Eastern Finland, Joensuu-Lapeenranta, May 20-25, 2017 (Day 6)

The last day of the trip. A squirrel or bird moving around woke us early. We knew there was a short day ahead of us and we could relax and slowly ride the rest of the way into Lappeenranta to catch our evening train. First thing was first, cook breakfast. 

Leaving our camp site we had around 15-20 miles into Lappeenranta, and the harbor where we could buy a local treat called a Vety. 

We slowly made our way out of the forest areas and into more occupied city area, which was actually a lot weirder than I thought it would be. We had just spent 5 days only visiting small cities and spending most of our time in the middle of nowhere, so I felt out of place at first. 

So in order to celebrate reaching our destination and to have a deserved rest, we bought a couple beers and headed to the harbor. 

This was the magic spot to buy the Vety. Vety means hydrogen and there is another option called Atomi which means atomic. I guess they named them after bombs, but the Vety is a meat pie with ham, egg, mayo, pickle relish, onion, and ketchup. 

It was so good that we went back and bought some more. I think I could have eaten 10 of these things, but we stopped at 2. 

After eating we checked out the harbor and also hide from the rain. This was 267 miles and 23 hours 51 minutes of riding from the start of the trip. 

It's hard to end a long trip like this. You end up getting so used to living off of the bike that it feels weird to go back to normal life tasks where you have everything you need. I felt funny for a few day after getting back to Vaasa and my normal life.

But that's it for this trip, and it's time for the next adventure. This time I've switch continents though and I'll be riding the flinthills of Kansas. 

Eastern Finland, Joensuu-Lapeenranta, May 20-25, 2017 (Day 5)

I woke up this day another year older. It was my 31st birthday, I wish I could say it was a night of solid sleep, but the people moving around all night looking at birds kept me up half the night. The thing is, we should have known, since we did camp in a public bird viewing area.

So when we got up we ate breakfast and then packed our tents, sleeping bags, and gear. The whole time people were coming and going. While we were packing the tents a little mink came out of the forest to check out what we were doing. I have never seen one in the wild, but I must say, the way they move like a slinky is humorous to watch.

When we broke camp and got on our way, we figured out that we left at exactly the right moment. If we had waited any longer there was a huge group of people coming from the parking lot to use the grilling area. We departed with the idea of stopping in Parikkala to refill our snack supply and get some drinks.

It turns out the local S-market came with a view overlooking Simpelejärvi (Simpele lake).

Then we moved on to the south and made a stop in Simpele, which you would expect to have a view of Simpele lake. Instead we were treated with a view of kivijärvi (rock lake) from the top of the hill near the local church.

Before leaving Simpele, we stopped at the Teboil fuel station/restaurant to have lunch. Mind you, I was a little worried at this point about eating at greasy spoon lunch places. Despite my worries though, we ordered some burgers and fries, and luckily they weren't bad. It was also a good time to take a break, because I was feeling and looking pretty tired at this point.

This day we had to travel 70 miles, and sadly had to use the highway a few times. It was extremely scary, especially when the big trucks loaded with trees would pass. Each time those trucks would pass we would be grabbed by the air pocket behind the truck, and it would pull us forward. Luckily we only had to use them for a few miles at a time, but it was still the scariest place we had ridden.

The rest of the ride made for a really nice day though, and we continued our path winding south down the border.

Not as much gravel as we wanted, but these paved back roads were almost as good, almost. Eventually we made it to a city called Imatra, where we knew there would be a laavu. The first laavu we came to did not permit camping, so we moved to another one right in the middle of the city. The next laavu was on the top of a high hills and came with some awesome views that extended all the way into Russia.

At the top of the hill was a giant ski jump which we climbed up to get an even better view, and take a selfie with the Russian landscape. 

We had a basic plan to camp at the top of this hill after we cooked dinner in the laavu, but that plan was changed after we realized that ALL (small exaggeration) of the teenagers from the town were messing around on the hill. So even though we had already had a long day of riding we decided to ride another 10-15 miles to find a laavu outside of the city.

When we made it to the entrance of the trail we heard some crashing in the forest and then something making snorting noises from behind the trees. We couldn't see what it was, I assume a moose, but we hightailed it up the trail as fast as we could after that. The next laavu was on top of another hill which was quite steep so we had to hike the bikes up the hill. The view from the top felt like we were in the mountains though.

