Lots of Lakes
Asikkala - Korpilahti ~130 km
I got up early this morning. REALLY early. I was at breakfast at 8 o'clock (that means 7 in Austria!), and just before this I put together all my things, so I could start just at 8.30. Wow.
I was looking forward to the stage (Etappe) of this day: I had to go across the Pulkkilanharju (this is a narrow piece of land separating two lakes. Harju=Bergrücken) and along (or nearly along) lots of lakes. How beautiful this must be!
But: the first disappointment: The street is just being renovated, and the cycle path next to it was all gravel (Schotter) where the bike is more "swimming" then rolling. So i had to concentrate on the street, and not on the lakes, what a pity. I found also two (!) blue berrys today: Everyone is telling me, there are no mustikka (finnish) this year. What a pity, they are right... (at least in that moment I thought they were right...)
Eventough I was riding all along lakes there were lots of hills. Yes, it has to be like that, because if there weren't hills, the about 35 lakes would just be a large one... So, up and down again.
It was somewhere over here, when my knees started to hurt, not used to such a lot of movement. The first days I was pedaling with power, now I had to change: less power, more movement.
In the near of Sysmä (right in the time while I was going on a unsurfaced street) for the first time I got into the rain. No, not just some raindrops falling, this I had just yesterdy. REAL rain! I stopped to put my raindress - for me and for my luggage, then I went on... But of all those large raindrops the mud from the ground splashed onto my bike, into the cogwheels (Zahnrad). Nice sound *krrkrkrkkr* like "having sand in the gear" (austrian idiomatic expression) (Sand im Getriebe)... actually, it WAS sand in the gear... Luckily the street lead to a surfaced road few minutes later, and there was also a busstop with a little "house" - where two other bikers were waiting until the rain would stop. Two native finns - and they even talked to me ;o) They had a summer cottage somewhere in these parts, just cycling around for fun. So we were waiting together.
When rain got less, I went on. The two told me, that there is going to be a REAL mountain on my way to Korpilahti. So I was quite courious what means: a real mountain. Finland is flat, compared with austrian alps, so what is a mountain?
Did you ever notice the difference? In austrian maps the contur lines (Höhenlinien) appear every 100 m of height (so every 100, 200, 300 m), in Finland (and also in Sweden!) they appear every 20 m (20, 40, 60m etc. of height). Imagine this distance in austrian alps: the map would be just brown...
And I have to tell: Yes, it was a hill, but a mountain? however, from the highest point I had a nice view around.
For reaching Korpilahti I had to take the street No 9, a very big and very noumerously frequented road. It were just 2 or 3 kilometers, that I should go back tomorrow morning, but it was awful! I sweared I'm not going back that street!
At Korpilahti I asked where I have to go to reach the camping site. A woman told me, that it's not a guarded camping site, but just there at the beach I could stay for the night. So I went there and put up my tent. Some teenagers were playing volleyball, and even they told me, that it would be okay to stay here... so... why not? As there was also a small house with toilets and fresh water... Just no shower. So I had to go swimming, just instead of having a shower. *brrrr* quite cold this lake...
After cooking and eating I got to bed and fell asleep immediatly.
Nevertheless it's quite strange to go to bed before sunset...
I'm still not used to all the light around... when I wake up at night I have really no idea what's the time... 3 o'clock? 7 o'clock? 9 o'clock? If there are clouds, light is just everytime the same... So I started to set an alarm clock every day at 8.30. Just to know, that I had still time to sleep when I woke up BEFORE the alarm clock rang...
who doesn't want to live in a house like that?
Pulkkilanharju - work in progress
Click: Just right over there I sat yesterday evening to make pictures of sunset...
Click: Having lunch in the middle of nowhere.
Click: The view from the "mountain"
Colourful Finland...
Click: How to transport a tracor...
Click: Nice bridge...
Click: Here I was living for tonight
Click: Having dinner in the tent...
Click: Who needs more place in the tent: My luggage or I?
