets in the 1950s and sold to the Finnish Air Force; this monster aircraft with its evil-looking rear gun-turret, dominated the view from the balcony (Photo 14 - Soviet Ilyushin Il-28 jet-bomber). Around the sides of the hangar, 3 aircraft cockpits were displayed for visitors to squeeze into; it is probably the only chance you can get to be photographed supposedly taking control of a Saab Draken or Russian MiG fighter, surrounded by a bewilderment of dials and switches labelled in Cyrillic! (see right).

Matsäranta Camping, another disappointment:  the only open campsite close to Jyväskylä was the small lake-side Matsäranta Camping, and we had good memories of the hospitable welcome on our 2012 stay at this straightforward, good value site. In now pouring rain, we set off from Tikkakoski, bypassing Jyväskylä which we had visited in 2012, to reach Route 23 westwards. Turning off left across 100 kph traffic on this bus main road was a hazardous move, and we approached the campsite along the narrow dirt road. It seemed tidier than remembered but all seemed well until it came to the price: €30 seemed excessive for a basic site with minimal facilities, perhaps confusion with the owner's limited English. But no, that was the price, with take-it-or-leave-it dismissal! The fact that this was the most expensive paid in the whole of Finland, even more than at the capital Helsinki, was neither here nor there! Having no other option we paid up, but made it quite clear we should not be back and should ensure others did likewise! We settled in at the lake-side looking out to the forests across the lake, with the sun just coming through to relieve the gloom (see left). The following morning it became clear that the owners had newly taken over; we guessed that they had borrowed heavily to buy the site and make initial improvements, and to cover interest on the bank loan they needed to charge these excessive prices. In which case we should do our best to see their investment was short lived! This is now a campsite to be avoided.

Petäjävesi Old Church:  the following morning, we drove the 12 kms along to Petäjävesi village, and as we walked over the bridge, the sun was just breaking through lighting the magnificent view of the wooden church among the distant trees with its foreground reflections in the lake (see right) (Photo 15 - Petäjävesi Old Church reflections). The Old Church at Petäjävesi is set on a lakeland water course by which most of its parishioners originally travelled to services by boat. It was built between 1763~65 under the direction of master-craftsman Jaakko Klemetinpoika Leppänen and the initials of local carpenters responsible for the corner joints are carved on the central arch of the roof cupola. 60 years later, Jaakko's grandson Erkki continued the construction following his grandfather and father, adding the bell-tower and connecting it to the body of the church with a link-passageway. The Old Church was abandoned in 1875 when Petäjävesi's new church was built in the village. In spite of plans at the time to demolish the old wooden church, it was preserved with the bells retained in the bell-tower and the graveyard continuing in use. The church is an impressive example of Nordic wooden rustic architecture with its log-jointing techniques (see left), and as such was added to the World Heritage List in 1994. The main body of the church is cruciform in shape with a polygonal cupola at its centre and a steep shingled roof. Most of the wooden walls and barrel-vaulted ceiling are left unpainted, with just red-painted designs decorating the vault ribs and tie-beams. In addition to the wonderful structural carpentry, the church's most impressive piece of decorative fitting is the polygonal wooden pulpit (Photo 16 - Petäjävesi decorated pulpit), decorated with carved and painted figures of Christ and the 4 Evangelists and friezes of small angels (see right). The pulpit is supported on the head of a sturdy carved figure of St Christopher .

We had telephoned the previous evening to confirm the church would be open today, and over at the church the lady we had spoken to welcomed us. We chatted with her about the church's construction, and the one service now held each year, a candle-lit Christmas carol-service, with the local fire brigade in attendance! We told her of our now regular custom of decorating our Christmas tree with the Petäjävesi pulpit angels bought during our 2012 visit. She was a truly charming person who spoke fluent English, even using colloquial expressions such as 'reading between the lines'. Memorable encounters such as this really bring to life our travels. We were this morning's only visitors and had the privilege of spending uninterrupted time examining the magnificent beauty and craftsmanship of the church's interior, in particular the pulpit with its simple, rustic-style carved figures, one of which formed the subject of our this yea's Christmas card (Photo 17 - Pulpit angel decorations). Outside we photographed the church's exterior from the graveyard (see left) (Photo 18 - Petäjävesi Old Church), and the distant view from the bridge with the church's reflections in the lake.

Haapasaari Lomakylä-Camping at Ruovesi:  we continued westwards on Route 23 (click here for map of our journey), and just beyond Keuruu turned south onto Route 348. This minor road wound through forested and farming countryside to reach the larger village of Vilppula; here we turned westward again onto Route 344, a lovely road passing through fields of cereal crops, some recently harvested where 4 adult cranes and 2 juveniles were grazing, preparing for their long migratory flight south (see right) (Photo 19 - Grazing cranes). Any day now the cranes would be departing; at this time 3 years ago at Helvetinjärvi, a V-formation of migrating cranes had passed overhead. At Ruhula, little more than a filling station at the junction, we turned north on Route 66 to Ruovesi and crossed the lake-causeway to Haapasaari Lomakylä-Camping. The parking area was filled with stacked plastic crates and weighing machine; the berry pickers were here! We were greeted hospitably at reception with very reasonable low-season price of €20/night; the lady warned however that some 100 Thai berry-pickers were occupying the huts. We picked a spot on the flat hillock of the campsite's lake-island well away from the Thais, and settled in amid the now peaceful parkland. The following day with soft autumnal sunshine lighting the now golden birches, we enjoyed a peaceful and productive day in camp here at Haapasaari; the pleasant parkland was so well-maintained with fallen leaves constantly raked up by 2 hard-working ladies, lamas grazed the lawns, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker frustratedly hammered away at the pinnacle of the wooden tower (Photo 20 - Great Spotted Woodpecker).

