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*** FINLAND 2015 - WEEKS 15~16 *** |
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Across to Santa's Office, we pushed open the
heavy outer door and threaded our way around the mysterious maze of the darkened
interior, past the foot of the Earth-slowing, ticking clock mechanism which, so
the story goes, magically enables Santa to fit his round-the-world presents
delivery travels all in the space of Christmas Eve (see left). So if you had
ever wondered, that's how He does it! A visit to Santa is entirely free of
charge, and at this time of year, with the sun shining and temperature outside
at 23°C, the place was deserted. Hesitantly we climbed the stairs to be admitted
to His chamber by one of His attendant elves. And there the Great Man sat,
beckoning us over to sit with Him each side of his throne. We chatted about our
travels around His native country of Finland, about the A wild-camp at Vikaköngäs in the Arctic
Circle Hiking Area: we re-joined the speeding traffic on Route 4 for the 20 kms drive to the
Arctic Circle Hiking Area (Napapiiri Retkeilyalue), a newly designated
nature reserve which we discovered on the excellent Metsähallitus web site www.outdoors.fi
The area promised
We
woke on a bright, sunny morning to find a small tent had been pitched during the
night alongside us on the river-side wide board-walk. It turned out to be a
Russian family who yesterday had crossed the border into Finland near to Ivalo,
from their home in the Murmansk district, and had driven
Könkäänsaari Nature Trail at Vaattunkiköngäs
Rapids: this
morning we drove back to the parking area at Vaattunkiköngäs to walk the short
nature trail board-walk around Könkäänsaari river-island (Click here for map of Könkäänsaari Island Nature Trail).
Könkäänvaara Hill Nature Trail:
after this disappointing start to the day, we returned around the approach lane
to the Makialampi parking area by the main road, and there booted up to walk
what we hoped would be the more interesting circuit and summit of Könkäänvaara
Hill
A narrow path headed uphill, with clear orange-topped post way-marks, through the forest; in 200m this reached another crucial paths junction duly sign-posted, from where our path contoured around the hill under a craggy escarpment. This emerged from the forested lower slopes and up onto the more open rocky ground of the summit plateau through thinly spread old growth pine forest. Between the lichen-covered rocky slabs, the dense Bilberry ground-cover was laden with ripe fruit. We had not thought to bring a plastic pot, so today instead of berry-picking, we gathered and eat the Bilberries as we walked (see right). We were thankful for the way-marks as the path wandered every-which-way, looping around the southern side of the summit plateau, gradually gaining height up onto the highest point. From the summit marker, the distant views stretched away northward over densely forested landscape (Photo 5 - Könkäänvaara Hill). From the high-point an indistinct line of path threaded in a broadly south-easterly direction, losing height through the berry-laden Bilberry ground-cover, to reach the junction for the path looping back around the hill-side and finally down to the parking area, a pleasant stroll knee-deep in Bilberry plants with fruit ripe of picking.
Kemijärvi Church and war cemetery: after shopping for provisions at the K-Market, we walked into the town, along the main street to re-visit Kemijärvi Church. The original wooden church had been destroyed, along with the rest of the town, in late 1944 by retreating Germans, and the present modern church was built in 1951. The war cemetery amid carefully tended lawns between the church and separate bell-tower was filled with the graves of men and women from Lapland killed in the Winter and Continuation Wars of 1939~44 (see right). Back along through the town, Sheila tried at a hairdressers to get a haircut; despite the fact that the shop was deserted of customers and the woman standing around idly, she was far too busy to fit us in today; tomorrow, she said indifferently!
Auttiköngäs Nature Trail: after farewell photos for another year with
Urho and Elvi on the steps of the Matkatupa café (Photo
8 - Farewell to Matkatupa), we continued along
Route 944 through the forested Kemijärvi landscape, all the spruces
looking sickly yellow with rust fungal infestation. Beyond Autti, we turned east
onto Route 81, and with the morning cloud just beginning to break, we reached
the turning into the rough gravel lane leading down to the Auttiköngäs café and start of the Auttiköngäs Nature Trail. Booting up and today taking plastic pots in anticipation of
Bilberry picking, we set off down to Auttiköngäs waterfalls and gorge and the nature trail circuit (Click here for map of Auttiköngäs Nature Trail).
The Auttijoki river, long an east~west trade route, had been used from the late
19th century as a log-floating route into the Kemijoki and down to the sawmills
at Kemi at the head of the Bothnian Gulf. To negotiate the otherwise
We made frequent Bilberry-picking stops along
the next stretch through the forest until the path dropped down to reach the
laavu-hut by the rickety suspension-bridge spanning the Auttijoki river; this
now had lost all the force of torrent which had cascaded down the higher gorge
and here was almost stagnant. Across the bridge, we began climbing the wooden
South to Ranua and a closed campsite: we return westward on Route 81,
and beyond Autti, turned off south on Route 942 for the 60 kms drive to Ranua.
Initially forested, this lovely road became more pastoral as we drove south,
passing farms with pastureland recently cut for silage. We also passed many
young spruces all totally yellow with rust infestation; it was along this road
that we also first noticed a yellow scum at lake-side shallows, which we decided
must be concentrated rust fungus spores floating on the stagnant water surface.
