Archive for July, 2010

Day 27 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Valamo Monastery – Mustinsalo

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Watch the route up to day 18 Watch the route from day 19 to 27 The last night has been quite rainy. Actually it started to rain soon after I posted the report about yesterday's trip, and it didn't stop until the morning. I had to pack the tent while it was still wet but [...]

Day 26 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Joensuu – Valamo Monastery

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

Watch the route up to day 18 Watch the route from day 19 to 26 Yesterday I had a stroll around Joensuu, which was very very full of people for the Ilosaarirock  Festival. I really felt I was the only one not going to it! I've enjoyed the city anyway, especially as I was given [...]

Day 25 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Vuonislahti – Joensuu

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Watch the route up to day 18 Watch the route from day 19 to 25 Yesterday evening I had a nice swim in the warm waters of Lake Pielinen, before finding out that my cycling t-shirt and shorts I put to dry after washing vanished. I even asked to the owner of the hostel who [...]

Day 24 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Koli – Vuonislahti

Thursday, July 15th, 2010

Watch the route up to day 18 Watch the route from day 19 to 24 Today it was a very relaxing day. Even because most of the job was done by a ferry. Yesterday I went to sleep in the woods close to the harbour to be on time to catch the morning ferryboat from [...]

Day 23 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Vuokko – Koli

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

And another very hot day. This morning I woke up around 7, as the sun was making of my tent a sauna, first time it happened during this journey. Well, in time for a new cycling day, I'd say! I left the woods getting on road 6 towards Juuka, which wasn't far away, as yesterday [...]

Day 22 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Kuhmo – Vuokko

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

I guess with today I have spanned all the possible temperatures of this journey. If it hasn't been over +30, it's been close to it. It seems ages ago that I was freezing in the tent. And it was just a month ago that I had to sleep with 4 degrees outside. Miracles of the [...]

Day 21 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Sotkamo – Kuhmo

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

This was a perfect cycling day. Despite the fact I didn't sleep that comfortably the last night in the tent, and that I had ran out of water, and that I had to go to a gas station to refill, just to find out that they had an automatic tap in the toilet that mixes [...]

Day 20 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Vaala – Sotkamo

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Wait a moment: it's dark here! For the first time in this journey I miss some light in the tent. Really, as soon as you get south from the Arctic Circle, you start to miss the midnight sun. There's light outside of course 24/7 at this latitude as well also in July, but the difference [...]

Day 19 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Oulu – Vaala

Friday, July 9th, 2010

And today the journey restarted, this time heading from Oulu towards south-east. Road 22 gets the name of Tervan tie, the Tar Route, as it goes along the Oulujoki river, which has been intensively used for transporting tar to the port of Oulu, especially in the last part of the 19th century. As a matter [...]

Tour de Finlande 2010: Bicycle maintenance

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

As I happened to take a few days of break from the tour, I did some maintenance to the bike. The main thing was to change the tires, as they wore out completely. Then a full wash to the bike, especially chain and derailleurs. Thanks to people I've met on my journey, and to some [...]