We started the morning wit a short walk around the Ruka “city-area”. The streets were empty and weather was already very warm! There is a small pond just in the front of the hotels and skiing area.
After breakfast we packed tha bike once again and started the ride from Ruka to Kiutaköngäs. Even this is not a long way there is still one very nice road (and rare in northern Finland) with low bending corners. This Juumantie is very nice ride in this area and I recommend to ride it even if you are not going to the rapids.
To see the rapids it is maybe wiser to change your riding gear to hiking gear. There is about 1km walk to the rapids… but after you find them you will probably walk quite a lot more to see everything and you might even climb or at least take the more difficult paths!
It’s vey rare that the water level is so low here! Normally you wouldn’t see any rocks in the middle of the rapids.
It took maybe about 2 hours for us to check the Kiutaköngäs -rapids.
We continued riding north… and went over the Polar Circle! (In Hautajärvi) Here they don’t make so big number about the Polar Circle even it is quite remarkable “line in the map” when you think about the nights and the sun (summer or winter).
In Salla -village we stopped for a little while to check the nice church (built in 1950).
And from further north we found our place to stay… We chose the “lappish style” hut from Loma Joosula. We really enjoyed the place!
We walked to a hotel nearby to enjoy the “real Lappish food” -The reindeer stew.
And in the evening when I was making a flight with my drone the host of this place recommended that he would like to have photos and video from this area and his place and if I would do it I could have my stay for free! And ofcourse I said “Yes!”
Here are few of the photos I took from this area: Google Album
My wife made a video about this day:
The route for the day 6 was like this:
Motorcycle Tour
We woke up in our small cabin 7 meters away from the lake (we measured the distance last evening!) and ate some breakfast that we bought from the grocery yesterday. The morning was very beautiful!
I had at least 2 possible persons/ shops who might have motorcycle tires to sell. After 8am I started to make the phonecalls. The first one answered about 8.30 and they told that they have one 180/55 R17 tire and also they could install it to my bike in the morning! I knew right away that our tour will continue on the same day! But I wanted to check the other number too… Maybe I could have the tire with correct size?? (= 190/55 R17)
And about 1 hour later this other guy answered. First he said that they don’t have any tires… But then he asked “What size?” and after I told him the numbers he said that he has 190/50 (little bit lower than the correct size) because he owns Suzuki Hayabusa and he ordered new tires to his own bike earlier… but didn’t install them because Hayabusa was now little bit broken.
He was also ready to install the tire to my bike about 1 hour later.
So I got new tire very fast and we were able to continue our trip!
I made the reservation for the next night from a hotel not so far from Suomussalmi. We would stay the next night in Ruka (one of the biggest ski resorts in Finland).
On our way to Ruka we stopped only at Juntusranta birdtower…
And at Hossa to enjoy some ice-cream…
Then we were at Ruka! First we took a ride to the southside hilltop. From there you’ll have some very nice views almost all around!
The view to the east is the most interesting because you know that Russia is there somewhere (not very far!)
Later in the evening we walked up to the northern hilltop, this would be 500 meters above sealevel! The views are very nice!
There were few stairs to climb to the top (I think it was 338 steps…)
The room at the Hotel Arctic Zone was very Nice!
And once again my wife made a nice video of this day:
The route for day 5 was like this:
My holiday this year was about making tour around my beautiful home country: Finland.
I haven’t been in in the north part of the country since 2011 so it’s really a time to do this. And I have new tires in my XR so I can try also the gravelroads with my bike. This time I also have my wife with me so it will be very heavy load! (450kg)
This pic is from the first stop that we did in Vanhankylänniemi (this link only in Finnish) and mansion. But it was only a short stop.
Then we stopped at the old ironworks area in Kellokoski. There’s been quite a lot of renovations going on lately and it’s starting to look pretty nice place.
Next stop was at the Tönnö Museum Bridge in Orimattila. This is built/ open in 1911.
Then in the north side of Nastola we stopped at the Cafe of old Mill in Immilä. This is very beautiful place with the rapids just beside the area.
