That's it...
Iisalmi - Lapinlahti ~ 30 km
I was euphoric just in the morning: My neighbours woke me up, and sun was shining... I got up and started at 10 am!
The plan was: Stop at Iisalmi center for checking trains at Kuopio (shall I take one in the evening, or one tomorrow morning?.
Going to Kuopio, taking the train for going to Helsinki.
The reality was: I didn't find the tourist Info at Iisalmi (once more due to my too old tourist guide...), so I went on. Rain started only a few minutes later. And for the first time it was terribly, going in the rain. it was quite heavy raining, it didn't stop even for one second, and the road I wanted to take (and took) was unsurfaced, so it wasn't much fun, nor for my bike neither for me.
After 25 km (2 h ?) I was wet, wet, wet, like I only was at Pyhänta. But at Pyhäntä I was at the aim, and here I was just in the middle of the road...
I decided to stop at Lapinlathi, maybe for drying a bit, maybe for getting some information over there (because there was a train station). And I got information over there: "There is leaving a train to Helsinki in 20 minutes"... I didn't think much about it, and decided to stop my trip right here...
I was going by bike now for exactly four weeks... no, I admit, minus 40 minutes...
I just changed the contents of Backpack and Bicyclepacks, so I had in my backpack some dry clothes for changing and something to eat in the train. The journey will last about 6 h...
The service for bicycles was quite comfortably, even though I was very excited, because at Kouvola I had only 8 mins to change to the next train. And I even got more excited on the train, because it had a delay... of about 20 mins...
So I asked another man, who seemed to leave the train at Kouvola, if he also was going to Helsinki. And he told me, that the train is going to wait for us... At least...
But even better, when I got off the train, the conducter was just at my bike and carried my Sidepacks to the other train... Wow, what a service. (Even if he didn't speak one word english - once more. It was quite difficult to explain him, that I just paid the supplement for my bike at the trainstation in Lapinlahti (by the way: Lapinlahti means "Lapland Bay"... here in the south? strange...) )
Some thoughts later I arrived at Helsinki, in the beautiful evening sun. After having got a city map (thanks to the map dispenser, which I still know from Sverige...) I tried to get to the Campsite. It's at a distance of about 12 km from city center, and the way over there wasn't easy to find. But finally I got it (with some detours in sports centres and harbours...). And luckily I got the very last place for tents... And so the camping seemed: One tent right next to the other one... Nearly like at NovaRock... with a very international population.
So, tonight nothing else but cooking, and sleepin, I thought. But...
once more, my plans changed... *g*
Sitting in the open kitchen (so with only a roof over some benches), cooking, eating, having tea... It wasn't as fresh as some days before, but cold enough for having tea...
And then, like a déjà-vue, a girl, quite the same age as I was, asked me, if she maybe could have one of my tea-bags ... for having some tea as well... I had to laugh... because obviously I'm not the only one who started a trip to finland without some teabags... so I prepared her something hot to drink... ;o)
Two or three teas later we were talking about so many things... as Linnéa (from Germany) had done a bike trip through New Zealand, was working in film industry, is as crazy as I am, we were talking very, very long... And decided to go to the city center tomorrow together...
Inbetween I phoned David, the austrian guy I met in the bus to lake Inari, and we made an appointment for tomorrow in the afternoon/evening. So I wasn't even 6 hours at Helsinki, and my Program for tomorrow was fixed... ;o)
Here the only photos I took in that day:
dawn at 4.30. My neighbours got up and away, and woke me up. just worth this photo...
I took this picture on purpose for showing you Finnland in the rain.
That's how the day ended at Helsinki. I did well taking the train for running away of rain weather
I was euphoric just in the morning: My neighbours woke me up, and sun was shining... I got up and started at 10 am!
The plan was: Stop at Iisalmi center for checking trains at Kuopio (shall I take one in the evening, or one tomorrow morning?.
Going to Kuopio, taking the train for going to Helsinki.
The reality was: I didn't find the tourist Info at Iisalmi (once more due to my too old tourist guide...), so I went on. Rain started only a few minutes later. And for the first time it was terribly, going in the rain. it was quite heavy raining, it didn't stop even for one second, and the road I wanted to take (and took) was unsurfaced, so it wasn't much fun, nor for my bike neither for me.
After 25 km (2 h ?) I was wet, wet, wet, like I only was at Pyhänta. But at Pyhäntä I was at the aim, and here I was just in the middle of the road...
I decided to stop at Lapinlathi, maybe for drying a bit, maybe for getting some information over there (because there was a train station). And I got information over there: "There is leaving a train to Helsinki in 20 minutes"... I didn't think much about it, and decided to stop my trip right here...
I was going by bike now for exactly four weeks... no, I admit, minus 40 minutes...
I just changed the contents of Backpack and Bicyclepacks, so I had in my backpack some dry clothes for changing and something to eat in the train. The journey will last about 6 h...
The service for bicycles was quite comfortably, even though I was very excited, because at Kouvola I had only 8 mins to change to the next train. And I even got more excited on the train, because it had a delay... of about 20 mins...
So I asked another man, who seemed to leave the train at Kouvola, if he also was going to Helsinki. And he told me, that the train is going to wait for us... At least...
But even better, when I got off the train, the conducter was just at my bike and carried my Sidepacks to the other train... Wow, what a service. (Even if he didn't speak one word english - once more. It was quite difficult to explain him, that I just paid the supplement for my bike at the trainstation in Lapinlahti (by the way: Lapinlahti means "Lapland Bay"... here in the south? strange...) )
Some thoughts later I arrived at Helsinki, in the beautiful evening sun. After having got a city map (thanks to the map dispenser, which I still know from Sverige...) I tried to get to the Campsite. It's at a distance of about 12 km from city center, and the way over there wasn't easy to find. But finally I got it (with some detours in sports centres and harbours...). And luckily I got the very last place for tents... And so the camping seemed: One tent right next to the other one... Nearly like at NovaRock... with a very international population.
So, tonight nothing else but cooking, and sleepin, I thought. But...
once more, my plans changed... *g*
Sitting in the open kitchen (so with only a roof over some benches), cooking, eating, having tea... It wasn't as fresh as some days before, but cold enough for having tea...
And then, like a déjà-vue, a girl, quite the same age as I was, asked me, if she maybe could have one of my tea-bags ... for having some tea as well... I had to laugh... because obviously I'm not the only one who started a trip to finland without some teabags... so I prepared her something hot to drink... ;o)
Two or three teas later we were talking about so many things... as Linnéa (from Germany) had done a bike trip through New Zealand, was working in film industry, is as crazy as I am, we were talking very, very long... And decided to go to the city center tomorrow together...
Inbetween I phoned David, the austrian guy I met in the bus to lake Inari, and we made an appointment for tomorrow in the afternoon/evening. So I wasn't even 6 hours at Helsinki, and my Program for tomorrow was fixed... ;o)
Here the only photos I took in that day:
dawn at 4.30. My neighbours got up and away, and woke me up. just worth this photo...
I took this picture on purpose for showing you Finnland in the rain.
That's how the day ended at Helsinki. I did well taking the train for running away of rain weather
koerndl - 11. Aug, 00:00