Helvetinjärvi National Park:  5 kms north of Ruovesi, a single-track lane turns of Route 66, sign-posted for Helvetinjärvi National Park and leads to the parking area at Kankimäki, and the start of the 4kms long Helvetistä Itään Nature Trail in Helvetinjärvi National Park (Click here for Helvetistä Itään Nature Trail map). We booted up, taking in our day sacs equipment for today's berry-picking with the Lingonberries now good and ripe. From the start, the well-marked path passed through ancient pine and spruce forest, with the forest floor covered with a rich layer of Bilberry, the plants now well past and berries all gone. But back from the path beyond the Bilberry, the Lingonberry bushes were laden with ripe berries (see left). We began or picking, using our gathering box which worked so well, its clever design 'combing' through the leaves and stems drawing clusters of ripe berries into the box with a minimum of leaf debris. As the device was combed through the bushes, gathered berries were trapped in the bottom of the box until transferred to a bag (see right). We just needed to clamber several metres from the path beyond the Bilberry, and the Lingonberries were plentiful and ripe and along the first section of path we made several stops, gathering 2 large bagfuls of fruit (Photo 21 - Lingonberry picking).

The path wound every-which-way, undulating through the forest and eventually reached the paths-junction just before Helvetinkolu. The right fork led down steep wooden steps which negotiated the sheer rocky side of the line of the lake-filled Helvetinkolu Gorge. The steep-sided rocky gorges which characterise Helvetinjärvi National Park were formed along geological fracture zones deep in the Earth's crust some 150~200 million years ago; the most spectacular gorges are in the northern part of the area where the narrow 10 km long chain of lakes of Iso- (Great), Pikku- (Small) and Pitkä-Helvetinjärvi form a narrow steeply sided gorge in the deepest fault. In places the lakes are up to 50m deep with sheer-sided rocky cliff walls rising straight out of the water. We descended the 200 wooden steps to the gorge bottom to reach the camp-fire hearth with its log-store and päivä-tupa (day-hut) at the tip of Lake Iso-Helvetinjärvi. Here a couple of back-packing trekkers were cooking their lunch, with the smoke of their wood-fire filling the air, a quintessentially Finnish scene (Photo 22 - Lake-side camp-fire). We joined them by the fire to eat our lunch before re-climbing the steps and taking the transverse path along the top rim of the Helvetinkolu Gorge. This led along past the top of a sheer-sided, 2m wide rocky fracture cleft of Helvetinkolu, lying at right angles and dropping steeply down to the main line of the lake-filled valley. This side-cleft forms the emblem of Helvetinjärvi National Park (see left). From this point, we could look down the length of the cleft (Photo 23 - Helvetinkolu Cleft). We continued around directly above the unsuspecting sheer-drop of Helvetinkolu Gorge (see right), to a look-out point on a prominent rocky outcrop above the main line of the lake-filled gorge. From here, despite the overcast lighting conditions, we could photograph the lake-filled rift-valley, its sides lined with dark pines and the contrasting golden autumnal colours of birches, one of the trip's enduring images (see below left) (Photo 24 - Helvetinkolu Gorge).

Our return path began from the top rim of the gorge through ancient forest, the ground under fallen trees covered with the trailing leaves of Twinflowers; earlier in the year, this would have been a mass of their tiny flowers. The forest opened up and the path now crossed an open area of marshland, where in 2012 formations of migrating cranes had flown overhead. This morning 4 cranes had flown over the campsite, as they gathered in readiness for their mass migratory flight south, any day now. Today we saw our first cranberries (Karpalo in Finnish) of this year on this marshland's sphagnum, beginning to ripen but still bitter and needing another couple of months until ripe enough to eat. Over higher 'islets' of forested ground, more Lingonberries flourished; we continued our berry-picking, able now to be more selective, and filled a 3rd bag of juicy ripe berries readily identifiable by their darker red colours and slightly translucent look. When one area was cleared of its berries with our gathering box, we moved further inland from the path to find more berries; it was thoroughly satisfying with endless Lingonberries to be picked.

Back at Haapasaari Camping, we settled up our 3 day's rent and, with our own picked supply of breakfast Mustikka (Bilberries) almost gone, we bought a half-litre box from the campsite reception. Having re-pitched at our camping spot, we now had today's picked Lingberries to sort through, picking out any leaves, debris or unripe berries (see right). It had been a thoroughly rewarding day: beautiful forest walking on good paths, magnificent gorge terrain, and fruitful berry-picking using our gathering box, and over 2 litres of ripe berries to show for it now stowed in the fridge.

