MOTORHOME TRAVELLERS' DIARY FOR SEPTEMBER 1999

FINLAND AND ESTONIA

Barry and Margaret Williamson

01 SEPTEMBER 1999 FIN ARCTIC ZOO CAR PARK, RANUA

Before leaving Rovaniemi we wrote to Comfort Insurance for a Green Card for Poland, to be posted to Helsinki, and shopped at the KKKK Supermarket, 2 miles down the road and the biggest we'd seen so far in Finland. Then an easy 55-mile drive south through quiet forest, reluctantly leaving the Arctic Circle after 4 weeks above and within it. Just before Ranua we came to its Wildlife Park, the world's most northerly zoo, claiming 60 species of birds and mammals native to the far north. It has a large empty car park (complete with water and dump point) and is next door to a small Fazer sweet and chocolate factory with shop - 2 more good incentives to stay. After lunch we bought some slightly cut-price chocolate and liquorice torpedoes (Fazer is Finland's main brand for every kind of chocolate and sweet, as well as biscuits and bread) and then paid 55 FIM (over £6) each for entry to the wildlife park. The leaflet suggested an hour for the 3 km boarded forest walk round the large pens and enclosures but we spent 3 hours, watching the animals, reading the extensive information boards on each species, noting their names and taking photographs. We saw only one other human family and were delighted with the whole experience in the sun-dappled forest, a near-natural habitat for most of the resident animals, which included:

3 Otters, swimming in their pool and eating fish on the bank.

2 Beavers asleep in a huddle. 1 Badger asleep.

1 Mink asleep; 1 Weasel going loopy; 1 Polecat asleep; 4 Housemice in the kitchen.

3 Wild Boar rooting up their enclosure. 2 Polar Bears resting by their pool.

3 Brown Bears (a pair happily sleeping and a lonesome bear padding next door).

1 Wolf slinking in the woods.

2 Wolverines climbing trees with their food.

4 Wild Forest Reindeer (larger than the domestic Poro variety, 2nd only to elk).

2 White-tailed Deer. A few Fallow Deer (including bambis) and Roe Deer.

2 Elk (huge - the largest deer, called Moose in N America).

4 Domestic Reindeer with splendid antlers, some just losing their velvet.

4 Racoon Dogs asleep, camouflaged as boulders (very hard to spot in the woods).

2 Red Foxes. (We couldn't see the Arctic Fox in the adjacent enclosure.)

We were surprised to read how common Brown Bear are in Finland (about 800 of each in the wild, and even more Wolves.) Happily we didn't know that while cycling in the lonely north!

The birds in their various aviaries and ponds were:

2 Cranes, 2 Eagle Owls, 1 Grey Owl, 1 Ural Owl, 4 Snowy Owls, 1 Golden Eagle,

2 Rough-legged Buzzards, 1 Goshawk on its nest, 2 Honey Buzzards, 1 Tengmalm's Owl (tiny), 2 Short-eared Owls, 1 Brown Pheasant, 1 Golden Pheasant (red, blue & gold), 2 Ravens, Mallards, Mute Swans, Whooper Swans (Finland's national bird, shown on the 100 FIM note), various Geese. There were plenty of small wild birds nipping into the cages for a free feed but the greediest was a little Red Squirrel, filling up ready for hibernation in the Pheasants' pen!

The Children's Corner just had a pair of Peacocks, as it was being redesigned with lots of play equipment. There was also a mock tower, Murr Murr Castle, where kids could meet the elves, Jussa and Nessi, in the summer!

Back in Rosie we had a quiet evening, thinking of all the wildlife dozing or prowling on the other side of the fence, while the night shift was at work in the Fazer factory.

55 miles. Free parking.

Barry wrote to Rupert of Latvia, requesting some maps and guides to the 3 Baltic Republic capitals, to be sent to Helsinki. We found diesel and a post office in Ranua, then continued south on road 78 through quiet forest, pausing for coffee at Pudasjärvi (Lake Pudas) and in Puolanka to buy bread before a lunch break. We now believe the fact that Finland is a glacial plateau with 60,000 lakes (65% is covered by forest, 10% by lakes) and the 5 million people are concentrated within the few scattered large towns.

At Paltamo we reached the shore of Finland's 4th largest lake, Oulujärvi, and turned west for 20 miles to cross a short bridge onto Manamansalo, an island in its centre. 2 of the 3 campsites were open and we settled on the first, at Martinlahti, by a little harbour on the lakeside, with the only bar, shop and petrol on the island. Rain set in for the evening and we had the site to ourselves.

167 miles. £7.05 inc elec.

How the weather changes - warm enough to cycle in shorts and T-shirts now!

We cycled 15 quiet miles across the island expecting another bridge link to the far shore but found instead a free cable ferry plying to and fro. We made tea in the woods while waiting. It went every half-hour or so and looked small but managed to carry a car & caravan, a tractor and a car towing a boat, as well as us.

