Finland’s Lake District

Within moments of leaving Helsinki, we entered the ‘real Finland’ – the land of trees and lakes.  It is SO LIKE Canada that I feel quite at home.  Easy to drive, long straight roads with no traffic.  Very strict speed restrictions though – it’s just as well we have seven weeks for this adventure, you can’t go anywhere in a hurry! (unless you wish to drive on motorways) 

Timber is the main industry – huge logging lorries are prevalent on the road. Trees here are mainly of three types – Pine, Spruce and Silver Birch.  Silver Birch is the national tree.  Rowan trees are also common and are considered a ‘sacred tree’.  There are lakes everywhere – large and small – often with a few cottages in the trees on the lake edge.  Most houses are built of wood – and presumably well insulated against the harsh winters.

Yesterday’s thrill was a visit to a rock face, with 7000 yr old rock paintings.  This involved a fairly challenging 3 mile walk, over a rooted and stoney path, through the woods.

 We enjoyed beautiful reflections over the lake before reaching the very ancient site.

Estimated to have been painted in 3000 – 2500 BC, it is remarkable how clear some of the paintings are.  This is apparently due to a naturally forming thin layer of silicon dioxide on the rock surface  (who knew?).  The paint itself was made up of iron oxide (which come from rocks), blood, animal fat and birds eggs.  The paintings included animals, people and hands.  The meaning of the paintings is, as yet, unknown but it is assumed they were, in some way, sacred. 

Savonlinna is a pretty little town in the eastern lake region which boasts a 15^th century castle.  We were pleased to take a free one-hour tour with a very informative guide, who led us up many challenging, uneven and narrow steps to various towers, balconies and courtyards. 

Apparently the ‘summer season’ is now over in Finland!  Kiddies have gone back to school, and many cafes and restaurants are closed.  However, we found a little hotel/restaurant run by a Finnish lady with her British husband (the chef).  Imagine our amazement, when we discovered that his mother used to live in North Road, Ross on Wye!!  (it’s a small world) Our campsite put on a huge firework display last night to celebrate the ‘end of season’.  They remain open for another month but are very quiet (a bonus for us!)   

For those of you following us on Google Maps . . . . . today we headed north from Savonlinna, via Enonkioski (where we caught a little ferry across the lake). 

We stopped at one of many National Parks and enjoyed a ‘nature walk’ through the woods to the lake – absolutely beautiful with the sun glinting on the water.

We continued north-east towards Liperi, and then avoided Joensuu by travelling on more scenic back roads to reach our campsite near Koli. Yet another idyllic site, in the trees, next to a lake.  What more could a girl want??