Siikaneva marshlands and more berry-picking:  the following morning, we headed south on Route 66 for 20 kms beyond Ruovesi, and turned off onto the dirt road by a former military base to the parking area for the Siikaneva marshlands. This year we had the coordinates and detailed map; how we originally found this obscure location in 2012 with neither was a skilful piece of navigation combined with a lot of luck! It was another morning of warm, soft autumnal sunshine, and at the parking area we booted up to walk the 4 kms board-walk circuit of the Siikaneva Marshes (Click here for Siikaneva Marshes map). The first 300m section of board-walk across the open mire began immediately on emerging from the trees just beyond the parking area (Photo 25- Siikaneva Marshland board-walk) (see left). On our 2012 visit, the board-walks crossing the open sections of mire had been narrow and in poor condition with some parts rotten and unsafe, and to add to the feeling of insecurity, the boards' surface was wet and slippery. After constant rain, the marshes had been water-logged with standing water. In contrast this year after the poor but dry summer with little rain, the mire was quite dry with sedges growing across its surface. More significantly, the board-walks had been renewed with double-width planking; there was no longer a feeling of insecurity and fear of slipping into the mire.

Right from the start of the passageway across this section of marsh we found flourishing patches of red ripening Cranberry (Karpalo), their berries sitting on a cushion of sphagnum (Photo 26- Ripening Cranberry) (see right). With the marsh quite dry this year, it was firm enough to step off the board to photograph these large fruits with their trailing stems of tiny leaves. We crossed the first 300m length of board-walk to step 'ashore' onto the large marshland 'island' where flourishing Lingonberry bushes laden with ripe berries grew on the 'island's' rocky terraces. In anticipation of this opportunity for further berry-picking, we had come armed with bags and gathering box again. With the aid of our useful picking tool, we systematically set to work 'hoovering' up bunches of the ripest berries seen so far, and within 15 minutes we had totally stripped an entire bank of plants and filled our bag with a good 1½ litres of berries (see left). The gathering box's clever internal design enabled you to continue brushing up more berries with the front comb without spilling those already collected into the device's box. Having bagged up and stowed our pickings in the day sac, we sat at the foot of the rocky terrace to eat our sandwiches, looking back across the mire we had just crossed along the length of the board-walk, revelling in the peaceful stillness of the marshlands (see below right).

The large 'island' rose steeply from the surrounding marshlands, densely wooded with ancient pine, spruce and birch, with bushy groundcover of Bilberry, Lingonberry and Ling. A short side-path terraced across the island's forested slope to a Tuli-päikka camp-fire place set on a headland overlooking the marsh and a smaller neighbouring 'island', a magnificent spot (Photo 27- Siikaneva camp-fire spot). The main path continued up and over the steep slope of the island's densely wooded crown, dropping down to a 100m section of board-walk over open mire linking to the next and smaller island of Pikkulatosaari. This was covered with even older pines, many fallen and dead. On the far side, a reassuring sign-board marked a paths junction where our 4km circuit turned off to the island's northern edge and the start of the next 500m stretch of board-walk, initially crossing 2 tiny 'islets' projecting from the surrounding mire. Thankfully this longer board-walk had also been totally renewed since 2012 and was now firm and safe. The marsh also was much drier and covered with lush growth of sedge, hiding any Cranberries growing on the sphagnum. Across the length of the board-walk, the path turned back eastward on the northern shore through birch woodland alongside the drainage ditch to reach a short stretch of board-walk out to an experimental station on a wooden platform in the centre of the open mire. Here we spoke with the leader of a group of young students on a field trip from Helsinki University. The research station's purpose was to monitor variations in atmospheric CO₂ levels and emissions of methane gas from the peatland marshes. Our path continued along the marshland edge drainage ditch, passing through delightful stands of tall birches, their white trunks and golden leaves glowing in the afternoon sunlight (see left). This led to the final stretch of board-walk which in 2012 had been the narrowest and most decayed boards we had crossed, unreliable and treacherously wet after rain; today in contrast, the renewed boards were firm and generally 2 widths, and the marsh no longer water-logged. The path led back to the parking area through the forest with sunlight filtering down through the trees and ground covered with ripe Lingonberries.

Härmälä Camping at Tampere, the trip's worst campsite:  we re-joined Route 66 and headed south towards the small town of Orivesi (click here for map of our journey), with forest now giving way to more pastoral land with harvesting of cereal crops taking place. After a provisions stop at Orivesi, we turned westwards on Route 9 towards Tampere, a busy road well-protected with elk-fencing on both sides. Approaching Tampere, Route 9 assumed motorway standard around the city with traffic now the busiest we had driven in all trip, and driving standards noticeably more aggressive. We turned off the ring-road towards Pirkkala, heading for Härmälä Camping. But after our 2012 experience, we had no great hopes for the place, the only campsite within public transport distance of Tampere. Sure enough on our arrival, a half-hearted take-it-or-leave-it greeting, excessive prices at €29/night, grotty surroundings with steeply sloping and water-logged land unfit for camping on, and worst of all the filthiest WC/showers seen all trip. The girl at reception succumbed to the full brunt of pressure about excessive prices and low standards, and offered free electricity and €23.50/night; only this begrudging gesture saved Härmälä Camping being given our lowest rating, but without doubt it gets the wooden spoon award as the trip's worst campsite. Reluctantly we settled in at one of the few gravelled pitches (see right), albeit sloping severely down towards Tampere's northern lake Näsijärvi. First job was to sort and sift today's crop of Lingonberries, all consistently ripe and dark red; now with a further 2 litres of ripe fruit in the fridge, tonight's supper tonight had to be a cheering beef and Lingonberry stew.