Once across we rode north through more quiet reindeer forest to Vaala, a little town where we got hot dogs and coffee at the bus station Grilli and a map from the Tourist Office to help us find a way home over 30 miles of back roads. We watched a few people driving in with buckets of bright red berries which were weighed and bought by men with crates and a Mercedes van. They are lingenberries, good for jam, which stud the forest floor now that the cloudberry season is over. We made a careful note of how they look. (Lingen is an old name for heather, and the berries are related to cranberries.)

Then we cycled along the northern edge of the lake (which is more like a sea since you can't see across it). We had another brew in the woods, picking our first bag of lingenberries where we sat. They are firm and easy to gather, growing low to the ground without thorns. We finally crossed the bridge back to our island after 6 pm and it was still warm. 67 miles is our longest ride yet this summer (there are no shortcuts when you circle half a lake!)

A few Finns came to their caravans and boats for the weekend, the weather turned showery, the shop and bar did good business.

Margaret made good use of the site washer-drier (unlimited use for 10 FIM or £1.17) and updated the diary. Barry put a new front tyre on his bicycle and wiped and oiled both cycles. He also replaced Rosie's left sidelight bulb, and resealed both sidelight covers against water ingress.

Dry and bright again for a morning ride round the island, partly following a cycle route on sandy tracks through the forest for 10 miles. We passed several families picking lingenberries by the bucketful, some with a special forked scoop to speed the process. Once far enough from the road, we had the berries to ourselves and gathered another bagful while brewing up. The track (marked for ski-ing, walking and cycling) led to a lakeside shelter with woodshed and bonfire-barbecue place near another campsite before joining the road to the ferry. We returned for a late lunch.

The week-enders left in the afternoon leaving the site to us and the white wagtails. M put a kilo of lingenberries in the freezer and made an apple and lingenberry crumble with the rest. A success - they are juicy, tasty and without pips! We rang mum a couple of times to ask her to send a Road Fund Licence renewal form to Helsinki, in case we don't get a reminder from Swansea in time.

Finnish TV (usually 2 or 3 channels available) has a few subtitled American programmes, such as 'ER' and 'Ali McBeale', to entertain us, but Woody Allen's 'Hannah and her Sisters' proved impossible to watch!

Reluctant to leave such a peaceful place, we lingered for another day, tackling a few more jobs. The over-cab area was cleared and cleaned, its windows, curtains and storage boxes washed, new mats laid and the stuff sorted and replaced. Barry gave Rosie the new Reindeer and Arctic Circle stickers, declaring proudly back and front how far she'd travelled (about 8,000 miles since the Western Sahara!) We also wrote to Martin & Clare, with copies of the diary covering Portugal and Spain, before they embark on their own Iberian travels this winter.

This is an excellent campsite, even selling half-price out-of-date bread, fine for toast and bread & butter pudding (normal price around £1 per loaf).

In the evening we watched 3 local fishermen with 2 rowing boats 'trolling' the lake and pulling in the nets by hand, but they didn't come round selling the catch - this isn't Morocco! There are still long hours of daylight, until about 9.30 pm, and fish bite in early morning and evening - bream, pike, perch, roach, whitefish, trout and lake salmon. Angling is a Scandinavian passion and the tourist leaflets have plenty of information on licences, bait, guides, boat-hire and fishing huts.

Leaving another 'cold lake shore' behind, we drove back across the bridge and east to Paltamo, then turned south and onto the E63 for Kajaani, pausing for lunch in a lakeside lay-by. We saw a pair of dark game-birds at the edge of the forest which may have been Black Grouse or even Capercaillie - as they feed on berries and conifer needles they won't go hungry.

Kajaani, on the eastern edge of Lake Oulu, is a big town by Finnish standards, with parking meters! We took advantage of the supermarket car park to shop for food and A4 paper and walked to the post with Martin's package. Then south-east on road 6 to Nurmes, at the head of Pielinen Lake, in Karelia (the easternmost province of Finland, bordering Russia). The campsite was a small part of a large complex, with youth hostel, golf course and upmarket hotel, the hotel monopolising the lakeside. We shared the camping area with a lone Austrian caravan and found the mown grass a novelty, used as we are to the forest floor.

126 miles. £8.82 inc elec.

We cycled a couple of miles back into Nurmes, where the railway line and station restrict access to the lake and the pleasure steamer was moored for the winter. Riding out of town we noticed an Orthodox church and cemetery, a reminder of the Russian influence in Karelia. After 15 miles on the main (but quiet) road 75 we turned off for 5 miles to Saramo, a village with one cafe/craftshop, where we ate our lunch and bought coffee before returning on 10 miles of unmade forest track to Ylikyla, then back to Nurmes in a freshening wind.