In bright afternoon sunshine we eventually reached Ranua, pausing at
Leaving Lapland and south to Pudasjärvi: leaving Ranua the following morning (click on Map
1 at top right of page for details of our journey), we took Route 858 SE-wards,
a beautifully peaceful minor road through pine forests with just the occasional
sickly spruce tree, and at the village of
In spite of the disappointing changes at
Jyrkkäkoski Camping, we decided to take our planned day in camp here; the
following morning dawned with a truly autumnal feel, the camping area and
surrounding forest filled with chill morning mist. The showers by reception were
simply too disgusting to contemplate, but we discovered that the sauna hut was
not only open but had showers. But when we took the laptop over to reception,
the owner refused to open the common room to let us sit to use the wi-fi; this
was the last straw! The sun did eventually break through to give a pleasantly
warm day, and again we were able to sit outside watching gliders being towed up
by a light aircraft from the nearby airfield (see left). That evening, we again
lit a camp-fire in the covered hearth-place, and sat chatting with some Finns
from Oulu. As the evening grew dark,
Haukipudas painted church:
the afternoon sun was now hot as we walked over to the church and war cemetery. The squat church with its chamfered
cornered, red-tiled modern roof was built in 1762 on the site of an earlier
church here at the mouth of the Kiiminkijoki river, in the cruciform style
common in Ostrobothnian churches where the congregation was closely gathered
around the pulpit for Lutheran instruction. The church's scale and elaborate
wall paintings show that this must have been a wealthy community: Michael
Toppelius from Oulu, the top church painter of the day, was commissioned to
decorate the church's interior walls with exuberantly Baroque paintings of Old
and New Testament scenes including ornate Passion, Day of Judgement, and
Resurrection depictions. We had been fortunate in 2012 to gain admission to see
the paintings, but today the church was securely locked. We could only
photograph the church exterior from the trimly maintained war cemetery where the
Nallikari Camping at Oulu:
rejoining the E75 highway into the outskirts of Oulu, and thankful for the
sat-nav's guidance, we turned off through the NW suburbs to find Nallikari
Camping. The site mainly serves the summer holiday hoards who swarm to the
Bothnian coast beaches, and being part of the Top Camp chain with a monopolistic
position in Oulu, it has prices to match. Having checked bus times at the
nearby bus terminus for tomorrow's city visit, we now submitted ourselves to Nallikari's bureaucratic and tediously exhausting booking-in process. The
reception staff were pleasantly welcoming, and we dutifully filled out the
lengthy forms. We then had to walk round to the camping areas, select our pitch,
and return to reception to have the number recorded and be issued with gate
code and electric box key. Weary after a long day, it took over half an hour
with all this rigmarole, before we could settle in and relax. But at least
Oulu's city-wide Pan-Oulu wi-fi network enabled us to check the weather
forecast. The sun set, the
A re-visit to Oulu: another bright, sunny morning for our re-visit to Oulu (pronounced Oh-loo) (see log of our 2012 visit to Oulu). With a population of 135,000, Oulu is Northern Finland's largest city. Founded in 1605 by Swedish King Karl IX as a port at the mouth of the Oulujoki river, the city's historical wealth was based on timber floated down the river from the forests of Kainuu, salmon fishing in the river, but most particularly on the export of pine tar brought for caulking wooden sailing ships. A disastrous fire in 1822 destroyed much of Oulu which was rebuilt in grandiose style by the city's wealthy merchants who enlisted Carl Ludwig Engel, Helsinki's architect-in-chief, to design the new city's major public buildings in neo-Classical style. The modern city has been revitalised in recent years by its university's technological and computing expertise, attracting IT companies to establish science and technology parks in the outskirts. Oulu has become a national leader in the IT and microchip industries, attracting skilled IT staff from across the world as well as local graduates.
We
walked over for
The other useful feature about Liminka Bay Visitor
Centre was that we could camp here: a corner of the parking area was set aside
with power supplies for camping. The charge was €19/night with access to
facilities in the centre's hostel together with dry toilet and log-stocked,
covered camp-fire by the camping area. We paid for our night's camp, and set off
along the 400m board-walk through extensive reed-beds
out to the Virkkula bird-watching tower. The tower overlooked a shore-side
meadow and the distant shallows of a protected inlet of Liminka Bay. From the
viewing platform we scanned the whole area through binoculars, but apart from a
pair of mallard splashing happily in a creek (see right), there was not another
bird to be seen.
Along at Lumijoki village,
we turned off onto a side lane to find the Sannanlahti tower, which we hoped, from its position overlooking the main
body of Liminka Bay' open waters, would offer greater potential for bird-life.
Just beyond the village, the lane became rough gravel and narrowed to
single-track, leading eventually to a parking area by a narrow creek where hunters
moored their camouflaged boats (see left). We parked by a copse where the woodland floor
was covered with Dwarf Cornel laden with bright red ripe berries (see
right). A
track led from here across the reed-covered marshes towards the tower which
overlooked shore-side meadows and reed-beds and the distant waters of the Bay.
But apart from cows grazing in the flooded
The sky had been depressingly overcast all day and
with rain now beginning we hurried back to George. The dirt-lane wound around
through farm-land, eventually leading to a minor road out to Varjakka village
harbour at the far western tip of Liminka Bay. We returned in pouring rain to
Liminka Visitor Centre, and watched their film presentation of bird-life through
the seasons; in contrast with the wealth of bird-life for which the wetlands are
renowned, today in the dreary desolation of late August we had certainly
The rain had eased and sun was now shining through the birches with the golden light of late afternoon; we moved George over to the camping area and set up camp. That evening we cooked one of the trip's better suppers, Kylmänen elk meat (hirvikärsty) in creamy Lingonberry stew, and after supper we lit a camp-fire under the covered hearth as the sun set over the empty marshlands. From somewhere nearby, we could hear the gunshots of hunters blasting away at who knows what around the shores of the bay. We sat in the darkness as the fire finally died down to a ruddy glow.