We visited many laavus along the way, and many had funny names including this one. It was called sikalaavu (pig laavu). Maybe they give them funny names to make people laugh, I don't know.

It was a long, long day of riding, so it was really nice to finally relax in our camp spot for the night. It was a little bittersweet knowing this was the last night of the trip and we would have to go back to real life soon. So one more evening camp fire until next trip. 

Eastern Finland, Joensuu-Lapeenranta, May 20-25, 2017 (Day 4)

Well, getting food poisoning right in the middle of the trip wasn't exactly what I had planned for, but luckily this morning I was feeling a lot better.

Before leaving the cabin area we went to wash some of our cookware in the kitchen/cooking area in a separate building that was shared between all the campers. It became clear that the area catered to Russian tourists.

We got all our gear cleaned and packed up for the days journey into Southern Karjala. Again the sun was shining and the temperatures were going up.

A quick visit to the beach and then it was off in a south eastern direction. The exciting part was the amount of gravel riding we would get to do. The majority of our route would be dirt of gravel roads leading us toward the border and then straight down it.

Then in the middle of nowhere we came across a neat view point. On our way up the hill to this tower a moose ran across the road and down the hill in front of us, at least that's what Olli told me, I was too busy looking down and missed it. Once we got to the top, it had a pretty good view of the surrounding lakes and farms. It was also a good time to shed our long sleeve shirts, since it had started to warm up even more.

Then we made it into Southern Karjala, but there was no sign welcoming us there. There was however a sign welcoming people into Northern Karjala, so we took a photo with that one instead.

This was just outside of a place called Uukuniemi just next to a small grocery store. We decided to ask a local guy directions to a coffee shop so we could get a coffee and maybe some sort of cake. It was around 1 p.m. and the guy we decided to ask turned out to be drunk already. He instructed us to go back the way we came, because it was better than continuing forward. Needless to say we didn't listen to him, but we also didn't find a coffee shop.

Although we didn't find a coffee shop, we ended up finding a place to cook lunch and take a break. There was no way we weren't going to stop at a place Virtsalammen Laavu (Urine pond's lean to), and take a view of Virtsalampi (Urine pond). Now I can say I ate lunch at Urine pond.

Even though the lunch spot was called Urine pond, I didn't get any food poisoning on this day. And then after lunch we continued our gravel path toward Parikkala.

Our water supply was getting low, and we had a plan to stop at one of the lakes along the way to filter some water. The trouble was, all paths that led to the water were actually someones driveway, so we decided to stop at one house where we saw a man outside working. He had loud old Finnish music playing from the house while he worked on building a shed in his yard, but he had no fresh water for us to refill our bottles with, I guess his well had become contaminated, so he instructed us to visit the next house.

Next door we found a house and a museum for the old area store, and luckily there was a woman working in the yard of the house. She had bottled water that she gave us, and offered a free tour of the museum even though it was closed.

After our museum tour we reached the infamous frontier zone that I had been waiting for. I guess I expected something a little more than just some signs, but then again, I really had no idea what to expect. Either way I was really excited to finally see this area.

This is my favorite kind of riding. I love getting out on long gravel routes and exploring the back country. This day ended up being my favorite route of the trip, because of that.

Our chosen camp spot for the evening was a place near Parikkala called Siikalahti (whitefish bay). Siikalahti is considered Finlands best bird watching area. We found that there was an area to cook and a designated tent area right along the path to the wetland area. It was the perfect opportunity to finally use the tents we had been carrying.

After setting up camp and eating dinner we went to have a look at what the bird watching path had to offer. We had already seen many people going down the path with HUGE camera lenses, so it must be good. There was bird life all over, as well as, mammals swimming around in the water.

Thanks to the large amount of bird life around us, two things happened. The first is we listened to birds sing all night, and the second is we listened to people walking around all night looking at the birds. It's super creepy, and it's hard to sleep when you keep hearing people moving around and talking loudly about whether or not we were supposed to be camping there.

Eastern Finland, Joensuu-Lapeenranta, May 20-25, 2017 (Day 3)

Day three started great, I was warm and the sun was shining. After breakfast and packing up our stuff, we sat down to do a little bit of route review before leaving.