Margaret used the camp kitchen to convert the frozen lingenberries into 5½ lb of jam, guessing the right amount of sugar (1½ times the berries) but too much water (½ pint), which boiled alarmingly out of the pressure cooker safety valve!

Meanwhile Barry mended his derailleur, jammed by a stray stone, and a terrific thunderstorm raged, turning the campsite into a swamp. But it all passed over, the cooker top was cleaned and the jam set well. An old film with Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson as a very unconvincing Nelson and Lady Hamilton rounded off the evening.

On a bright day, much colder after the storm, we drove south-east for 40 miles to Lieksa where we paused to shop, get diesel and make lunch by the Pielinen. Gardeners were tidying the lake-side park and we became aware of the gradual increase in the variety and height of trees and shrubs, all in glorious autumn colours - Ruska indeed.

After another 40 miles on road 73 (the highlight of which was a female elk, who paused in the road before bolting into the forest) we turned due east, at Eno, to the little town of Ilomantsi, Finland's most easterly commune (further east than St Petersburg!) At the Tourist Office we bought a map and gathered information on nearby campsites and how to gain access to the easternmost point of the EU, on the border with Russia. We learned that it lies on a river island and written permission is needed from border guards at the nearby village of Hattuvaara since there is a 3km-wide no-man's-land on either side of this sensitive border.

Ilomantsi also has the oldest Orthodox congregation in Finland, from the 14thC, and the largest wooden Russian Orthodox church in the country, dedicated to the Prophet Elijah (a Greek favourite too), very elegant in cream wood and green domes. We peeped inside, trying not to disturb an old woman going through the ritual of bobbing, crossing herself and kissing all the icons (probably before locking up for the evening). It was a charming mixture of Scandinavian simplicity and Orthodox iconography.

Further east again to Möhkö, site of an Ironworks Museum and a quiet campsite on the river Koitajoki. We settled in among the log cabins with one Finnish caravan. Far away from any artificial light pollution, only 2 miles from the Russian frontier, the night sky was stunning, the tall pine trees looming in the light of the stars. We made out a few familiar constellations: the Milky Way, the Plough, and Cassiopeia.

125 miles. £8.82 inc elec.

We rode down the lane to the village, with its single shop-cum-post-office-cum-library, and the Iron Works Museum (open mid-June to mid-August). An old canal with locks short-cuts the river and its weir, once transporting ore and pig iron, and an old lumbermen's house-barge had been converted into a cafe (also closed). A measure of local honesty and safety was the sight of 4 good bicycles propped up by the hamlet's bus stop - children had left their bikes there while they took the bus to school in Ilomantsi. They'd even left their helmets! As rain set in we returned to the campsite, postponing exploration of the remains of the ironworks (which processed lake-bed ore) and the memorabilia of the fighting when Russia invaded in 1939/41 and again as the Russians pushed the Germans this way in 1944. We must find out how the Finns managed to get rid of the Germans (who were on their side against Russia) whilst keeping the Russians out and settling the present border.

Back at the campsite, a curious drumming noise on a nearby tree turned out to be a Great Spotted Woodpecker hammering at a branch! Not nesting at this time of year, but perhaps making a hole to wedge nuts to crack open or to get at insects under the bark. They have specially adapted skulls to reduce the shock of hammering on the brain. After lunch M updated the diary and did some baking (yogurt cake, gingerbread, Beanfeast pies - taking advantage of the campsite's electric oven since we've not seen LPG since Germany), while Barry retaped the bicycle handlebars and read more about the Baltic Republics.

A message from mum on the Vodafone, that she's posted a Road Fund Licence renewal form to Helsinki for us.

The Susitaival (Wolf Trail), a 55-mile hiking route between Möhkö and the Patvinsuo National Park, starts at the campsite and we cycled along it briefly until it delved into thick forest. It looked good, involving rope rafts to cross rivers and camping at wilderness shelters. We returned to the road, unsurfaced beyond Möhkö, and rode about 7 miles north-east along it, until an unmanned barrier halted us. The road closely followed the boundary of the Russian border zone, marked by yellow tapes round the trees and plenty of signs declaring it Off Limits. Very quiet, just an odd house or two and a track to a little settlement on the left. No sign of guards or frontier patrols. Half-way there we paused at the site of some action in 1944, with new wooden walkways by some trenches and dug-outs and a couple of machine guns. Presumably skirmishes with the Russians from the time when East Karelia was lost to them? A restful afternoon back at the campsite, route-planning and preparing for a long ride tomorrow, to our 4th Corner of Europe.

Equipped with brewing-up kit and waterproofs, we set out into a fresh wind in search of Virmajärvi, the easternmost point of Finland, the EU and Europe (excluding Russia). Unsure whether we'd be able to cycle beyond Hattuvaara, in terms of distance, weather and permission, we were determined to try!