I got up early this morning. REALLY early. I was at breakfast at 8 o'clock (that means 7 in Austria!), and just before this I put together all my things, so I could start just at 8.30. Wow.
I was looking forward to the stage (Etappe) of this day: I had to go across the Pulkkilanharju (this is a narrow piece of land separating two lakes. Harju=Bergrücken) and along (or nearly along) lots of lakes. How beautiful this must be!
But: the first disappointment: The street is just being renovated, and the cycle path next to it was all gravel (Schotter) where the bike is more "swimming" then rolling. So i had to concentrate on the street, and not on the lakes, what a pity. I found also two (!) blue berrys today: Everyone is telling me, there are no mustikka (finnish) this year. What a pity, they are right... (at least in that moment I thought they were right...)
Eventough I was riding all along lakes there were lots of hills. Yes, it has to be like that, because if there weren't hills, the about 35 lakes would just be a large one... So, up and down again.
It was somewhere over here, when my knees started to hurt, not used to such a lot of movement. The first days I was pedaling with power, now I had to change: less power, more movement.
In the near of Sysmä (right in the time while I was going on a unsurfaced street) for the first time I got into the rain. No, not just some raindrops falling, this I had just yesterdy. REAL rain! I stopped to put my raindress - for me and for my luggage, then I went on... But of all those large raindrops the mud from the ground splashed onto my bike, into the cogwheels (Zahnrad). Nice sound *krrkrkrkkr* like "having sand in the gear" (austrian idiomatic expression) (Sand im Getriebe)... actually, it WAS sand in the gear... Luckily the street lead to a surfaced road few minutes later, and there was also a busstop with a little "house" - where two other bikers were waiting until the rain would stop. Two native finns - and they even talked to me ;o) They had a summer cottage somewhere in these parts, just cycling around for fun. So we were waiting together.
When rain got less, I went on. The two told me, that there is going to be a REAL mountain on my way to Korpilahti. So I was quite courious what means: a real mountain. Finland is flat, compared with austrian alps, so what is a mountain?
Did you ever notice the difference? In austrian maps the contur lines (Höhenlinien) appear every 100 m of height (so every 100, 200, 300 m), in Finland (and also in Sweden!) they appear every 20 m (20, 40, 60m etc. of height). Imagine this distance in austrian alps: the map would be just brown...
And I have to tell: Yes, it was a hill, but a mountain? however, from the highest point I had a nice view around.
For reaching Korpilahti I had to take the street No 9, a very big and very noumerously frequented road. It were just 2 or 3 kilometers, that I should go back tomorrow morning, but it was awful! I sweared I'm not going back that street!
At Korpilahti I asked where I have to go to reach the camping site. A woman told me, that it's not a guarded camping site, but just there at the beach I could stay for the night. So I went there and put up my tent. Some teenagers were playing volleyball, and even they told me, that it would be okay to stay here... so... why not? As there was also a small house with toilets and fresh water... Just no shower. So I had to go swimming, just instead of having a shower. *brrrr* quite cold this lake...
After cooking and eating I got to bed and fell asleep immediatly.
Nevertheless it's quite strange to go to bed before sunset...
I'm still not used to all the light around... when I wake up at night I have really no idea what's the time... 3 o'clock? 7 o'clock? 9 o'clock? If there are clouds, light is just everytime the same... So I started to set an alarm clock every day at 8.30. Just to know, that I had still time to sleep when I woke up BEFORE the alarm clock rang...
who doesn't want to live in a house like that?
Pulkkilanharju - work in progress
Click: Just right over there I sat yesterday evening to make pictures of sunset...
Click: Having lunch in the middle of nowhere.
Click: The view from the "mountain"
Colourful Finland...
Click: How to transport a tracor...
Click: Nice bridge...
Click: Here I was living for tonight
Click: Having dinner in the tent...
Click: Who needs more place in the tent: My luggage or I?
koerndl - 17. Jul, 00:00
