The day started with a littlebit of rain. The road was wet and there were clouds in the sky. We stopped anyway in the museum bridge of Virransalmi.
From Tuustaipale to north we had first gravelroad about 19 kilometers and because of rain there were parts with soft surface… almost like mud. In the video you can see how it can be…
Kissakoski was the place where we stopped and walked around.
Then we stopped for a short break in Hirvensalmi.
And for a little bit longer break in Mikkeli to check the observation tower of Naisvuori.
It had already stopped raining and the roads were already dry. So the rest of the day it was cloudy and warm. From Mikkeli we took the roads to east. And from the gravelroad near Anttola we found nice quarry.
And soon it was about the time to take the “private” ferry over the Lake Saimaa and I also took my drone up to the sky to make a video when the ferry was about to enter to the pier:
The ride over the lake was so relaxing! The lake was calm without any waves and the beautiful archipelago all around us made us feel that this is a fairytale.
We still had some riding to do after this. First is was this nice paved road in the middle of Lake Saimaa:
We went to Puumala to have a pizza. There was quite interesting tent in the middle of the willage:
There was 1 more quite nice road and a yellow ferry (These yellow ferries are for free in Finland) before we arrived to our destination.
The place we were about to sleep was quite terrible. Luckily it was also cheap.
Here is the video about this day made by my wife:
Here is the route for day 2:
motorcycling
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 and 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 was 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.
We made another weekend tour just resently. It was the weekend from friday 15th to sunday 17th (of June) and the decision for this trip was made very fast!
First I decided to check how is my tent… I took it from the basement and we went to the yard with my wife to check if it’s ok. And it was!
Then I ride to the garage to change the bike, wife stayed at home to make us some food (snacks) because we really wanted to spend the night in a tent!
First stop of the trip was in Trollshovda (Trollshead in English).
Then we rode to Kemiönsaari and to Kasnäs and stopped in Lövö bridge.
This is one of the most beautiful views in the bridge in Finland! And the road from Taalintehdas to Kasnäs is very beautiful (This bridge is in this road).
Then we try to find a good place for camping and we found quite ok place… This was the first night ever in the tent for my wife!
She didn’t sleep very well but I slept quite ok -except my back didn’t like it at all! So I decided to sleep in a normal bed for the next night!
Next morning was about to go to the ferry that would take us to an island. Rosala is the name of the island and this would be the first place where Vikings or Christianity step their foot in Finland.
This ferrytrip is for free! and it takes about 30 minutes…
Rosala is quite small island. There’s only 1 road that goes from Hiittinen village to Rosala village. That is about 8,5 km’s from the villagecenter to another. In Hiittinen there is beautiful old wooden church…
And a very nice cafeteria just beside this church:
Then after you ride this 8,5 kilometers you will enter the Rosala village and there is one place you really need to visit! It’s the Vikingcenter Rosala which is the only one of its kind in Finland. It’s an area with lots of items, clothes, weapons and buildings from Iron age of Finland. The Vikings didn’t take much land here in Finland and here in Rosala there are the best ancient excavations of this Viking age. But in the same time with Vikings the Christianity also made its first steps to the Finnish ground.
This is from the restaurant they have there. There is restingplace in every table, so if you get tired while eating you can step back and sleep awhile!
This is from Chapel they have in the area. Christianity is mixed with old religions of Vikings… at least it was like that in the beginning.
The best building to see is the the dwelling house with huge fireplace on the other end of the room inside. It really gave me authentic feeling and I could see the Vikings shouting, drinking and making their business there…
Next moring we started our ride back home and the first stop was at Taalintehdas. This is one of the oldest industrial villages in Finland. The ironworks company was founded in 1686.
This blast furnace is much newer but it has been rubuilded as a “meeting point” in the beginning of the nature path that you can find from Taalintehdas.
We also visited an old market place called Latokartanonkoski (Rapids of Latokartano). There are ruins of an old mill that was built in 1805 and it stopped working at 1962.
It is a very beautiful place with quite a lot to see. One interesting thing is that this place is full with Beautiful demoiselles flying around.