A day in Tampere:  morning brought a misty but clearing sky with promise of a fine day for our re-visit to Tampere, and we walked up to the main road to catch the 11-05 #11 bus into the city (see log of our 2012 visit to Tampere). Finland's second city Tampere was founded in 1779 in the final years of Swedish rule, along the isthmus between Lakes Pyhäjärvi and Näsijärvi. During the 19th century, the fast-flowing Tammerkoski rapids which connected the 2 lakes through the city powered textile mills which lined the river-banks. Tsar Alexander I abolished taxes on local industries to encourage the growth of trade leading to the rapid expansion of Tampere as a manufacturing city. One of the entrepreneurial industrialists attracted here was a Quaker Scotsman, James Finlayson, who opened a textile factory here in 1820, drawing on labour from surrounding rural areas where traditional crafts were in decline. This rapid industrial growth attracted both Finnish and foreign investors, and the city developed as a centre of both engineering and textile manufacture. Paternalistic factory owners provided for their employees' leisure, creating a cultural heritage still seen in the modern city. The mobile phone giant Nokia was founded here in 1865 as a wood-pulp and paper mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids. They later moved to the nearby town of Nokia which gave the company its name, producing everything from wellington boots to cycle tyres and TVs to steel cables, before specialising in electronics in the 1970s. Following Finland's independence in 1917, the industrial workers of Tampere formed the backbone of the left-wing Red Guards during the Finnish Civil War when the city was ravaged by savage urban battles. Once called the Manchester of Finland, Tampere's industrial heritage can still be seen today with the former factories and their tall brick chimneys along the Tammerkoski rapids conserved or converted to modern usage. The rapids which once powered Tampere's industrial growth still generate HEP in the heart of the city.

Our plan was to begin our day in Tampere on the Pyynkki esker-ridge which stands 85m high separating the 2 lakes on which Tampere stands, Pyhäjärvi on the south and Näsijärvi the north. Our bus reached the city centre and trundled across the cobbled Hämeenkatu bridge past the Keskustori (Central square) and along the main shopping street. The bus turned past the offensively triumphalist Victory Memorial erected by the victorious Whites after the Civil War, the tilting flying saucer-shaped public library, and the Aleksanterin Church, and a couple of stops along Pirkankatu we got off a Pyynikintori. Here a side street led us up towards the pathway leading onto Pyynkki ridge with its network of tracks. Our first appointment this morning was to find the Lilies of the Valley (Kielo Finland's national flower) which flourish along the slopes of the wooded esker-ridge. With their leaves now dying in autumn and their flowers long past or picked, we wanted to photograph their orange berries; how a plant that can produce such attractively delicate and sweet-smelling flowers in spring but fatally poisonous berries in autumn is one of nature's bizarre quirks. We found the banks of Kielo with their orange berries, and local passers-by gazed with curiosity as 2 obvious visitors squatted among the dying leaves pointing cameras; but we got our photos of the wild Lily of the Valley berries recalled from 2012 (see above left). Up onto the summit of the ridge, our next stop was the 1929 Pyynikin Näkötorni (observation tower) for its views over the city. With the sun finally breaking trough, we paid our €2s to climb to the tower's viewing platform to photograph the distant city skyline, trying to identify features we could recognise such as the Finlayson Factory and Cathedral (Photo 28 - Tampere skyline) (see above left and right). In the westerly direction, the 2 lakes shone blue in the morning light above the dark green pines covering the ridge below us. Down at the tower's café, famous for its home-make munkki (doughnuts), we ordered our Kahvi ja munkki. Our pronunciation must be improving since the young lady responded fully in Finnish; we had to confess that our limited language was not up to full conversation! We sat out on the terrace with our coffee and the doughnuts were indeed delicious (see above right).

The lane from the Pyynikin tower led along the length of the wooded ridge towards the city, dropping down into Tiiliruukinkatu where former industrial buildings are now tastefully converted to apartment blocks. We reached the wide harbour area at the southern end of the Tammerkoski channel where it joined Pyhäjärvi lake, and walked around to the harbour-side market. There was no time to stop now since our 3rd appointment this morning awaited - lunch of Tampere Musta-makkara (black-pudding sausage) with Puolukka in the Kauppahalli (Market Hall), which we had enjoyed on our 2012 visit. Up through the back streets, we found the rear entrance to the Kauppahalli with its attractive elongated façade and along the rows of stalls found stall #52, the Pyörykkä-baari, a market cafeteria serving an array of hot dishes, still as popular a lunch spot as ever with local people and the same couple serving. We ordered our Musta-makkara with salads and potatoes-anna sold by weight, and sat in the café area to eat our lunch (Photo 29 - Lunch at market baari) (see above left). It was truly delicious with the market ambience adding to the occasion. After lunch we ambled around the stalls taking our photos of this magnificent market hall (Photo 30 - Tampere Kauppahalli). Returning down to the harbour-side market where local people sat enjoying the sunshine, we browsed the stalls which were now piled high with berries. From the high point of the elegant footbridge over the harbour, we took our photos against the backdrop of the wood-pulp and paper mill; in any other city centre this would be considered an intrusive eye-sore, but somehow in Tampere, with its industrial heritage, this large industrial complex and smoking chimney seemed entirely at home (Photo 31- Market-place industrial backdrop). Walking along the harbour frontage past moored boats, today's lovely sunshine lit the glorious setting from under the trees looking along to the suspension footbridge (see left).

