Helsinki - Turku (Part II of the Going to Nordkapp wich became the Antwerp to The Netherlands to Germany to Finland to Sweden to Denmarktrip)

Helsinki - Riihimäki 84 km

The ferry port is located at 16 km from the city center of Helsinki it is a nice ride along a lake just follow the signs. Helsinki on a saturday morning doesn't seem to be a vibrant city except around the food market on the dock. However later at midday it was the Gay Pride and it gave some colors to the city. After a lazy morning I rode north towards Tampere. Around Vantaa I cycled on the cycle path going through the woods along the 130. Unfortunately At one point you reach the start of the motorway wich is parallel to the 130 and it can be noisy sometimes. After Nürmijarvï I rode directly on the 130 as there was almost no car. Long straight road and a bit boring sometimes. I slept in the woods 5 km before Riihimäki.

Arrival in Helsinki

Blue sky for the Gay pride unfortunately my first blue sky lasted until 2pm then rain resumed

Farm around Riihimaki cold drizzling rain

Riihimäki - Tampere 118 km

Same road as yesterday the 130. Not much to see but trees until Hämeenlinna where I had a nice café in a bakery right in the central square opposite the church  (the first good coffee I had so far, finnish coffee so far hasn't been very good. They make a pot the morning and serve it through the day, I asked once is it fresh brewed and the guy said "yes I made it 2 hours ago"). After Hämeenlinna the 130 goes through the lakes south of Tampere and is more interesting around Valkeakosky.

Stayed in a camping 4 km south of Tampere 17 euros

Wrong trail, had to turn back

Tampere -Ruovesi 98 km

Leaving Tampere I met Uwe a german tourer wich just came back from the North and happy to go home. He offered me a coffee and we shared a few tips.

Tampere is an interesting city with a strong industrial heritage. Needs a few hours to explore, a day would be great. I left Tampere following the road to Ylinen and Mutala then to reach Kuru I had no choice but to ride the 28 km on a big road the 65 with fast traffic, not advisable, the Finns are generally not cautious with bikes and don't allow you enough space to be comfortable on the road. After Kuru I followed the direction of Ruovesi where I found a nice camping near a beautiful lake. The road is very tiring with a succession of small hills. It rained half of the day and temperatures are getting really low 11 to 13 degrees with the wind on the big, I had to put on my winter clothes. Not so nice.

Camping Ruovesi 17 euros, very well located on a beautiful lake. 

I met Uwe leaving the camping. He just cycled around the Artic, obviously happy to leave Finland.

The wooden orthodox church of Tampere

An other lake under the rain

And more clouds

Ruovesi - Keuruu 75 km

Cycling to Keuruu was difficult under a heavy rain and cold weather around 11 degrees. The road is a succession of 12% hills. I am now stuck in Keuruu, all the roads going north are big with heavy traffic. I won't reach Nordkapp in time even going East. I need to reconsider my trip or it will be a disaster.

I met a Norwegian at the camp site coming from Hammerfest, he said "cycling in these condition is not a pleasure any more, it is like working, I give up take the train and I am going home" (he lives near Nordkapp, what an irony)

After 10 days of rain and a few half days with sun I  also had enough. I took the decision to find a train to go North to Rovaniemi and resume my trip over there as I can't find a nice road without traffic wich would bring me to Nordkaap in less than 2 weeks and hope to find more sun there.

Wild strawberries

On the way to Keuruu, a motorcyclist in the ferry told me that Finland was a flat country, I wish he rode a bicycle too.

Train station in Keuruu

In the evening I met Andreas who invited me to his cabin down at the lake. We shared a glass of wine some stories and a coffee the morning after. Andreas is Swiss but has some Finnish relatives, it was nice meeting him.

Having a morning coffee with Andreas before leaving Keuruu for Jyväskylä

 Small but interesting exhibition of paintings at the art museum or Keuruu. Keuruu has a nice wooden church and a few old wooden buildings like the train station and the museum.

Winter clothes

In the afternoon I took the train to the big station of Jyväskylä to catch a train to Rovaniemi but they wouldn't take my bike on the train because there was no more allocated space for bikes in the train. After checking the weather forecast I decided to give up the idea of cycling to Nordkaap and instead come back to Belgium through Sweden where the weather looked much warmer and very important dry. I took a bus with the bike to Turku and decided to take a ferry to Stockholm.