15 miles of empty forest track led north-west, across an elver (narrow ridge of land) between 2 lakes (Sysmä and Nuora), to meet the main road from Ilomantsi at Lehtovaara. We made coffee in the silent woods before riding the next 10 miles, passing another 1944 war memorial and gun, to Hattuvaara. Here the 'Fighter's House' has a museum from what is known as the Winter War, the Continuation War, the Evacuation and the Reconstruction. We asked at the museum cafe about permits to enter the Border Zone to visit the EU's most easterly point and were surprised to find them on sale there, along with a souvenir certificate! We waited while our passport details were faxed to the guardpost in Möhkö, paid about £1.75 each, and were on our way, resisting the temptation to linger in the warm lunchtime smells of the cafe.

In Hattuvaara village, by the homely little 200 year old Orthodox Chapel of St Peter & St Paul, an unsurfaced road turned east with a proud new signpost 'EU Most Easterly Point'. And what a long, rutted, hilly, empty, seemingly endless way it was for 15 hard miles, still into a cold wind. Once past a number of memorials to the dozen or so Finns killed in skirmishes with the Russians along the signed Fighters' Path (surely it took more than this to stop the might of the Red Army?), we sheltered from the wind among the pines, made tea and were more than ready for our sandwiches.

We passed the border zone warning signs, No Entry without Permit, though there was no-one to inspect it. At last, at the Rotary Post (erected by Ilomantsi Rotary Club!), we had sight of the easternmost point, on a tiny island in the Virmajärvi lake, just off the end of our track. Two posts (blue & white for Finland and red & green for Russia) marked the frontier, defined in the peace of Moscow in March 1940 after the Winter War. We had ridden 40 miles (30 on tracks) and it was almost 4 pm. Anxious about getting back before dark (there really are wolves in the forest!), we took photographs and turned for home. Luckily the wind didn't change direction, so the return did not take as long, and we rode with satisfaction, our 4th corner of Europe reached. A strange corner too, the only one not on the coast, the only one at a Soviet land border.

After 15 miles back along the track we called at the Hattuvaara Military Museum for coffee and buns and awarded ourselves Diploma No 4920 for the archives. Then 10 miles of good road with a back wind before the last 15 miles of forest road, pausing for a final brew-up in a bus shelter opposite the village school at Naurisvaara. We reached the campsite by 8.30 pm, just before darkness fell, and celebrated with beans on toast (our last tin, from Safeway in Gibraltar!)

To round off a memorable day, there was a message from Mick & Flo on the Vodafone, saying they'd ring again at 9 pm tomorrow. We'll be there!

Margaret wrote to mum and did some MMM photocopying in the campsite office. (We got the suggested price halved - to a mere 17p a page!) We printed a 2nd copy of the August diary to send mum, along with a couple of leaflets on Lapland and Karelia. The printer started to jam and Barry had to take it apart and persuade it to work. It really needs a good service (or a new machine). He also checked over the bicycles after yesterday's marathon on dusty rutted tracks.

After lunch we walked across to the river, over the lock gates and round the ironworks and canal, on a lovely crisp autumn afternoon. The museum, in the Manor House built in 1849 as a foreman's residence and HQ, was closed but there were information boards and outdoor remains. From 1849-1907 the foundry here had been one of the biggest lake ore melters in Finland, with a logging works, blacksmith, workers' houses, school, waterwheels to power the forges and saws, etc. We enjoyed poking round and met only a lone fisherman in the river.

Mick & Flo phoned as promised in the evening - from a callbox in Scarborough! They'd returned to England, via Venice and Austria, in the summer and had just been to the York Show. Plans uncertain, Mick sounded bewildered by British crowds and prices after 5 years in Greece. We urged them to keep in touch and to contact Stan & Celia, who could advise about wintering in Spain.

We reluctantly left Möhkö, resisting the owners' attempts to sell us the delightful site, complete with 15 cottages and cafe (they are retiring)! They spoke little English but good Spanish, showing how they spend their winters.

We drove back to Ilomantsi, for its bank, post office and supermarkets - the shopping centre for a large area, eastern terminus of the railway, and in a state of confusion with all the roads up (laying new drains?)

Then south on minor road 500, running along the Russian border past a single crossing point at Vartsila, joining the main E6 after Kitee. Lunch in a lakeside layby near Puhos, followed by a long drive via Imatra, Lappeenranta and Kouvola to Helsinki. The E6 became busier, the final stretches upgraded to motorway (toll-free), and it seemed a different country to the laid-back villages of most of Finland. Helsinki's campsite is about 8 miles east of the city at Ratsila, right by a Metro station, and open all year (mainly for the resident gipsies now the tourist season is past). We arrived as darkness fell and found a welcoming place.