A gloomy day to drive through the forests to
Puolanka: rain began again
during the night and this morning was driving against the side of the camper. It
was a dark, wet and thoroughly miserable day, and a wet walk carrying our
washing-up over to the Centre. But both the kitchen and showers were homely,
warm and well-equipped, a real luxury compared with many. For the helpful
standard of welcome, marsh-side setting, excellent facilities including wi-fi,
and good value price, Liminka Bay Visitor Centre Camping was a real find. But
the forecast gave a depressing outlook for the coming days. After shopping in
Liminka village, we resumed our journey, turning SE on Route 4 with the dark,
misty rain cloud making the flat farm land seem even more dreary than ever, and all
the ripening cereal crops battered down by 24 hours of heavy rain. A short
distance further and we turned off again onto Route 827 (click on Map 2 at top
right of page for our journey) to Tyrnävä, a busy service-centre village where
little children cycled home from
A wet night at Puolankajärvi Camping:
reaching the junction with the busier Route 837, we turned NE heading towards
Puolanka, and along this stretch of forested road, we passed into the region of
Kainuu, and were slowed by a lone reindeer grazing the road-side, surely the last
of these gentle creatures that we should see this year. With the rain still
pouring, we turned off in the outskirts of Puolanka to find Puolankajärvi
Camping. We recalled from our 2012 stay at this traditional little campsite that
the soft, grassy ground was low-lying and sloped down towards the lake, tending
to become water-logged after rain. What should we find today, after 12 hours of
almost continuous heavy rain and forecast of even heavier overnight rain? it was a
concerning prospect. The lady-owner spoke limited English and was welcoming, the charge remained as in 2012 at €23, but as feared the sloping, low-lying ground
was indeed water-logged. The place was almost empty, and after careful
consideration,
Hepoköngäs waterfalls: at some point
during the night, the rain stopped, and this morning we looked out over a sodden
campsite with the sky still heavily overcast and rain dripping off the trees.
More importantly however, the ground quite remarkably had drained and although
still soft, the water-logged patches had cleared. Over breakfast we tried
telephoning our next campsite, Ristijärven Pirtti, to check their closing date,
but both numbers gave the 'number no longer in use' message. This was
worrying: had the site closed already or even worse closed
The forest looked sodden and water-logged after
last night's rain, but at least today's weather seemed stable, lightly overcast with even a hint of sun. We kitted up and packed berry-picking pots in our
day-sacs, and set off along the broad 300m long approach path (Click here for map of Hepoköngäs Nature Trail). As we neared the
falls, the increasingly load roar of Hepoköngäs filled the forest air. One of
Finland's highest waterfalls,
Hepoköngäs drops
24m where the previously gentle-flowing Heinijoki river, one of the
Kiiminkijoki's headwater tributaries, drops in a spectacular cataract into a
granite basin. As we reached the top of the falls, it was clear that today,
after 24 hours of continuous heavy rain, the normally innocuous Heinijoki was
running in spate. We turned off onto the board-walk leading down to the foot of
the falls, crossing the now furiously fast-running torrent on a
wooden foot-bridge, with the peaty-brown water surging and foaming towards the
top lip of the falls. After
Back up the slippery board-walk to the head of the
falls where the Heinijoki drops into the granite basin, 3 years ago on our first
visit the stream had glided with gentle innocence over the lip to drop the
cascade's 24m; today however the Heinijoki in full spate was a surging white-water torrent even before reaching the lip (see
left). Steep wooden steps led
down to the foot of the falls of this side of the basin, and the start of the 3
kms nature trail circuit. With the river running in such high spate,
there were doubts if the path in the narrow canyon immediately alongside the
still fast-running river would be passable. The ground was already water-logged
and trees dripping as we progressed along the narrow path, but sun broke
through lighting the rain falling in the dark river canyon, a truly magical
moment. Reaching the junction where
Ristijärven Pirtti Camping: just south of the village, we reached Ristijärven Pirtti Camping, and thankfully the reception was open: a new family had taken over the campsite this year and telephone numbers had changed which explained why we had been unable to contact them. We were greeted with the same welcoming hospitality as in 2012, and settled into a pitch in the woodland area at the far corner, spreading out all our wet boots and kit to dry in the now bright sunshine. Having so far this year seen few Lingonberries, the floor of the woodland grove where we were now camped was covered with bright red Lingonberries almost ripe enough for picking. It really was a beautiful spot for tomorrow's day in camp, and we sat with the slider open enjoying the woodland setting and view over the lake.
Vuokatinranta Camping: we reached Sotkamo church on the town
outskirts and turned into the main street. Sotkamo is set on a sandy wedge of
isthmus, the remains of a glacial esker, sandwiched between lakeland on all
sides. After shopping at the S-Market, we continued westwards on Route 76 which
runs along a further narrow esker-ridge forming a causeway between Pirttijärvi on the northern side and Iso-Sapso-järvi on the southern side,
with the
settlement of Hirvenniemi spread along the broader part of the esker.
Through
Vuokatinvaara Skiing hill: before settling in at the camping area, we drove
back to the main Route 76 and turned up the lane leading onto Vuokatinvaara
hill. The lane wound around at a steady 7% gradient, ending at a parking area
close to the summit. This side of the hill was dominated by a gigantic ski-jump
tower, a
With the rain finally stopped, we walked back,
with just time to re-visit the scant remains of Kajaani's Swedish Castle. Built
in 1604 by Per Brahe, Governor General when Finland was a province of the
Swedish Empire, to protect the wild unsettled frontier region of remote Kainuu from Russian attack, the castle served as a prison for 20 years
for the
dissident Catholic historian Johannes
The lane alongside the river-basin led down to the
Tar Canal locks (Photo
42 - Kajaani Tar Canal) which were constructed to navigate
the otherwise impassable rocky gorge of the neighbouring Ämmäkoski rapids, the
natural river connection between lakes Nuasjärvi and Oulujärvi. The canal remained in
use for tar-boats until
George's 2 hour parking allowance had now expired
and we hurried back across the bridge before he got a ticket. On the far side of town, we re-parked at the railway station to see Kajaani's architectural pièce
de résistance, the restored 1904 Art Nouveau wooden railway station (Rautatieasema
in Finnish) (Photo
44 - Kajaani's Art Nouveau railway station). Across the town, amid an
area of anonymous modern Along Kirkkokatu, the modern Orthodox Church, built to serve Karelian refugees re-settled in Kajaani after WW2, was all locked up. But in a nearby park stood the incongruous intestinal curvature of the modern memorial to Kekkonen (1900~86) (see below right); what possible bearing this grotesque piece of metal could have on the Finnish President (unless of course intended as unsubtle irony at his expense!) defied understanding. Across to the neo-Gothic wooden Lutheran Church, we walked along the lines of fuschia-decorated graves in the war cemetery to pay our respects to the Finnish war dead (Photo 45 - Kajaani Lutheran Church). But time was running out; it was approaching 4-00pm and we had to drive out to Paltaniemi to meet with Anssi for our visit to the painted church.