A walk back up Aleks Kivi katu brought us to the main street of Hämeenkatu and across to the Keskustori (Central Square) lined by Tampere City Hall on one side (see above right), and the Theatre on the other (see left). The terrace of the Engel designed Vanha Kirkko (Old Church) on the far side of the square gave further views of both the City Hall (Photo 32 - Keskustori and City Hall) and Tampere Theatre (Photo 33 - Tampere Theatre). Along to Hämeenkatu Bridge with its 4 well-endowed male statues (see below right), we again admired the classic view along the length of the Tammerkoski Rapids which had provided the power-source to drive Tampere's early industrial development. On such a gloriously sunny afternoon, we ambled through the trim river-side parklands photographing the conserved former industrial factories and chimney stacks and the cascade of the HEP generating plant (see below left) (Photo 34 - Tammerkoski Rapids). Tampere city authorities had had the awareness to realise the aesthetic qualities and tourist potential of its industrial heritage, before developers could rip it all down along with the city's historic soul in the spurious name of progress (and profit!), and replace the attractive brick structures with formless glass and concrete eyesores. Beyond the generating station at the far end of the parkland, we walked trough to the Satakunnankatu bridge for the view across the upper Tammerkoski Rapids towards the former Tampella textile-mill and heavy engineering factory now housing the Vapriikki Museum which we visited in 2012 (Photo 35 - Former Tampella factory) (see below right).

On the opposite side of the rapids, the former Finlayson factory is now so tastefully converted to a complex of shops, museums and restaurants, with the conserved factory gate still bearing the name Finlayson and Co after its originating Scots founder (Photo 36 - Finlayson factory gate), and the former huge cotton mill's imposing façade dominating the length of Satakunnankatu (see below left). Back across the bridge, we crossed the footbridge over the Tammerkoski cascades by the HEP generating plant. Dodging the cyclists crossing the bridge, we photographed the northward view along the upper rapids towards the Satakunnankatu bridge with the backdrop of the Finlayson and Tampella factories. Down the steps alongside the Tammerkoski cascade which glistened in the afternoon sunshine (Photo 37 - Tammerkoski Rapids), we crossed the lower parkland by the magnificently tall, slender and elegantly octagonal factory chimney of the former paper-mill which once occupied this site. It had been a brave if expensive decision to conserve such a tall industrial chimney, but the resulting impact of its presence here is now startling.

Back past another of the conserved industrial buildings, now converted to a theatre, we re-crossed Satakunnankatu into the yard of the Finlayson factory to find the Werstas Finnish Labour Movement Museum which is devoted to Tampere's social and industrial history and proudly promotes itself as Finland's largest free-entry museum. We wanted particularly to see the Textile Museum which sets out the history of cotton, wool and linen spinning in Tampere and the various mills that were established during the 19th century along the Tammerkoski Rapids, most noticeably the Finlayson factory, and that in their day had employed 1000s. James Finlayson (1771~1852) (see below right) had set up his original textile factory in 1820 with financial encouragement from the Tsarist authorities and sold the mill in 1836 when ill health forced his return to Scotland. The company retained the Finlayson name and went on to develop as one of Tampere's most progressive industries and major employer; it was one of the last of Tampere's textile mills to close in 1991 as Far Eastern cheap labour and foreign imports made Finland's domestic textile industry uneconomic.

The highlight of our day was a re-visit to the Plevna Panimo-ravintola (brewery-pub) for their excellent range of home-brewed beers, set in the former spinning hall of the Finlayson factory. The brewery takes its name from the battle of Plevna in modern-day Bulgaria fought in the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). Men from the Finlayson cotton mills fought alongside Russian troops, and since the custom of the day was to name each new Finlayson building after some major current event, the weaving hall was named after the battle fought in the Balkan town of Plevna during this conflict. Sitting to enjoy the Plevna Pils and Dark Lager was a suitable climax to our memorable day in Tampere with its conserved factory buildings, themselves a worthy tribute to the city's industrial heritage.

South on Route 12:  the sun was up early after a chill and dewy night, and we returned to Tampere's busy motorway ring-road to turn off onto Route 12 towards Rauma (click here for map of our journey). The forested terrain was attractive but there was little chance to take notice. Maximum attention had to be given to 3 distracting hazards: the least concerning were the frequent elk-warning signs alerting to the potential for elks lumbering across the road; the second were the speed cameras with the general limit at 100kph but around junctions dropping with little warning to 80 kph and cameras lurking to trap the unwary; but the most hazardous of all were the utterly ruthless driving standards, excessive speeding and dangerous tail-gating and overtaking by Finnish motorists. The combination of these 3 hazards made Route 12 a wearyingly unpleasant road for the 60 kms drive to our turning for the Puurijärvi and Iso-suo National Park.

Puurijärvi and Iso-suo National Park:  grateful to leave Route 12, we crossed the sluggish, wide Kohemäenjoki river and turned off onto the peaceful Route 2481 which passed through farming hamlets and fields of ripe cereal crops some already harvested. 6 kms further we turned off again onto the narrow Karhiniementie and a dirt road leading to the parking area by a dark pine wood for first of today's stops, the Mutilahti nature trail and bird-watching tower. The 2 kms board-walk circular trail around the Iso-suo (Big Bog) marshes began just beyond the parking area, passing through luxuriant pinewoods growing around the rim of the marshland (see left). The mires, particularly around the edges had been drained during the 19~20th centuries for farmland, leaving the raised marshland dry and now growing stunted pine trees; but with the recent creation of the national park, Metsähallitus have systematically blocked off the drainage ditches to restore land to its natural marshland state, with the peat at the marsh's centre still up to 6m deep. The forest floor was covered with patches of Labrador-tea, and Bilberry, Bog Bilberry and Lingonberry all still laden with berries. The nature trail board-walk advanced out into the broader, open marshland, the pines now fewer and more stunted, and rounded onto the main body of Iso-suo (Photo 38 - Iso-suo nature trail). After a dry summer, even with the marshland restoration works, the sphagnum alongside the board-walk was quite dry and firm. The nutrient-rich mire supported much vegetation including Cloudberry, its leaves now with their red-rust autumn colours (see above right), matted patches of Cranberry leaves, and short new shoots of Bog Rosemary poking up through the sphagnum. The board-walk continued around through the stunted pines leading to the Iso-suo bird-watching tower whose platform gave panoramic views across the central and largely treeless and wetter areas of marshland. But in bright sunshine in early September there was not a trace of bird-life to be seen. The board-walk circled back through the stunted pines towards denser woodland as it approached the marsh's fringe. As we entered the forest (see right), Sheila unexpectedly disturbed a long, black grass snake sunning itself on the board-walk.