As you can see we were getting pretty close to the border area, which I was excited about. I had never been near this sort of border area, and I really had no idea what to expect when we got close. But first we took a short ride in to Kitee to have a look around, because some of Olli's family has lived in the area. We ended up stopping at a little diner place called Katukeittiö Safka for lunch while we were there, just before taking a ride around the lake. I can honestly say that I don't recommend this place, I spent the rest of the day feeling pretty sick.

After eating we took off to explore and do some gravel riding. Here you can see the navigator is navigating. We ended up taking a trip around Kiteenjärvi (Kitee's lake).

And then we started to head south away from Kitee toward a camp area near Kesälahti. Except my stomach started hurting around this time, and I began the day of figuring out where the next toilet was.

The campground we were making our way to was called Karjalan Lomakeskus, but when we arrived there it was super creepy and like a ghost town. They had apparently closed the year before and had no plan to reopen. So we used the barricade as a camera stand to take funny selfies instead.

In the mean time I had stopped at every gas station or toilet I could find, so we had to make a decision on where to stay. After into Kesälahti and realizing there weren't many options for us, we eventually broke down and just booked a cottage in one of the local tourist spots called Karjalan Kieveri. We had planned to only camp or stay in laavus the whole way, but since I wasn't feeling well we decided it was the best choice for the evening.

It was actually a pretty nice little cabin. They had small kitchens in them, but there was no stove. We ended up using our little alcohol stoves to heat our food and water, which in turn set off the fire alarms. Once getting the cottage aired out and getting the fire alarm reset, we were able to eat some dinner, and  thankfully I started feeling better. Being able to take a shower was a nice treat, and then it was time to rest in preparation for the next day.

Eastern Finland, Joensuu-Lapeenranta, May 20-25, 2017 (Day 2)

The first night wasn't filled with a lot of sleep for me. For some reason around 2 a.m. I woke up needing to pee, but once I got out of my sleeping bag I was freezing and couldn't get back to sleep. I had to get up and start the fire so I could warm up. The only good thing that came from being up from 2-6 a.m. was I got to watch the sun rise over Iso Valkealampi.

I was able to get back to sleep luckily, so I wasn't totally exhausted for the day ahead of us. Honestly I'm not the type of person to be in a huge rush to break camp, and it's totally ok with me to head out around 11 a.m. to start riding. The weather here is a little different though, and it's not too hot during mid day, so there is no need to leave early and avoid the heat. 

When we broke camp we decided to venture a little off of the nature trail we had been on, because of the swamp encounters the day before. So we headed in a southeast direction away from our camp, and zigzagged our way toward the Tohmajärvi area. 

We stopped in Kiihtelysvaara at the Sale (grocery store) to gather a few food items for lunch, and consult the maps to determine we were headed in the right direction. As you can see, Olli is the official planner and navigator.

After we loaded up on supplies we headed out again toward the border. We headed about 9 miles toward our lunch spot for the day, which was at a place called Ahvenlampi. We actually passed the turn and had to backtrack a little to get there. There was a beach, but the water was a little too cold for a swim. We each took an alcohol stove with us, but at these cooking spots it didn't take long to start a small fire and cook our food over it. 

            

After lunch we took off again, but a couple miles down the road Olli remembered his ferro rod, and we ended up having to turn back around to go locate it. Luckily it had just fallen under a board and we were able to find it quickly. Then we were off, again. 

   As you can see the weather wasn't very representative of spring. This day was a little bit chilly, but lucky for us we were travelling with the wind most of the day. We headed toward Tohmajärvi, so we could refill our water and take a few snacks for the evening. 

I don't know why, but I like these photos of bikes in front of stores. Anyway after a consultation of the map we found a place near Muljula that should have a laavu, but it was hard to find any real information about the actual spot, or any reviews. Eventually we decided to just try it out, and if it wasn't worth while we would continue on to Kitee and find a good spot. As we got closer though, you could tell it was going to be a nice area.

We don't really know why there wasn't much information online about this area, because it was a great spot. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived and saw that there was a lot more to offer than just a laavu (lean-to).

Normally you are supposed to book these little cabins in advance, but we got extremely lucky and called the man who takes care of the place. He informed us that no one had booked it for the night and we were welcome to sleep here. Since the day had been chilly, it was really nice to know we would be completely out of the wind and warm for the night. The views nearby weren't bad either.