Paltaniemi painted church:
we arrived out at Paltaniemi to photograph the wooden church's exterior (Photo
46 - Paltaniemi Church). The second church at Paltaniemi was destroyed
by the Russians in the same year as Kajaani
Outside in the church-yard, Anssi pointed out a
memorial stone showing pleading hands reaching out to ears of corn and the dates
1866~68; this commemorated the mid-19th century years of mass starvation in
Finland from failed harvests. He also took us around to the nearby wooden shack,
said to be the stable in which Tsar Alexander I had breakfasted on his tour of
inspection of Kajaani in 1819, just 10 years after Finland's incorporation into
the Tsarist Empire as the Grand Duchy. This opportunity to see the wall
paintings at Paltaniemi Church had been a real privilege, and we express our
sincere thanks to Anssi for sparing us his time to make this possible.
A final night's camp at Vuokatinranta:
we set off for the drive around the northern shore of lake Nuasjärvi back to
camp at Vuokatinranta. The Back around at the campsite, we settled in as the evening sun declined across the lake across the lake, casting a golden trail over the water; it was a glorious sight and worthy climax to a memorable stay here at Vuokatinranta (Photo 48 - Vuokatinranta sunset). Our final 2 weeks in Finland take us south through the towns and cities of Central and Southern Finland: IIsalmi, Kuopio, Jyväskylä, the wooden church of Petäjävesi, Helvetinjärvi National Park, the second city Tampere, Sammallahdenmäki Bronze Age burial grounds, and Rauma, finishing up at the port-city of Turku where we began our Finnish venture 5 months ago. From there it will be the ferry back to Sweden, across Southern Sweden and the Øresund Bridge to Denmark. Join us again in a couple of weeks for the final part of our travels around Finland. Final edition to be published quite soon
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CAMPING
IN FINLAND 2015: Rovaniemi, Napapiiri Hiking Area, Kemijärvi, Auttiköngäs, Ranua,
Pudasjärvi, Oulu, Liminka Bay, Puolanka, Hepoköngäs, Ristijärvi, Sotkamo, Vuokatti, and
Kajaani:
South from Kittilä to Rovaniemi: Route 79 south from Kittilä
followed the valley of the now wide and gently-flowing Ounasjoki through pine
and spruce forest, delightful countryside on a bright, sunny morning. Despite
being a main road traffic was light, but the greater hazard was reindeer
wandering across the carriageway (
A visit to Santa Claus
at Rovaniemi: 6
kms further, we pulled into the commercial park of the Santa Claus Village (Joulupukin
Pajkylä), indicated by an archway across the road to symbolise its setting on
the notional line of the Arctic Circe; the actual line has long since drifted
away northwards perhaps
repelled by the hoards of
tourists who flock here by the plane- and bus-load to
spend their money. We had 2 reasons for stopping off at this unlikely place: the
first was to take advantage of the novel and modestly un-commercialised service
offered by the Finnish Postal Service at Santa's Main Post Office (see left),
and secondly to pay a return visit to the Great Man himself at his Lapland HQ.
Across the car park, at Santa's Main Post Office (Joulupukin Pääposti),
one of the smilingly charming elves assured
us
that we could still buy our card, write it at the writing tables provided, buy a
stamp at the counter, and post it in the specially provided posting-box for
delivery at Christmas duly franked with Santa's Arctic Circle postmark (see
right); all this for the price of an ordinary stamp.
We chose our card, wrote
our message as if from Santa to our granddaughters (in Grandpa's disguised
hand-writing!), and posted it in the Christmas box. And sure enough in
mid-December, it was duly delivered to our granddaughters in Devon; now how
could even sceptically disbelieving 10 and 8 year olds fail to be convinced of
Santa's existence when they unexpectedly receive a personal greeting from the Great
Man
himself! 
linguistic requirements of His job, (He spoke with us in charmingly accented English), and about our
wish for our visit to bring credibility to His existence in the eyes of our
growing granddaughters. Our audience with the Great Man was all very civilised
and unrushed. We said our farewells with a shake of His hand, and the elf
expressed no surprise that we tactfully declined to part with €25 for an official
photo of our audience! Our re-visit to Santa's HQ had been a happy one: despite
all the accompanying tackiness of Santa Claus Village, the Main Event with a
chance to sit and chat with the Great Man himself, and to post our card for
Christmas delivery from His Main Post-Office, was all low-key and without
charge, with no pressure whatsoever to buy the over-priced photos. You could
take or leave the souvenir shops crammed with racks of tasteless ephemera, and
simply enjoy the magic of a remarkably un-commercialised
visit to Father Christmas. And of course, we did just that!