Back at the path's start we crossed to the second observation tower which overlooked distant Puurijärvi and the river weaving through the surrounding wetlands. Here we were rewarded with the afternoon's highlight: an Osprey was soaring over the marshlands and swooping down into the water for fish (Photo 39 - Osprey over Puurijärvi) (see below left). It continued its impressive display for several minutes not seeming to catch anything, before flying off in search of richer pickings elsewhere.

We returned around the dirt road and continued north through farming hamlets and their fields of ripe oats to the parking area for the third bird-watching tower at Kärjenkallio overlooking the main body of the shallow, marshy Puurijärvi. The 800m long approach path led initially through woodland then alongside lake-side pastures out to the tower. This was an enormous structure 20m high and accommodating up to 50 visitors on its lofty observation platform. We climbed gingerly to the top which looked out across Puurijärvi's broad wetlands, but apart from a few distant ducks and swans, there was little else to be seen. We continued north, turning off on a dirt road to reach the Ahvenus tower which was set alongside the Kauvatsanjoki river where this flowed into the Puurijärvi marshes. The river-side approach path was overgrown and when we eventually reached the tower, there was not a trace of bird-life to reward our efforts. Apart from the Osprey's thrilling display, it had been a frustratingly unrewarding afternoon; Puurijärvi and Iso-suo, along with other newly designated national parks, seemed less impressive than the longer standing areas of natural beauty further north and perhaps more to do with Metsähallitus' concern to maintain its political standing.

A long drive and campsite problems:  we now had a 50 kms drive to reach tonight's campsite at Säkylä (click here for map of our journey). An earlier telephone call had reassured us it was open, and we anticipated a peaceful, lake-side location at Pyhäjärvi with few if any other visitors at this late end of the summer. After pulling off for provisions at the small town of Huittinen, and shortly beyond we pulled off onto the minor Route 212. Having been accustomed to minor roads in Northern and Central Finland being well-maintained, it came as a shock now to face a badly surfaced, pot-hole riven road with sections of road works stripped of asphalt. Route 212 was a total disgrace and without doubt the worst stretch of road we had travelled in the whole of the country, worse than many unsurfaced roads in the north. Route 204 brought us to Säkylä Camping, not the peaceful place we had expected: there were parked cars everywhere, folks galore spilling out of a marquee, staff far too busy to bother with us, and camping area packed. This place was an evident no-no! But where now? Having tried without success to phone another site at the northern end of Pyhäjärvi, there was nothing for it but to drive on for another 70 kms to our next planned campsite at the coast. We were already exhausted after a long day and taxing drive, but as so often in such cases, our patron St Serendipity came to our aid. We set off and near to the junction with Route 210, spotted a campsite sign for Kallionokka Camping; if it existed, we expected it to be closed or derelict, but a gravelled driveway led down to the shore of Pyhäjärvi and to our surprise there was a large and trimly turfed campsite, clearly open. Reception was locked and no one responded to a phone call, but the facilities were open, albeit basic and antiquated, and we settled in (see left).

Sammallahdenmäki Bronze Age burial ground:  the following morning, the sun burned through early mist to give another lovely Indian Summer day. Having by good fortune happened on this perfectly placed campsite at the southern end of Pyhäjärvi, we could now resume our planned route today. Along the eastern shore of the lake to Säkylä village, we turned westwards at Eura to re-join Route 12 to the village of Lappi to find the Bronze Age burial ground of Sammallahdenmäki. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, the Sammallahdenmäki site consists of clusters of some 33 stone burial cairns of varying size spread along a low, wooded ridge 1 km in length near to Saanijärvi (see left). The lake would have been an inlet of the Bothnian Gulf during the Bronze Age period of the burial site's construction (1,500~500 BC), but due to land uplift, the site is now 15kms inland. The Sammallahdenmäki burial ground is one of the most important Bronze Age sites of Scandinavia, showing evidence of the long history of settlement, culture and funerary practices of the peoples living along the Scandinavian coast and archipelago at that time. The large stone burial cairns were constructed of granite boulders set over stone cysts which contained the interred or cremated body and grave-goods. It is the largest and best preserved cairn burial site in Finland, and was in use for 1,000 years until the early Iron Age. The site included 2 very large and unusual cairn structures: one elongated, oval walled cairn structure known as Huilun pitkä raunio (Long ruin of Huilu), the other a low, flat quadrangular structure 16 x 19m known as Kirkonlaattia (The Church Floor). Four of the large cairns were excavated in 1891, but other than cremated human bone remains and fragment of a bronze bracelet, no other artefacts were uncovered. Radiocarbon analysis dated the remains to the early Bronze Age around 1,500 BC.