338 miles. £10 inc elec after discount (& every 4th night pay only for elec, £1.76)

Another bright autumn day, spent resting, reading and planning. Margaret gathered free maps and information on Helsinki and the metro and bought a Finnish Camping Card, which we'd not come across before. Valid for 1 year, price 20 FIM (at 8.5 = £1), it gives 10 FIM per day discount here (and various reductions elsewhere). This site also gives every 4th night free to holders of any Camping Card. For a capital city camp, it has a nice setting on the edge of woods, with an estuary beach, red squirrels and scavenging jackdaws. The city is encroaching in the form of a huge shopping complex, the Itäkeskus (East Centre), 2 metro stops away across the estuary bridge. The gipsies, in a fleet of twin-axle caravans, keep the single washing machine in permanent use but are otherwise no problem.

Barry checked Rosie's tyres, fluid levels, air bags, etc, in case of any problems before leaving Finland, but all seems well.

We did the 'autumn-cleaning', defrosted the fridge and M even borrowed an iron to press the cab curtains, washed a fortnight ago, though it made no apparent difference to them. (They'd shrunk slightly and we hoped they might stretch! Lengthening will have to await loan of a sewing machine.)

Helsinki's Head Post Office is next to the railway station and open 7 days a week, but would not divulge over the phone whether we had any mail waiting. We wrote a letter to mum ready to send with Rosie's documents and RFL form, in the hope that we would collect and return it tomorrow.

In 17 rapid minutes the highly automated metro whisked us across the bridge and then delved underground, depositing us deep below Helsinki's central station. Tickets (8 FIM for up to one hour) were bought from machines and we saw no staff - perhaps the driver was a robot too? Like every other machine we have seen in Finland, it all looked brand new.

Emerging, we headed first to the post office, where the mail we wanted was waiting. Mum had sent the RFL form, along with a long letter full of news, and Pat Cue at Comfort had sent the Green Card we need for Poland, along with an interesting account of her 2-week cruise to Nordkapp and Spitzbergen in June (a 50th birthday present from her husband - she's another 49-er). Next stop was the Tourist Information Office who directed us to the excellent Academic Bookshop. Here we bought Lonely Planet guides to the Baltic Republics and to Poland, along with a road atlas of the Republics. We photocopied Rosie's documents, then returned to the Post Office cafe to complete the RFL form and make up a package for mum over a cup of coffee.

With all the documents safely on their way back to Thornton, we set out to compare ferry prices to Estonia. On Mannerheimintie, one of the 2 main shopping streets, we found Viking Line, who now only sail to Germany or Sweden, and Silja Line (with the seal logo which the late, lamented Sally Ferries shared), who quoted 1350 FIM (£159) for their 3½ hr evening crossing to Tallinnn. It took some time to find the 3rd shipping office, Tallinnk on Erottaja, but it was worth the effort. The timing was better, with an 0930 sailing, and the price only 530 FIM (£62). It should have been £100 for vehicles over 7 metres but the charming young woman thought that was too much and gave us the normal van price! So we booked provisionally on m/s George Ots (named after an Estonian singer) for Thursday 30th September.

Leaving any city sight-seeing for our next visit, we found our way back to a Metro escalator for the ride back to Rastila. We broke the journey at the Itäkeskus (the Baltic's biggest shopping centre!) to use a voucher from the campsite for 2 Big Macs there, and managed to get home before our one-hour tickets turned into pumpkins! (We didn't see any inspectors but large fines await free-riders if caught.)

Margaret rang mum in the evening to thank her for the form and explain its return, and we prepared to move on tomorrow, having enjoyed our 4th night free.

After shopping at the Spar by the Metro station, we were on our way north. The 45 miles to Lahti were on brand new empty motorway cut through the forest, bordered by high mesh fencing to keep the elks in their place. (Too far south for reindeer now). We lunched in a layby, then made the mistake of turning off into Lahti, from where we'd once taken a day's ferry ride up Lake Päijänne to Jyväskyla while cycling from Helsinki to Troms . Now Lahti offered nowhere to park and the Tourist Office was closed at weekends, so we continued on road 5 via Heinola towards Mikkeli.

Just before the first turn-off for Mäntyharju we passed the Mäntymotelli - a motel, restaurant and holiday cabin centre open all year (many sites are now closed). It had a small area for caravans between the road and Lake Peruvesi and we settled with a couple of Finnish vans as silent neighbours. (They are extremely taciturn, even with each other, except on mobile phones, the world's biggest users!) On our phone was a message from Alan that the RFL reminder from Swansea had arrived at last and been posted to Helsinki.

120 miles. £7.18 inc elec.