some good walking opportunities, and since
both the Rovaniemi
campsites were ludicrously over-priced, we hoped to find a quiet spot for a
wild-camp. We pulled into the Vikaköngäs parking area alongside the Vikaköngäs
rapids, with its white-water slalom canoe course marked out under the footbridge
(see above right). A board-walk led alongside the rapids to a cluster of
laavu-huts and camp-fire hearth with log-store. This river-side spot overlooking
the Vikaköngäs rapids seemed a perfect wild-camp spot, tucked well away from the
road with the roar of the river-rapids to drown
out any traffic noise, and we
could light a camp-fire for a grilled sausage supper. The Arctic Circle Hiking
Area is centred on the rapids of the Raudanjoki river, a tributary of the
Kemijoki. The hilly and marshy terrain has both managed forests and areas of
wilderness forest and several nature trails. Between 19~20th centuries, the
river had been used for log-floating, and when this ended in 1980s, the
log-storage basin area at Vikaköngäs was converted for recreational usage; it
was here that we now camped
(
all the
way down here to arrive and camp during the night; they were on their way to
Sweden to fly for a week's holiday in Malta! Their English was limited, and our
Russian almost non-existent, but we managed to converse about their adventurous
trip. 
The foot-bridge
leading over to the island gave a spectacular view along the length of the rapids
with the peaty waters and surging currents sparkling in the bright sunlight (see
right)
(
(
Route
82 to Kemijärvi and fungal-infected sickly spruce trees: from
Makialampi parking area, we set off for the 60 km drive on Route 82 to Kemijärvi.
The road initially ran north-easterly, again crossing the line of the Arctic
Circle, through delightfully rolling, densely forested terrain. But over the last
couple of days, we had noticed that all of the spruces were now consistently
showing a yellowing of their needles, which when brushed shed a pollen-like
dust. This turned out to be a fungal infection called Spruce Needle Rust. The
fungus lives for half its life cycle on spruce needles and the rest of the year
on ground plants of the heather family including Lingonberry and Labrador-tea.
These release fungal spores which, particularly in cool,
wet summers as this year, infect the young growing-tips of spruce needles, and
the fungus develops
over the summer months. The spruce needles at the
growing-tips turn yellow as tube-like projections form on the infected needles,
releasing powdery spores which re-infect the heather-plant ground-cover,
continuing the fungus' life-cycle. Severely infected spruce trees develop a tan
colour, and the infected needles die and fall off. The impact of this fungal
infection on spruces is said to be purely cosmetic, but since it affects the
young growing needles, it must be damaging, causing defoliation, disfigurement
and reduced growth. We had seen the yellowing effect of the fungal infection on
wholesale masses of spruce trees, both large and small, so its impact was
wide-spread on entire forests. On the drive down to Kemijärvi over pine and
spruce forested hills (see left and right), we saw much evidence of Spruce
Needle Rust. We had not noticed it on such a scale in previous summers, so
perhaps this year's cooler weather had made the fungal infestation far more
prevalent. 
Kemijärvi Camping:
reaching the
outskirts of Kemijärvi, we turned into Kemijärvi Camping on the lake shore (see
left). This had been an expensive site in 2012,
but today prices had risen even more to €30/night, giving the place the
dishonour of being the most expensive campsite in Finland; although a pleasantly turfed site with hedged pitches, we shall not be returning! When we stayed in
July 3 years ago, we had experienced our first Midnight Sun; tonight in late
August the sun
declined much further round to the west and set at 10-0pm with a ruddy glow. The
following morning we took a leisurely pace with our morning jobs; the sun was
just
beginning to break through, and fieldfares pecked around the dewy grass
(
A
welcoming return to Matkatupa Camping: leaving Kemijärvi, we set off
to drive the 26 kms south through the forests to Matkatupa Camping. The
forest floor was littered with boulders, as if the retreating glaciers that had
gouged out the hollows later filled by Kemijärvi lake had deposited an extra
load for its efforts around here. 20 kms further, at N66.562504 - E27.252789, we
reached the line of Napapiiri, the Arctic Circle for our southward
crossing after 6 weeks this year within the Arctic region; here we paused for
photographs
(
The
following morning, a heavy mist hung over the lake with the autumnal smell of
mouldering leaves filling the damp air (see left). Sheila put on a load of
laundry in the campsite washing machine, while Paul chatted with Urho by the
log-splitting machine and helped load logs into the winter fuel store.
Amid swarming blackfly we strung a washing line between trees down by the lake
but with the sky still overcast and sun struggling to break through, the washing
was unlikely to dry. The sun set across the lake (see right), and by 9-45pm it
was almost dark.
impassable
16m high waterfalls and rapids at Auttiköngäs, a log-flume had been constructed
alongside the cascade for logs to be floated down into the ongoing lower gorge,
with a dam and sluice gates at the top to build up a head of water for the
flume.
From the footbridge over the dam, the morning
sunshine lit the whole length of the log-flume alongside the cascading Auttiköngäs
falls, the sheer rocky side-walls of the enclosing gorge, and surrounding
forested fells (
steps up the steep, forested hill-side. Here the forest floor was covered with a
lush carpet of Bilberry laden with fruit ripe for picking as we climbed the
slope. Further steps mounted the hill-side's next rocky tier, and the on-going
path now passed several huge erratic boulders, finally reaching the rocky slabbed summit plateau of Könkäänvaara hill with its observation tower (see
right). From the
tower's observation platform, we could look out over the distant forested
landscape with the yellow rust-infested spruces standing out clearly amid the
sea of dark green pines
(
and the plants laden with ripe berries. Despite the swarming blackfly, we filled
our berry-picking pots as we descended the forested slope to the parking area.
On the descent, we passed a series of young spruces, like baby Christmas trees,
totally infected and discoloured by rust fungus; it was a tragic sight. 
the
S-Market for provisions. It was only a short distance out of the village to our
planned campsite Ranuajärvi Camping, a pleasant site used in 2012, under pines on
the shore of its eponymous lake. As we passed Ranuajärvi, we noticed more of the
yellow fungus spore scum floating in the shallows (see left). We turned off to
the campsite, looking forward to settling in after a long day - but disaster!