We had the plotted coordinates for the site and followed the approach lane from Lappi village which led to a small industrial unit at the suitably named Kivikylä (Stone village); further signs led from here along a dirt road to a small parking area with information panels, and UNESCO leaflets/site plan. This seemed to be at the southern end of the ridge where the cairns were located, and we walked from here to find the burial site. The ground's exposed slabbed granite bed rock, scoured by glacial action, was reminiscent of the Ålands and Archipelago topography. Still unsure of directions, and with the aid of the site plan, we followed the faint track up onto the low ridge. For a World Heritage site, the natural pine forested landscape was remarkably uncontaminated by intrusive signs or markers, and almost by chance it seemed, we came on the first of the large burial cairns at the southern extremity of the wooded ridge, the oval Long Ruin of Huilu (Photo 40 - Long Ruin of Huilu burial cairn) (see above right). We followed the faint pathway over the granite slabs along the ridge, finding other cairns both large and small (see above right), and at the northern end located the low, flat-topped structure of the Church Floor cairn (see left) (Photo 41 - Church Floor burial cairn). The upper surfaces of the cairns were covered with Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) whose distinctive leaves and red ripe berries spread across the flat granite slabs; this was the first time we had seen the fruits of Bearberry (Sianpuolukka in Finnish) (see right) (Photo 42 - Bearberry fruits).

We had this remarkable site virtually to ourselves, enjoying the peaceful ambiance and magnificent setting with the pine woods lit by bright afternoon sunshine. It was truly amazing that for a World Heritage Site, Sammallahdenmäki was completely untarnished by signs, hot dog stalls and such intrusions. In its remote setting, it was difficult to find but all the more rewarding for that; it was so rewarding to enjoy this noteworthy historical monument in its unblemished natural state.

The wooden Old Town of Rauma:  rejoining Route 12 we headed westwards to turn into Vanha (Old) Rauma. Rauma was founded in 1442 as a Swedish trading centre and was one of the few towns to repudiate King Gustav Vasa's 1550 command to up sticks and move to the newly founded Helsinki to create a trading port-city there to rival Hanseatic Tallinn. A wise decision since the embryonic Helsinki foundered with plague and trade continued to flourish at Rauma. By 18/19th centuries Rauma had developed into a major trading port with Finland's largest fleet of sailing ships, exporting Rauma's high quality lace all around Europe. It remains today an important shipping and industrial centre, exporting Finnish timber and paper world wide. There are still lace-making workshops on Rauma's Old Town and a lace-making festival is held each year in July. But the Old Town's striking wooden architecture is Rauma's key attraction today, recognised with UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1991. We had first been to Rauma in 2012 and today only had time for a fleeting visit, walking the circuit of Old Rauma's main streets of Kauppakatu (Market Street) and Kuninkaankatu (Royal Street). We ambled through the cobbled streets photographing the conserved wooden buildings (Photo 43 - Rauma Old Town) (see right), and reached the Kauppatori where locals sat at café terraces in the afternoon sunshine (see left) (Photo 44 - Rauma Kauppatori). Clearly there had been a market earlier since the cobbles of the square were littered with Lingonberry debris. We wandered down Isokirkkokatu to Pyhän Ristin Kirkko (Church of the Holy Cross), hoping to see the magnificent ecclesiastical artwork again, dating from the church's period as a Franciscan priory before the Lutherans kicked the monks out at the 1538 Reformation after their own church had burnt down. But today the church had closed at 4-00pm and it was now 4-30. We returned along Kuninkaankatu admiring more of Old Rauma's decorated wooden buildings, before turning our attention to more mundane provisions shopping at the Prisma hypermarket.

Pyhäranta Camping on the Bothnian coast:  joining Route 8, we headed south for 20 kms along another speed camera infested main road, and turned off to the Bothnian coast to find Pyhäranta Camping which we had used in 2012. The narrow lane wound through lovely forest littered with glacial erratic boulders and farmland where harvesting was in progress. Finnish farmers must have blessed this period of late summer fine weather for their harvesting. Reaching Pyhäranta, the little shore-side campsite static caravans were full of locals making merry on a sunny afternoon around the camp-fire. We settled in hoping the carousing would not go on late into the night! (see left) The smoking chimney of smoke-sauna down by the shore showed that it was time for the locals to break of from their drinking to do whatever Finns do in a sauna. We cooked our supper as the sun set over the Bothnian coast to give a magnificently flaring sunset (Photo 45 - Sunset over Bothnian coast) (see above right).

Return to Saariston Lomskeskus on Mossala Island in Turku Archipelago:  our original plan had been to spend our final nights in Finland at Solliden Camping, the only campsite close to Turku, for a re-visit to the port-city before catching the overnight return ferry to Sweden. But our experience in the first week of the trip had shown that the greedy new owners had increased prices to a ludicrously indefensible level for a basic campsite, thus black-listing Solliden. We now therefore had a problem: did we stick to our principles and boycott Solliden, and seek an alternative? Of course there was only one answer, and we therefore took the brave decision to drive there and back along the length of the Turku Archipelago with all its ferries, for a final night at Saariston Lomskeskus on remote Mossala Island (see log of our spring-time stay at Saariston) which we had so enjoyed at the start of the trip (click here for map of our journey).

