Today we have planned to cycle from Orivesi to a campsite just South of Hattula, Finland. 50 ish of your English miles.
Made our usual start and headed off at 09:15 first picking up a lovely Route 58 into Kangasala. Fantastic cycling, traffic free and lovely surroundings though we had a repeat of the nasty little saw tooth, quad knackering hills. However, the descents were decent enough and gave us a little respite to clear the lactates from our abused legs.
A significant milestone was passed within the first 8 miles when we knocked off our first 1000 miles of the trip! Only another 3000 to go then.....
Romped through Kangasala, heads down, bums up and legs thrashing. Joined route 12 shortly afterwards and traffic volumes increased to yesterday's unpleasant levels. Fortunately 12 has a decent shoulder therefore we were able to cycle more comfortably and much more safely than recently experienced.
Stopped for a mid morning CAKE and coffee at a roadside Kioski shortly before Palkane where we picked up route 57 for our run into Hattula.
Our short time with route 57 was sheer bliss, very light traffic, a lovely shoulder, benign gradients and pretty scenery had us enjoying the moment.
Shortly before Hattula, eagle eyes were deployed for imminent campsite signage but to no avail. Our anticipated stop for the day was AWOL so we continued on to the next town of Hameenlinna hoping to find a suitable motel/hotel etc.
Stopped at a major services in Hameenlinna for a celebratory liquorice ice-cream (?) and picked up a town map for what proved to be a significant sized small city.
Fortunately our liquorice fuelled eagle eyes spotted a campground on the other side of the city and Tracey expertly (and with minimal drama)navigated our way across town to find it.
Dinner was had in the campground bar, followed by gonking and a duet of z's........
One more cycling day to Helsinki. Hip, hip, double bloomin hurrah!
Total today a pleasant though leg burning 60 miles and 515m of ascent. Total trip 1053 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
