Finland 🇫🇮 (282.9 km)

This will be probably the shortest time in any country on this trip. After only 4 days I’m already gone from Finland. But enough to get some first impressions. Let’s dive into this adventure together.

17.08.2023 – Day 31 – Helsinki to Siuntio (51.6 km)

The contrast couldn’t have been more extreme. And I wasn’t expecting it at all. Helsinki looks completely different from Tallinn (or any other Baltic capital) even that they are so close. It’s built in a neoclassical way and while this is not my cup of tea, I can appreciate the style. However, if feels cold and distant to me. Maybe the snippet I heard from a tour guide in Tallinn is true that it was rebuilt (modernized) beginning of the 20th century. Thankfully, Tallinn didn’t had the money.
Needless to say, I didn’t stay that long. I left after 1pm heading towards Turku. First impression is that the finish drivers are nicer towards cyclists and pay attention when turning etc. Later this impression was a bit distroyed though 😅
Don’t feel rested concerning my legs but that is nothing new. I literally crashed down at a lake, although it wasn’t a great spot.

18.08.2023 – Day 32 – Siuntio to Raseborg (76 km)

While riding in this part of the country I was a bit surprised. Surprised about the state of the infrastructure. I mean, I would have expected the streets to be in better condition. But they are not. Also quite some stretches still with gravel. Must be fun in the winter. But true, maybe it makes not much sense to have nice roads with not many people living here.
Dived into one of the lakes and it felt great. Yes, cold but not as cold as the Baltic Sea.
Today I canceled the tour to the alps I planned for September. Now all pressure to be back at a certain date is gone and it feels much better. I was thinking about extending till mid of September. I will see how it goes. Depends on many things and mostly on how I feel at the time. Really, there is no point about planning for the future.
Not sure what is going on in Finland. I found a lovely spot at a lake and then, when the tent is already up, music really loud starts. Great, always a festival where I am 🤦

19.08.2023 – Day 33 – Raseborg to Rauvola (73.6 km)

How I love it! Yesterday, I collected mushrooms again and this was today’s breakfast. So delicious and now I am so happy about the stove.
With lots of motivation I started into the day. However, Finland is hillier than the Baltic and that doesn’t help my legs.
In Matilda I found a lovely bakery located in an old building. Did I mention that I love wooden houses? I could imagine living in one…
Maybe I have delusions of grandeur but I actually was sketching to go up farther north in Finland. However, it’s getting cold during the night already and I rapidly discarded this idea 😉

20.08.2023 – Day 34 – Rauvola to Turku (81.7 km)

An oddity but good one is that the houses here have ladders outside leading from the upper floors down. In case of fire this is brilliant. I guess it’s the law since I see it on all of them.
The cost of living is much higher. So, I am not eating in restaurants that often. Today I had the best meal. I was sitting somewhere in nature and had a good sourdough bread with sausage, cheese and beetroot salad. It felt like eating in a Michelin restaurant.
Since I started early and had only 70 km to go I arrived in Turku at 1:30pm already. The city disappointed me. For being the oldest city in Finland it lacks a true historic part and there are only a few old houses scattered around.
Just to give you an idea about the cost of living. I had a normal coffee for 3 EUR and while chatting with a friend a pint of beer. 8.80 EUR! FFS! 😱
Didn’t want to spend any money on accommodation and looked for a place to sleep. This is harder in a city but I found a park and settled there. You have to do that later in the day and give a damn what people think. Apparently, this park is used by MTBer. But other than a friendly “hello” nobody said anything.

21.08.2023 – Day 35 – Turku to Stockholm

My luck is legendary. Just at 5am and up to the ferry it rained quite a lot. Drenched I went into the ferry and my room. Yes, I booked a room! Got a shower and off I am to breakfast. I treated myself to a premium breakfast, not to mingle with common folk 😉 See for yourself, but I have no doubt that it was worth every penny. All included it was only 62 EUR anyway.
The ride takes 11 hrs since it is taking a few ports in between. Through stunning islands it goes and wouldn’t it be great to live on one where there is no other house? No fucking neighbor to bother and you can watch ships all day 😁

The Finn seems to be content with driving normal cars (compared to the last countries). But I do see more Teslas here (guess…right, not a fan of it).

Why am I doing this? What motivates me? I have been asked this. The same I could ask you why you do the things you do. Why does anybody anything? In the best case, because we want to. But of course sometimes it is also a have-to. Once I set out on this trip I remembered that I wanted to do it already after Thailand in 2019. At that time this project seemed too big for me. I guess I had to grow into it. Part of the motivation is the sense of achievement I feel. There is the sportive challenge as well as seeing countries I haven’t seen before (6 countries in this trip alone) and also the basic way of life. I mean, I only have to think about what to eat, where to go and where to sleep. It makes life so much simpler. Given, not every day is easy. But easy (or comfortable) is being overrated. We need challenges, both mentally and physically. Stagnation is death. That isn’t too say that rest is equally important 😏

Love,
Matthias