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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 didn't know where they could have gone. Really weird, I also washed my gloves this time, I was the only cyclist there, someone could have thought about it. It turned out in the morning that the owner's wife thought they were her husband's brother's stuff. A real twist, but at least I managed to get the proper suit to restart.

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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 Koli to Lieksa. It's a one and half hour journey through the islands of the central part of Lake Pielinen. With such a fantastic weather, all the summer cottages at the lakeside were full of people taking sun bathes and swimming in the warm waters of the lake.

Once arrived in Lieksa I went to downtown to refuel which, being by bicycle, means go to the food shop. Really, all the time I see the price of the fuel for cars I feel much better not to have to use it!

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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 I managed to get farther than planned. Puu-Juuka, the old  town, is a well-preserved area of wooden houses, some dating back to the 18th century. Also that town, as the entire region surrounding Lake Pielinen, is a sort of uphill-downhill, something exotic coming from the flat Northern Ostrobothnia.

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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 north.

I left Kuhmo by car as Anna's cottage was quite far away from the main road, and I didn't want to test the tires with all the bags on a gravel road. We went to visit the memorial site of the Winter war close to Kuhmo on the road to Nurmes, where I had the chance also to do a proper inspection of an old Soviet tank. The result was: out of service, and since a long time (you'll get it once I'll upload some pictures).

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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 cold and hot water by itself, and not to be able to find another gas station until Kuhmo. Fortunately supermarkets are full of juices

A perfect day anyways. Sun shining all the time, wonderful tailwind and a beautiful road. Not a long way today, Anna invited me at their family cottage and yesterday I manage to do most of the job. However I was impressed to keep a pace at almost 22 km/h, even on a hilly road. It really gives a good feeling.

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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 in intensity is huge, believe me. As I'm now heading south, I guess I just have to get used to darkness again.

This day I managed to break again my record of distance in one day: 162 km! The first part of the route brought me from Vaala to the Alassalmi ferryboat and then to Manamansalo, in the real core of the Oulujärvi river. That is, I made a zigzag route first along the south part of the lake, and then through the lake itself towards the northern part, going towards Paltamo.

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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 of fact, this part of the journey will bring me towards the so-called Finnish-Lakeland, so there'll be a high chance to see a bunch of picture of lakes. The first stage has been to Vaala, located exactly where the Oulujoki river outflows from the Oulujärvi lake, and the scenery starts to change. Big thanks to Helena, who acted as a perfect host (and what a delicious dinner!) and as a guide around Vaala, where I had the chance to see also the Vaala Beach Volley tournament at the Sahanranta beach just in front of the wonderful scenery of the Oulujärvi lake.

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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 professionals at bike shops, I've learnt the following:

Keep always the chain clean and well oiled. Nothing new, but better remember. And the same thing goes for the derailleurs and all the moving parts.

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Watch the whole route up to day 18

The last evening I struggled to find a place to sleep, as in Aavasaksa it seems they have cut down most of the trees. As I couldn't spend more time searching for a proper forest (the only way apparently would have been heading to the hills), I ended up putting the tent in a field next to the main road. I thought that it'd also reduce the number of mosquitoes flying around, but it was a big mistake, they were even more. I heard this is a good year for mosquitoes (if you can say so), and now I can definitely attest to it.

The morning was very humid but I managed anyway to pay a quick visit to Övertorneå just on the other side of the border. Unfortunately the old church from the XVII century was still closed (it's one hour earlier in Sweden), so I manage to take a picture only outside.

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Yes, I definitely needed a break. Not only to let my muscle rest, but also to do something different than waking up in the forest and cycle the whole day.

This weekend I had the chance to attend to the first rap gig of my life, and it wasn't that bad; I doubt it will happen a second time, though. I happened also to photograph a bride floating in the Muonionjoki river, which sounds weird as long as this post will be without pictures, later you will understand. And finally I watched football quite greedily and with a certain degree of satisfaction, I have to say. I have to thank once again Marja to let me stay at hers and to give me the possibility to meet a lot of interesting people. Kolari is a small place, but it seems there are really a lot of people hanging around.

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