A splendid day, sunny and breezy, after a cold clear night. M made good use of the motel washing machine: 3 loads for 10 FIM. She also phoned Stan & Celia, who plan to leave for Spain again on 21 October and hadn't heard from Mick & Flo (worrying). Barry gave Rosie a wash and succeeded in removing most of the tar residue from many roadworks with paintbrush cleaner. We also replied to Pat Cue and asked for a Green Card extension for Poland, as time moves on. The printer was catching again and Barry had to take the machine apart to cure it.

We continued north-east on road 5 to Mikkeli where we parked by the lake harbour for coffee. A walk into the town to post Pat's letter meant a long detour to cross the railway line. The sidings were full of goods wagons loaded with logs and we stood on the bridge for a time watching a pick-up truck at work, moving and stacking sections of old line and sleepers.

We drove on to Savonlinna, an old town built on 3 islands joined by bridges, at the heart of Europe's largest lake district, formed by the Saimaa and many other lakes linked by rivers and canals. The Tourist Office had good information and suggested a modest campsite about 10 miles along the road to Kerimäki rather than the expensive Punkaharju Holiday Centre and Theme Park. First we found some free parking and walked across the wooden bridges to see Olavinlinna, Finland's only medieval fortress (1475, much restored), on its tiny rocky island, guarding the waterway between Pihlajavesi and Haapavesi. Even today, no ships can pass unless the access bridge is swung aside which we arrived just in time to watch. The castle itself is used for summer opera festivals and theatre performances, as well as guided tours and medieval banquets. We admired its setting from without. The scenic cruises on lake steamers had ended in August, but we saw plenty of logs on the water, ready to roll.

Then along the road to Loma Lohi, a campsite which looked deserted and overgrown. The owner explained he'd only just bought and re-opened it 3 weeks ago. He was so pleased to see us we think we're his first campers! We declined to join him in the sauna but enjoyed the hook-up and hot shower.

112 miles. £7.65 inc elec.

First stop at Kerimäki, a few miles up the road, home of the world's largest wooden church (Lutheran, like 95% of Finns). It was nicely placed with trees and lawn but was locked and the little museum closed, so we'll never know why over 3,000 seats were needed in a small village!

We turned north-west, via Savonranta, calling next at Heinävesi, a small town on the Kermajärvi, part of the vast waterway of lakes, on the Savonlinna-Kuopio passenger steamer route. We had lunch by the harbour and posted Alan a card (of Xanten) to thank him for his message. The Tourist Office had good maps and information on the 'Municipality of Monasteries and Lakes'. The nearest campsite, about 15 miles further round the lake at Karvio, is near a Russian Orthodox Monastery and Convent and a canal musuem by a flight of locks. Though empty, the campsite was still open, set on the water's edge near Karvio canal lock and salmon rapids, and we settled in among the greens, reds and golds of the autumn woods.

84 miles. £10.23 inc elec (but every 3rd night pay only for elec, £2.11)

The Monastery and Convent are the only Orthodox monasteries in the Nordic countries, both moved after WWII from what is now Russian Karelia, and they made a good route for a morning's cycling. In bright sunshine we rode through Karvio village (one shop, petrol and post), detoured along a few miles of gravel road in the forest, then met the good road to the Valamo Monastery on the Juojärvi. It was a disappointingly modern tourist venue compared with the esoteric Greek Monis we know and love. The hotel, guest house, extensive souvenir shop and restaurant were all open - the church buildings were locked!

We bought coffee and rang mum, who'd left a message yesterday that all the RFL documents had arrived, she'd got a tax disc without problem and posted it all back to Helsinki by return. Brilliant! She goes to Penrith on holiday on Saturday.

From Valamo we took a back road to Varistaipale, where a canal links the lakes by a flight of 5 locks (the deepest in Finland). The canal museum is only open in summer, when art exhibitions and outdoor concerts are also held. Today it was peaceful, the water in the locks covered in birch leaves like floating gold coins. Before returning we rode another 3 miles out to the Lintula Convent, a more modest place with a small cafe/shop and guest house, all closed now, but the church was open to visit. We saw a few Sisters working silently in the gardens.

Back for lunch, we spent the afternoon reading and diary-writing.

The mist over the lake cleared as the sun got up for a warm bright day. We took sandwiches and the brewing-up kit for a circular ride, clockwise round the lake. The first 20 miles were on forest tracks, with a coffee break in the woods. The lingenberries we'd picked earlier in the month were past, the ground now thick with mosses, heather and fungi (which we leave for those who recognise them). The gravel tracks were surprisingly hilly and it was a relief to meet the road to Heinävesi - still rolling, but at least it had a surface. We had our lunch sitting on a log-pile in a roadside clearing, and completed the circle on quiet roads until the last 5 miles on the main Varkaus-Joensu road led back to Karvio.