Their wings are shining bright blue in the sunshine… and they look like they are from a fairytale!
The route for the whole weekend you check here.
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:
After a good sleep and breakfast in our hotel (in Seinäjoki) there was one (a little bit strange) church we wanted to check.
This building was built first as a gunpowder warehouse but in 1864 it was changed as a church.
Then we were climbing to a “very high mountain” in Pohjanmaa. It is even 145 meters above sealevel (!!!) But in this area it’s a lot and from the top of the “mountain” there are very nice views over the “flat land” of Pohjanmaa!
The wooden tower on the top of Santavuori is very old! It was built in 1965 and for me it looke likes some parts of the tower is already falling apart.
Little bit further I chose the gravelroad that would go over the rive, I was thinking this would be a nice route to shoode. And it was!
There are some museums about waterpowerplants just after the bridge.
Then it was about riding the quite booring roads of Pohjanmaa (& Satakunta and Pirkanmaa) towards south. It wasn’t until we reached Siuro when we made a longer stop to enjoy some snack and admire the views.
There is quite famous bar just beside the rapids.
It was quite a big surprise that there was only a few bikes here with us. But quite many rode by -it was so beautiful day!
After Siuro we visited one abandoned graveyard and in the most famous tower of Pyynikki.
The tower in the lowest picture is “Näsinneula” -it’s the most famous tower of Tampere. But this “Pyynikki tower” is much older and in much more beautiful area.
After meal we still went for a walk in a park of Hatanpää:
The summer was definitely in Finland!
The route of the day was like this:
This day was about turning back… But only after we would first ride quite far away north to Raippaluoto. We made a quick visit in Botniaring (racetrack) and rode through Jurva (city or village?). But soon it was time to turn to gravelroad!
At the end of this “offroad” ride there was a nice small observation tower of “Rajavuori”
Then we rode to Vaasa, it’s one of the oldest cities in Finland. There was old church but it burned in 1852 -Now there is only ruins.
From Vaasa we rode to Raippaluoto and to go there you have to ride over this very nice bridge!
Here in Raippaluoto we wanted to check another observation tower in Saltkaret.
This is quite amazing place if it is clear weather and if you will climb to the top of the tower!
From Raippaluoto we rode little bit more east so that we wouldn’t have to ride the same roads back home.
Before we arrived to Seinäjoki we took a short stop at Ylistaro church -the third biggest church in Finland!
And after putting all our stuff to hotelroom we went swimming (Yes it is 11th of May and it is very early for swimming in Finland!)
But it had been so nice weather already many days and the water was actually very warm in Kyrkösjärvi!
The route for day 3 was 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:
Me and my wife have been married now half a year. It was time to take tour with motorcycle just the two of us. We had 5 days to do this trip and I chose western Finland.
Day 1 (May 9)
We started before the midday and I was very excited about finally going on a tour with my new bike “Optimus”:
After filling the tank it felt very nice and relaxing to ride the bike! The first leg was 120 kilometers and the the first stop was at Koski (english: Rapids) and there is also quite nice rapids there (Rapids at Rapids…)
Then we stopped at the grocery store in Oripää to buy some sausages. Next stop & break was at “Kekkosplassi”. It is very nice area with a big fireplaces to grill some food, we had sausages, sandwiches and also something to drink.
Then in Säkylä we checked Katismaa and Eenokki (harbour and beach) but these were just very short stops. Finally in Kauttua Ironworks area we stopped for awhile to examine the area. Like all old ironworks areas this has also many very nice old buildings and rapids with some small dams and old bridges.
This was the first time when we noticed that it was quite hot! Weather forecast had promised very nice and warm weather for us… and it was Summer coming already before the middle of May! It was too hot to walk with all riding gear.
The last leg was about 60 kilometers and we arrived to Nakkila where we were supposed to stay for the first night. After we took all the luggage away from the bike we still checked the dam and powerplant of Harjavalta and the medieval Church or Ulvila.
The route for the day 1 was like this:
GoZa Mite 