The gate was locked, and site closed, whether permanently was unclear, but a
sign said it had closed early in August. There was no option but to use the site
at Ranua Zoo, a new but unimpressive place just
north of the village. It was crammed full with holiday-making caravans and
camping-cars, with all their screaming dogs, yapping kids and materialistic
paraphernalia. Regretting thoroughly the necessity to use such an alien
campsite, we found a corner spot. Determined to make the most of it, we
discovered that their clothes drying-machine was free of charge and used it to finish
drying our bag-loads of semi wet laundry. The peace of a dusky evening was
further disturbed by delinquents from the camping-cars parading their juvenile
inadequacy by hurtling around the campsite yelling, as their even more
inadequate parents made even more noise. What a ghastly place! 
Kelankylä we paused as a final
symbolic herd of reindeer ambled past
(
Jyrkkäkoski
Camping at Pudasjärvi: a warm welcome and delightful camping area
among pine woodland had left us with fond memories of our stay at
Jyrkkäkoski Camping in 2012. How things can change in just 3 years! Today we
were greeted in an off-hand manner by the new owner: the charge had increased
inevitably, but the woodland camping area was now the preserve of Thai workers
employed for commercial berry-picking. The now available camping area was in
open woodland with little shade and some 400m from the facilities building, but
we pitched under the trees trying to gauge the least sun heated spot. The
alleged wi-fi signal failed to reach the camping area, and on returning to
reception, we discovered the run-down state of the facilities: 3 years on they
were now grubby, smelly and truly disgusting, some of the worst of the trip, and
it was clear that the Thai workers' recompense for overnight berry-picking at
whatever dubious rates they were paid was
to
base their fast-food stall cooking in the campsite kitchen! But despite the
disappointment of Jyrkkäkoski Camping 2015, we settled in, and for one of the
few times this summer, sat outside to enjoy the early evening sunshine and
comparative absence now of midges (see right). After supper that evening, we lit
a log fire at the camp-fire hearth and sat around this as the sky grew dusky. As
if to add to the offence already caused, the ill-mannered owner came over urging
us not to use too much wood; the log-store was full to overflowing and we
responded by stoking the fire further!
a
huge orange harvest moon rose above the southern horizon. We had enjoyed a
pleasantly relaxing and sunny day in camp under the pines, but the happy
recollections from our 2012 stay at Jyrkkäkoski Camping had been regrettably
soured by its now disgusting facilities and ill-mannered new owner .
Out to the Bothnian Gulf at Oulu: today we should move westwards
out to the Bothnian Gulf coast at Oulu; a change to rain was forecast for later
in the week, but we hoped that the present sunny weather would last for our day
in what is our favourite city of Northern Finland. But first we drove back into Pudasjärvi
to re-stock with provisions, re-fill
the camper with diesel, and to visit the Pudasjärvi branch of Kylmänen whose
factory-shop we had used at Sodankylä (see right). The shop was well stocked and
we bought packs of elk meat, elk meat-balls and reindeer sausages.
From Pudasjärvi, we turned off westwards
onto Route 855, a peaceful back-road route along the Iijoki valley out to the
Bothnian Gulf coast. We paused at an untranslatable war memorial, probably
recalling the Finns' pursuit of the retreating Germans from Lapland in 1944.
With the sun bright,
this was a delightful road winding through pine and birch woodlands (see left),
with spruce seeming less infected with rust fungus than further north. As we
moved westwards, the continuous forest gave way to increasingly cleared
farmland, and at Tannila we turned SW onto Route 849 through more intensive
farmland to reach the charmingly named village of Yli-Ii, meaning Upper Ii.
Alongside the now wide Iijoki, we drove along the lower valley to cross the
river into Ii village, leading to the junction with the main Route 4/E75 highway.
Suddenly after all the quiet back-lanes of Lapland, we were in busy traffic as
we turned south along the highway, to the small town of Haukipudas, now
virtually a suburb of Oulu, to re-visit the famous Baroque painted parish
church.
graves of local Winter and Continuation War dead were decorated with
fuschia shrubs (
evening grew dark and dewy even earlier, and a
magnificently clear half-moon rose (see right).
the 10-35am #15 bus; this arrived promptly and, although fares were expensive at €3-30 per passenger journey with no senior's reductions, the
drivers were ultra helpful and polite and the service efficient. We
followed the journey into the city on our city-plan, recalling sights as the bus
approached the centre past the cathedral to stop in Torikatu right outside the
TIC. Paul was hoping to find a solution today for his hors de combat
camera; a helpful member of the TIC staff provided the name and location of a
camera shop which he felt certain would be able to help. We headed through
central Oulu's grid of streets, and found the Oulun Kuva
Camera Shop along Hallituskatu (see left). The lady spoke faultless English, immediately diagnosed the problem
as a faulty lens, and supplied a suitable replacement. Although expensive, Paul was back
in photographic business after a agonizing 10 day gap; we were fortunate to have
found such a good photographic shop, now almost unknown in UK.