A complete change in the weather, colder, dark grey skies and English-style rain all day! We were happy to stay in our lakeside forest clearing, which we have to ourselves though the owners tell us it was a very busy summer. They close the campsite next weekend, to go away in their own motorhome, touring to Venice. Then they just keep the cottages open through the winter, for cross-country ski-ing and snow-mobiling holidays (there are routes across the frozen lakes!)

We wrote the diary and read the guidebooks to the Baltic Republics. M made a chocolate & walnut cake and a bread pudding (using up the walnuts bought in the Spanish Pyrenees and a bag of day-old rolls reduced in a Finnish Spar). Food with memories - we still have marmalade made in Seville, strawberry jam from Agadir, apricot from France, and now lingenberry from Finland (plus one golden syrup from Gibraltar!)

Over lunch we watched a red squirrel performing acrobatics in the nearby trees and successfully seeing off a magpie that invaded its territory. The evening TV showed a beautiful Swedish film of the 4 seasons in the forest and we recognised most of the fauna, thanks to our visit to Ranua. Winter looks splendid, but best seen through triple-glazed windows!

The rain had stopped, but in a cold north wind we needed gloves and jackets to cycle, and extra socks replaced shorts in our panniers! We rode into the wind, past the locks at Varistaipale and the turning for the Convent, for about 10 miles before turning off on a 12-mile dirt road through Levalahti to Mustinlahti - tiny hamlets on the Suvas Vesi lake (lahti = bay). We made coffee and ate half our sandwiches at Mustinlahti pier (on the Kuopio-Savonlinna boat route). Then a quiet hard-top road for 15 miles to Vehmersalmi, a small town beyond which the road ended at a cable-ferry across the junction of Suvas Vesi and Kalla Vesi, another piece in this jigsaw of water and islets.

We finished our sandwiches, watching the ferry shuttling to and fro, but resisted the temptation to take it. Returning that way would give a total of 95 miles (we'd already done 40) and we were unsure what kind of roads (if any) lay on the other side, rain was threatening and it's now dark by 7 pm. We turned for home, calling at the Neste Filling Station cafe-bar in Vehmersalmi for coffee and donuts. It was the only place open and all the tables were taken with locals watching Mikka Hakinen (the Finnish world champ) at practice for tomorrow's German Grand Prix!

We returned to Mustinlahti, then took a track for a couple of miles to join a better road at Muskila for the final 15 miles, grateful for a back wind. We stopped for a last brew-up by a forest-clearing cemetery, rows of low headstones beautifully kept. A car drew up and 3 teenagers got out, carrying potted flowers, heather, 2 big candles and a spade. They decorated a grave, borrowed our matches for the candles (which went inside lanterns) and were gone in 10 minutes flat! Reading the inscription after they'd left, we assumed it was their grandparents' grave, but not the actual anniversary of the birth or death of either.

Barry liked the name on a garage we passed: A Kartunen (honestly). We had one last surprise before reaching home - a huge male elk (largest of the deer family) with splendid antlers standing at the roadside. We stopped at some distance and he stared back for a while before turning into the forest. The sort of magical moment which makes you whisper.

We got back at 6 pm just as the rain set in again. The TV news showed elk hunting, to our dismay, though we couldn't tell whether they were praising or condemning it. The weather forecast, which has always shown high fire risk areas round the south of Finland, no longer had any after yesterday's rain.

Still cold with the wind in the north, heralding winter. Barry gave Rosie a wash, removing the last of the tar, while M updated the diary. After lunch, well wrapped and armed with a bar of chocolate, we had a circular ride on new-to-us dirt roads through the forest, past isolated farms in clearings, via Haapamäki, returning along the busy Joensu road for the last 10 miles. Climbing the hills kept us warm, but Rosie was shivering when we got back. She wants to move!

A last ride in this wonderful region of lakes reflecting the glowing colours of autumn. We rode back to the Valamo Monastery (just under 10 miles each way, without the forest detour), enjoyed coffee & buns in the refectory (resisting the lovely smell of the 50 FIM all-you-can-eat buffet (it was too early), and returned, in a steady drizzle to pack up and leave after lunch. 5 rides from this beautiful campsite gave us a total of over 200 miles cycling on quiet roads through the limitless forest, along the lakes and across the rivers. This was exactly what we had come north from Helsinki for - our goodbye to Scandinavia as it rapidly cooled down in preparation for its long winter.

We drove south through Varkaus (a large town on the main ferry route, with saw- and papermills and rafts of floating logs), rejoining our outward route at Juva. Then road 5 to Mikkeli, where we stopped at the out-of-town centre to shop and eat at McDonald's, watching the setting sun turn all the trees to gold.

Continuing in the dark (unusual) we reached the Mäntymotelli, just past the 3rd turning for Mäntyharju, pleased to find the caravan park still open. We settled in and used their washing machine and drier before watching the final episode of a BBC serial about Oswald Mosely.

122 miles. £7.18 inc elec.

After a morning of reading and diary-writing, we drove back to Helsinki on the new motorway and straight to Rastila campsite, pausing only for tea in a layby and enough diesel to take us to Estonia. The campsite winds down and charges less from 1 October (bad timing!), remaining open all winter for the resident gipsies.

111 miles. £10 inc elec.

On a wet morning we sorted out documents, money and plans for the drive through the Baltic Republics. After lunch we took the Metro into the city centre (old hands at this commuting now!) and found all the mail waiting at the Post Office - Rosie's documents with a letter from mum, the RFL reminder from Alan, a Green Card extension for Poland from Pat Cue and a packet from Rupert of Latvia with the maps and booklets we'd requested. Although we looked for it, we now had no excuse to delay any longer!

We acquired more brochures from the Baltic Tourism Information Centre, an obscure place on the 2nd floor of an old building, which housed 3 separate offices for the 3 republics. They were as helpful as they could be, but knew nothing about campsites. A little guidebook to the Via Baltica (the 550-mile route from Tallinnn to Warsaw) was probably the most useful gift.

We bought some Estonian Kroons (EEK) and Deutschmarks (DM) from an exchange office, had coffee in the post office cafe and finally collected our bargain ferry ticket from Tallink, for the sailing at 0930 tomorrow.

We returned in the tea-time rush hour, standing on the Metro. In the evening we prepared for an early start and filled all our water containers (reputedly unpotable in the Baltic Republics).

Setting out at 7.45 am, we should have been in good time for the 9.30 ferry from Helsinki's West Terminal, but missed a turning in the busy city traffic which meant a long detour of anxious miles. We made it by 8.45 and were soon slotted into the long narrow car-deck of the George Ots, alongside lorries, cars and one coach (no other campers). This was a ship from the Good Old Days, with many signs still up in Russian, when George was the only ferry taking Finns for drinking excursions to Tallinn, crossing 2 or 3 times per week. Now there are several boats a day, plus high speed hydrofoils in 2 hours.

Little had changed; most of the passengers walked on and staggered off, drinking steadily in between. Alcohol is very expensive in Finland and distributed by a State monopoly in Alko stores. There were also Estonians returning home laden with their booty from Helsinki's booming markets. The 3½ hours passed smoothly, reading, drinking coffee and shopping in the big duty-free supermarket. As well as the usual cigs, booze and chocolate, there were 'duty-free' foods like butter, cheese, sugar, coffee, salami - another memory of the days of shortages in the USSR. We even bought tins of corned beef as well as Fazer chocolate 'for travellers only' and 200 Marlborough cigarettes for backhanders, a bargain at just over £8. Half way across, a helicopter appeared, hovered above deck and took 3 men off, but the Information Desk told us it was just a training exercise. We assume (hope) they are taking things more seriously since the infamous Estonian ferry disaster.

We arrived on time at 1 pm in Tallinn and were soon halted at passport control for our documents. Since we had no insurance (even Comfort won't cover the Baltic Republics) we were sent to an insurance and exchange cabin and were soon fixed up with a piece of green paper valid for 2 weeks (the minimum) costing 150 EEK (about £6.50). This appeared to give enough 3rd party insurance to satisfy the guard who didn't enquire beyond checking its colour and we entered the FSU (Former Soviet Union).

Tallinn's new passenger port, near the old city centre, had plenty of free parking space where we made lunch. Margaret got more city maps, phonecard and information from the terminal, and rang the Peoleo Hotel to check their 'caravan parking' was open. It was 10 miles out, south along the Via Baltica (road 4 or E67) towards Pärnu, and Barry drove carefully avoiding trams, trolley buses and several lanes of traffic, gradually getting accustomed to being uninsured on a bumpy road. The cars were a mix of old and new, of all brands, driven with varying skill, but at least no horse-drawn carts had come in from the countryside. Buying diesel was no problem - we bought 50 litres at Statoil (about 28p per litre), paying with Visa, and also saw modern Shell and Neste stations. We saved filling up until Lithuania where the price is reputed to be 18p per litre.

The Peoleo is a Best Western hotel built in 1990 (the year before Estonian independence) and the 'site for 30 caravans' is a gravel car park with hook-up points and a tap of non-potable water. There are also a few cabins, hot (if grimy) showers and unflushable blocked toilets. But it's safe, we have it to ourselves, we can use the restaurant toilets and a bus to Tallinn passes the gate every hour. The 'goodies' on sale at Reception (Ritter chocolate, alcohol, film, perfume) were a reminder of many an eastern bloc hotel but the ultra-mini-skirted receptionist was certainly more helpful. (We hear that sophisticated Russian women don't regard themselves as being well dressed unless they are showing at least a few inches of bottom.)

30 miles (+ 50 at sea!). £4.35 inc elec.