We left Pyhäranta early the next morning, and back up the winding lane to Route 8, turned south passing through the little town of Laitila with its brewery visited in 2012 and whose fine beers we had enjoyed all this trip. Approaching Turku, road works for the outward extension of Route 8's motorway delayed us, but we reached the city outskirts without undue loss of time. Passing through the centre and across the river, another unexpected issue for tomorrow's return to the city: the car park along the embankment we planned to use was totally closed off with building works. Turning off onto Route 110, we headed out through the southern suburbs to Kaarina for the drive down to Pargas, again wary of speed limits and speed cameras. After a brief pause at K-Market Pargas for provisions, we continued SW-wards passing 3 speed cameras in the space of 1 km. We reached Pargas ferry-dock just as the ferry was approaching and crossed to the first island of Nagu-Nauvo. We only had the spring-time timetables but assumed they would be similar in autumn, and rapidly drove the 27 kms across Nagu hoping to catch the 14-37 ferry across to Korpo in time to make the 15-10 ferry from Galtby to Houtskär; otherwise we had a long wait until 16-50. We drove on determinedly on Route 180 across the island for the ferry over to Korpo, reaching Galtby in good time to queue for the 35 minute crossing to Kittius on Houtskär. Returning weekend traffic from the Archipelago had caused long queues back at the previous ferry-docks, but by the time we docked at Kittius, there were few other vehicles. We drove the winding, narrow lanes across Houtskär, a surprisingly large island, to reach the Kivimo~Björkö chain-ferry, then around the coast of Björkö for the final 5 kms to Saariston Lomskeskus at the isolated northern tip of Mossala. We had made it.

Reaching the Saariston camping-marina complex, there was not a soul about, and at reception we phoned the campsite owner and received their usual courteous and helpful response; we booked in and left our €22 overnight rent in the post box. The ferry barrier was up, as when we were here in May, the northern line ferry service now ended for the winter, and the marina deserted. Along at the camping area, also thankfully deserted, we settled in close to the facilities hut (see above right). The sun was warm, the scent of wild roses filled the air, and the whole ambiance of the now peaceful parkland was wonderful; it was so good to be back, albeit briefly. But with 3 litres of freshly picked ripe Lingonberries in the fridge awaiting attention, there was no time yet for relaxing. A large billy was filled with Lingonberries to boil up to make this year's Lingonberry sauce; with the berries fully ripe they took little time to soften, and Paul filled 3 empty jam jars kept for this purpose with the luscious Lingonberry sauce (Photo 46 - Lingonberry sauce) (see above left); this year's Christmas turkey would taste all the better with this as accompaniment. Dusk seemed to settle even earlier tonight and it was fully dark by soon after 8-00pm, as we settled in for our peaceful night out here on the remote northern tip of Mossala where we had begun this year's trip seemingly so long ago.

Return drive along the Archipelago:  dawn was just breaking when we were up this morning, and over morning tea Paul killed what he hoped was the final mossie of this year's midge-infested trip. Saariston Lomakeskus was a thoroughly well-conceived and equipped site, the results of much hard work on the owner's part to create the campsite's beautiful environment out of naturally undrained, swampy forest; but with the strict proviso of only staying in May/early June or September when all the usual holidaymaking hoards have left the place in peace. We were away by 9-30am in good time for the return drive and ferries across Mossala, Björkö and Kivimo, to reach Kittius by 10-15 with plenty of time for the 10-45 return ferry to Korpo. As we waited, the Viking Line ferry from Turku~Stockholm passed through channel between the Archipelago's islands, the same route we should take tomorrow evening by the Silja Line boat. Quite a few other vehicles had joined the queue by the time the ferry drew in; George drove aboard and we passed the half hour crossing in the little cafeteria. Ashore at Galtby, we had 15 minutes to drive the 7km length of Korpo for the 11-30 ferry across the channel to Nagu. We then had the greater challenge of driving the 27km length of Nagu in time for the 12-02 ferry to the mainland, without breaking the 80 kph limit and tripping a speed camera. All the other vehicles from the ferry had the same objective, resulting in a long convoy of generally local cars travelling across the island at 79 kph, to avoid a long wait for the next ferry! We all reached Prostvik at the eastern end of Korpo just as the 12-02 ferry was loading; it was filled to capacity. Across the channel, we drove up to Pargas where George had his final fill of Finnish diesel. We now had the second challenge of finding parking in Turku with our usual car park now closed for building work. We drove the now familiar route through Kaarina into the city centre, and turned off through side streets down to the back of the theatre where we managed to find space in a paying car park overlooking Itäinen Rantakatu (Eastern Promenade) and the river, and for €4.50 secured parking for the day (see log of our 2012 visit to Turku).

An afternoon in Turku:  our third challenge for today was to reach the Kauppahalli in time for lunch at the baari-cafeteria, and we hot-footed it along the river embankment, over the bridge towards the Kauppatori, and just along Eerikinkatu we found the attractive building of Turku's Kauppahalli (see above right). Towards the rear of the market hall we found the food stalls (see above left), and as in 2012 the cheery ladies at the traditional lunch stall filled our plates and we sat at the communal seating area to enjoy our lunch along with Turku locals (see above right). We could now enjoy a relaxing afternoon's ambling around the centre of Turku, and after browsing the market hall's other stalls (Photo 47 - Turku Kauppahalli), we walked along the western side of the river embankment (Läntinen Rantakatu) for the views along the length of the Aurajoki river towards the Cathedral (see above left) (Photo 48 - Aurajoki river embankment).

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