We also checked the old industrial heritage site “Verla”. This was a carbon factory from 1872 until 1952. Now it is a museumarea with very nice buildings are nature.
Verla is also Unesco World Heritage site since 1996.
It started raining a little bit but it was very warm, so still we checked the Elving observation tower which is built in 1907. It is 20m high and the view would be totally amazing if it would be clear weather. Even now it was very nice!
The night we slept in a small cabin at Orilammen majat.
My wife made a video about this first day:
The route for Day 1:
Trans Euro Trail is an epic motorcycle journey through some of Europe’s most remote, diverse and inspirational landscapes. I’m proud to tell that now the TET Finland is updated and I’m the one to blame about the most southern part (From Espoo to Hämeenlinna).
So all you enduro and adventure riders it’s ok to download the track from TET-site and go riding and having fun!
You can find the track here.
It looks like this:
(In Finnish: Puumalan Saaristoreitti)
I’ve started my holiday tour 2 days ago. I hope I will have more time to write about details and routes but in this update I want to share this:
My drone finally arrived from service and I got this video made yesterday!
This is ferry “Norppa II” and it takes bicycles and motorcycles and makes a ride in the lake Saimaa. Even it wasn’t the best possible weather it was still quite amazing. The beautiful archipelago of Saimaa made me forget even about riding for awhile… I was just sitting on the deck and enjoying the views and summer breeze.
The last day of our nice tour in Western Finland was about getting back home. Only few stops in the way and then back home in the afternoon.
First stop was at Observation tower in Lempäälä (Pyhällön lintutorni).
Very nice views from the top!
Then we stopped at Toijala train museum, pitty it was closed!
And finally we stopped at Saaren kansanpuisto in Tammela. It’s recreation park with nice swimming beach.
Water was so warm… It totally felt like summer! (And it was only May 13!)
We were home about 4pm so there was still nice time to relax and getting ready for monday at work…
The route for the day 5 was like this:
And the route for the whole tour looked like this:
Day 2 started when we had to ride again to the medieval church of Ulvila to check one possible gravelroad there but then we were already riding to Pori to check few places there. Rosenlew museum, Kirjurinluoto and Juselius Mausoleum. This mausoleum is the only one in the Nordic countries!
Then we continued towards Yyteri. This is maybe the most well known sand dunes and beach in Finland.
It was almost empty! Maybe because we were so early…
After this we were riding to Lampaluoto and Ahlainen. From there starts very nice road following the shores of The North Sea. You can follow the beachline almost 80 kilometers until you reach the city of Kristiinankaupunki. One very nice landmark on the way is the Belltower of Siipyy! Here I stopped to take a picture.
Few years ago when I was stopping in this same place the bells started to ring! That was very nice (and it hurted my ears)!
I checked the map before this day and I thought there is a nice gravelroad to Kristiinankaupunki and ofcourse I had to check it!
This nice road follows the river that goes to the sea just on the southside of this city. River is called “Lapväärtinjoki“.
In Kristiinankaupunki there is one place that every motorcyclerider has to check! It is the most narrow road (alley) in Finland. (Actually it’s maybe the third narrowest but the tha name of this alley is very nice!). “Kissanpiiskaajankuja” is less than 3 meters wide from the narrowest point -and it is 2-way road!!!
(Translation for this would be “Catwhippersalley”)
Then we road to Kaskinen -the smallest city of Finland. There is about 1200 people living here and it’s very beautiful because it’s just by the sea!
Then it was about the time to enter inland! We checked the windmill in Teuva. One wing weights about 10 tonns and it’s length is 49 meters!!!
Then we checked one empty house where anyone can spend the night and the biggest spear in the world.
I would definately change all bed linen before I would spend a night there… But you can go to sauna!
This spear is a monument honoring the Olympic gold metalist Pauli Nevala.
Then we finally entered our accommodation in Teuva. It was a very nice place called Opintola.
Here is route for day 2:
