Day 11. I’m Loving It.

Start point. Pukinsaari Camping, Kristinestad, Finland.

Finish point. Kangasniemi, Finland.

Distance. 240 Miles.

Total. 2780 Miles.

The day got of to a rather lazy start, with me not leaving the campsite until 10am and slowly meandering across eastwards, with no definite destination in mind and being on the very quiet back roads it was a pleasant mornings drive, the sun was shining, the temperature had got up to the mid 20’s and I could plod along and take in the views.

Heading away from the coast across this part of Finland is a bit like being in Holland, it’s pretty flat with small farms dotted along both sides of the road with the odd bit of forest interrupting the view occasionally, I was starting to get worried it would end up getting monotonous like Sweden but I was worrying needlessly as the scenery improved as I drove deeper into the heart of the country.

You start to spot the odd small lake to start with, then the small lakes get a bit bigger, then they get more regular until your surrounded by lakes, trees, farms and the many thousands of houses that line the roads and lakes, your never far from civilisation here, it can look remote at times but every nook and cranny seems to have a house in it.

As you head along the backroads and trundle through the villages and towns you get the impression that space is unlimited, every property wether it is private or industrial is sprawled out over the countryside taking up as much room as it wants, the villages are spotless, with beautiful churches and municipal buildings. It’s impossible to notice how many shops there are here, the smallest of village gets everything it needs and the larger ones get American type malls that make you wonder how much money these people have to spend, I’ve been filling the van with diesel on a regular basis so that I’ve never less than half a tank to get me by, but there’s no need as petrol stations are more regular than the villages, they are literally everywhere.

One surprise I had was when cutting across from a minor road, like our b-roads, to a trunk road, as I turned right off the minor road, the sign directed me to turn right again so I was nearly heading back on myself, and the road had the distinct look of a private driveway, but I carried on, there was no route planned on the Sat Nav but it was switched on anyway, it was now showing me going across fields, and then the tarmac ran out and I was driving on a gravel track, it was like this for over 10km until the tarmac re-appeared as I was passing an old quarry, and the tarmac was in worse state than the track, this was to happen on two more occasions on back roads and there’s no warning signs or even a reduction in the speed limit.

Returning to the tarmac after 10km of Gravel track.

You certainly need your wits about you driving them roads, no wonder the Finns used to dominate the Rallying scene. No bridges today, so here’s a couple of boats…..

Here’s a couple of scrappers, an old Ford D-series and a Cat D-7.

Once again the highways people are at it, I think there attitude is that it’s your own fault if you crash, you should slow down and concentrate harder, seems to work over here.