Paul's revitalised camera was put to immediate
use, as we returned along Kirkkokatu to photograph Oulu's grandiose neo-Gothic
City Hall
(see above right) (
sculpted figures of Sanna
Koivisto's memorial, Ajan Kulku (Course of Time), created in 2005 to
commemorate the 400th anniversary of Oulu's foundation. The wall-top procession
of 32 figures represent characters who had influenced the city's development
over its 400 years history, starting with its founder King Karl IX of Sweden;
the wall-top line of figures include a man rolling a tar barrel, fishermen
holding salmon, a fireman from the 1822 great fire, a mother with children, a
student reading her newspaper, a yuppie clutching his mobile phone, and at the
very front symbolising the future a small boy sits at the end of the wall (
It was time now to head down to the Kauppatori
(Market Square) for lunch, on the way passing the 1901 elegant red-brick
Kauppahalli (Market Hall) (
area. After
lunch we walked around the stalls hoping to buy Lingonberries (Pulolukka
in Finnish), but after such a miserable summer, these were not expected to be
ripe for another couple of weeks (
their
way upstream against the current. Today however this was closed and we could
only view the water rushing along the open channel above ground (
Dodging the processions of speeding cyclists, we
continued across the dam where on our 2012 visit, the sluice-gates had been open
creating a spectacular cascade when viewed from above on the dam pathway and
from a distance across the
parkland. Today there was just the view along the
semi-dry lower area below the dam and the distant artificial fountains over
towards the generating plant (see right) (
Liminka
Bay wetlands: the forecast rain
arrived during the night and this morning was heavily overcast (see left).
Despite Nallikari's pretentions and its unduly expensive prices, the facilities
were care-worn and lacked the standard to be expected of a 4-star site; we were
not sorry to be leaving. After shopping at a K-Market in the suburb of
Välivainio, we re-joined the E75 urban motorway. City traffic was fast and
furious but we made progress through Oulu's southern outskirts; the terrain
could have been anywhere in Europe. 20 kms south, we turned off onto Route 813
(click on Map 2 at top right of page) at Liminka heading towards Lumijoki for
our day around the 
locations and
routes of access. She did add however that although some of the areas were
protected, hunters were free to shoot in other areas; there
was clearly a major conflict of interest between the conservationists and
bird-watchers and the hunting lobby.
meadows and a flock of greenshanks
swirling around, there was little else to be seen. But walking back, we found
plants of Arctic Bramble with ripe and sweetly tasting fruit (see below left) (
not
seen Liminka at its best!
school in the pouring rain and mums pushed
buggies from the shops. Beyond Tyrnävä, the farming countryside gave way to
forest again making the surroundings more familiarly Finnish. The sky was so
dark with heavy, grey rain cloud that it almost seemed like dusk. A little
further and we crossed onto Route 834 heading NE through the forests towards
Ylikiiminki. Turning onto Route 836, we continued ahead on what was recalled
from 2012 as a delightful forest drive up the Kiiminkijoki valley on a sunny day; in contrast today, in pouring rain and low cloud on this lonely road, it was a
thoroughly wretched prospect. On and on through the dark, misty forests we
drove; how different from on a sunny day when light shining down through the
pines brings the forest alive with a richness of colour tones. Today everything
was a dull, flat grey monotone, with nothing to relieve the tedium of a drive in
such dreadful weather conditions. Only the ruddy-brown of bare pine trunks stood
out from the flat grey-green of misty forests.
we selected a pitch just onto the grass alongside the huts and
backed onto chocks so that, even if the ground became totally sodden overnight, we
could run down onto the gravelly drive (see above right). With these precautions
we settled in, and pulled out the awning against the still pouring rain. With
heavy rain hammering on George's roof, we cooked a warming supper of elk
meat-balls in Lingonberry sauce, so welcome on such a cheerlessly wet evening.
As forecast, rain fell heavier than ever later in the evening and we battened
down snugly in George, thankful for his warmth and shelter.
altogether? Facilities here
at Puolankajärvi were straightforward but perfectly functional with good hot
showers and a well-equipped kitchen/common room. In the village, we topped up
George with diesel and ourselves with provisions, and turned off onto Route 891
for the 2kms of approach lane leading to the Hepoköngäs parking area.
all the rain, the board-walk felt treacherously
slippery as we descended the escarpment slope alongside the falls, the air
filled with the roaring of cascading water. Partway down we could look through a
gap in the pines to the line of the falls (see above left), before dropping
down the lower slope to the foot of Hepoköngäs, looking directly across the
rocky basin with an unimpeded view of the full drop of the falls. Spray filled
the air, soaking trees and rocks and making the ground feel very insecure. With
the river in full spate, the falls were at their most spectacular, the
peaty-brown falling water foaming white, and the air filled with spray; despite
the gloomy light, these were perfect conditions to photograph the falls (
(see
above right).
the long distance path continued ahead, we
left the river to climb steeply up into the forest (see right). Here a
abundance of juicy ripe Bilberries covered the slope and we began today's
berry-picking among the soaking wet bushes, making slow progress as we stopped
every few steps to pick more Bilberries
(
Through the forests of Kainuu to Ristijärvi: Route 891 undulated through the
forested terrain, the distant views presenting an uninterrupted vista of the
vast expanse of Kainuu's endless forests; nothing but trees stretching away to
distant horizons with the birches now showing clear hints of Ruska autumnal gold
(see right). We drove on through this wonderful empty forested landscape,
eventually crossing the Suomusalmi railway line to reach the junction with Route 5 at Hyrynslami whose municipality covers an area of over 1,500 square kms with a
population density of just 1.73 inhabitants per square km. Turning south here onto
Route 5, we followed the highway down the Emäkoji valley, very conscious of the
frequent elk warning sings and keeping a wary eye open for these great beast
lumbering across the road; a collision at speed with one of these would result
in total write-off. We finally reached Ristijärvi, a peaceful little village
with war cemetery in its churchyard, and pulled into the S-Market for provisions
top-up.
We woke the following morning to a clear sky and bright sun and, with the midges
and blackfly now virtually gone at last, were able to sit out for breakfast
in our forest grove in warm sunshine, a delightful spot for morning log-writing
(
the scattered ski-resort of Vuokatti, we turned off following signs for tonight's planned campsite, Vuokatinranta; we knew little about the place other
than it seemed to be part of a Lutheran holiday-centre. It had the appearance of
a conference-centre, with a small camping area overlooking Nuasjärvi. As we
looked around, the warden came out to greet us and confirmed we could camp; with its lovely lake-side
setting and very acceptable price of €19/night (including SCC discount), we
readily accepted and booked in. The
warden introduced himself as Anssi
Hukkanen, and provided us with a local map and highlighted key features,
including the skiing hill of Vuokatinvaara which we could drive up to reach the
summit ski station. He told us more about Sotkamo with its lake-beach on the
sandy esker, and its successful Finnish baseball team, Sotkamon Jymy, which had
won this year's Finnish championship finals. He also described features at nearby
Kajaani where he was a town guide. Our conversation turned to Finnish politics, ranging from Urho Kekkonen's presidency and his controversial policy steering a middle
course between USSR and the West so preserving Finland's independence, through to
the current political situation with Juha
Sipilä's fragile coalition government; we described our visit to the Eduskunta
and witnessing the election of the new Speaker (realising she was the same age
as our younger daughter!). Anssi also told us more about Vuokatinranta's role as
a Lutheran holiday centre, hosting teenagers' confirmation camps and Christian
gatherings.
flimsy-looking structure of dizzying proportions and terrifying height;
we later learnt that this was an Olympic standard ski-jump training tower (see
above left). Up at the highest point of the hill-top of Iso-Pölly amid all the
paraphernalia of ski-lifts, a look-out point gave panoramic vistas down the
ski-slopes to the lake-spattered valley below (see above right). Climbing
further to the top winding stations, we stood on their platforms looking down
the lines of the chair-lifts to the valley below (
A
day in Kajaani: before
heading into Kajaani, we called in at reception to confirm our plan to return
later. We asked Anssi about the wooden church at Paltaniemi with its famous
wall-paintings, and in his role as Kajaani town-guide, he offered to show us the
paintings after he had finished work at Vuokatinranta later today. As we drove
along Route 76, the sun broke through lighting the beautiful forested terrain.
Reaching Kajaani, we managed to find street parking near to the university, right
outside the Sirius Restaurant where Anssi had recommended we try to see the
photos of Finnish President Kekkonen hosting a banquet for the Soviet leader
Brezhnev.
The post-war building had originally housed the wealthy owner of a
local paper mill, and later had been used as venue for the meeting between
Kekkonen and Brezhnev. We went in for coffee and were shown the photos in the
dining room (see left). Outside on the terrace, we sat with our coffee looking
down towards the river and remains of Kajaani castle (
3 years on, the square had a 'tidied
up', sanitised air: gone were the old folk, Muikku stall and street
entertainment, replaced
with fountains. We took our photos of the
ochre-coloured, wooden Raatihuone and the neighbouring Kainuun Sanomat
newspaper offices (see left) (
centre of Kajaani. The Thai packed his cooking equipment
and departed in his van, insisting we should shelter from the pouring rain under
his stall. When the rain eventually eased and brighter cloud drifted over, we
looked around the fruit stalls, asking when the Puolukka would be ripe (
Messenius
whose portrait we had seen in Oulu Cathedral. The castle was totally destroyed
in a Russian attack during the Great Northern War in 1716, and what little
remains now serves as support for the modern town bridge (see right). Across the
bridge, we could look down onto more extensive remains of the castle against the
back-drop of the river, dammed at this point for an HEP generating station, and
the Tar Canal (
who went off to Imperial Germany in 1915~17 for military training, fired with
zeal for Finland's independence from Tsarist Russia (see right). The Kaiser was
more than happy to ferment rebellion among the Tsar's western dominions, just as
he was in giving Lenin trans-shipment in a sealed train to encourage the
Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Following this when Finland secured her
independence, these militarily trained elite leaders, named as the Jäger Movement,
formed the backbone of the right-wing White Guards in the 1918 Finnish Civil
War. 
1915, and the locks were restored in the 1970s. A
replica narrow-boat loaded with tar-barrels passes through the lock on summer
Sundays. The lock was a staggering 50 feet in depth and of minimum width to
accommodate the narrow tar-boats. We crossed the lock bridge to photograph the
rocky Ämmäkoski gorge (
apartment blocks, Kalliokatu 7, a distinctive early 20th century wooden town
house, was the former home from 1911~1926 of local-boy-made-good Urho Kekkonen,
Finland's long-standing president from 1956~81 (see right). A relief plaque with
Kekkonen's portrait and familiar bald head and heavy spectacles (see below left), recalled his
residency here during his formative years in Kajaani where he worked as a
journalist before moving onward and upward to Helsinki.
Castle,
and the present church was completed in 1726. Emanual Granberg, a church artist
from Western Finland, was commissioned to paint the murals of Biblical scenes
which now decorate the church's interior walls. Paltaniemi must have been an
area of wealthy tar-merchants and farmers to
have afforded such expensive and elaborate paintings for their church. Anssi
joined us and opened up the
church with the huge key, to reveal the
continuous frieze of painted panels high on the walls of both the chancel,
transept and nave (see left). The panels showed scenes from the Old and
New Testaments, beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Expulsion
from the Garden, Abraham, Cain and Abel, the Burning Bush, the Annunciation (
route mainly followed winding minor lanes, with the golden light of the setting
sun making the forests glow and casting George's long shadow on the road ahead
(see right). But evening dusk was a nervous time to be driving trough forests
with increased risk of elks, and we kept a careful eye open for them running
into the road. We reached Vuokatti by 7-45pm and paused at the K-Market for
provisions. The lad at the check-out addressed us in perfect English without any
prompting. How did you know we were English? we asked; because your Finnish
accent was so bad, he replied with a twinkle! We had tried so hard with our
Finnish, but shared the laughter!
