Lots of gravel, and the first Finnish sauna session of my life.
The next morning I set off early! My next waypoint was the entry to the TET Finland. I wanted to ride it all the way down to Helsinki. By the way: my buddy Olli is coming to visit me in southern Finland in a few weeks. But there was still a bit of time until then! So I rode the long gravel roads through the forests nice and relaxed. Since it was so warm by now, I could jump into some lake almost every evening! The roads were really endless… but compared to Norway you make quick progress here! Since there are no mountains and no roads winding around mountains! One evening a strong thunderstorm passed right by me. Since you could already see the dark clouds from far off, I secured my tent with all its guy lines, parked my bike a good distance from the tent and closed the tent’s vents. During the night the lightning lit up my tent and the rain thundered against the walls from outside. There’s not much you do then, except wait and hope nothing happens. With headphones in my ears I still tried to sleep somehow. A little way from my tent there was also a small shelter with a fire pit. But I’d still decided to sleep in the tent, since there were a few trees around the shelter. No lightning struck… But you never know! In the morning it was calm again and the sun quickly dried everything, as if nothing had happened! On we went on the TET, heading south! After a few days I checked Bunk-a-Biker to see whether a motorcyclist nearby happened to be offering a place! And I actually found Kalle, who replied quickly but very briefly!
Translated: „A sauna cabin by the lake is waiting“ – „Does that mean I can just come over?“ – „Yes. I’m busy, but you can come by any time. I’ll show you everything and warm up the sauna too.“ Curious about the sauna and the house by the lake, I set off to see him! Since, as mentioned, I still had a bit of time until Olli came by, I wanted to send off a few more applications on Workaway to bridge the time a bit! Once at Kalle’s, I stood on a huge property. A huge house, an old barn that was partly converted too, and a huge meadow that ran all the way down to the lake! I was a little unsure whether I was in the right place… but then an older Finn in a BMW GS T-shirt waved at me. Ok, I was in the right place. Kalle greeted me warmly and invited me straight into his house for tea and bread! I told him about my trip, where I’d been and where I still wanted to go. He himself had been travelling by motorbike for many decades. His last big trip went from Finland to Vladivostok. (Now everyone can have a look on the map to see where that is.) For it he also rode through Mongolia. In places there were stretches where there was no petrol station, or anything at all, for over 500–600 kilometres. „That was my biggest adventure so far!“, „I believe you!“. Kalle used to be an architect and is now retired. Now he only works on the side as an assessor for insurance companies. He usually rides to his clients on the bike! At the start of this year he sold both his old GSs, one of them with over 300,000 kilometres, and traded them in for a brand-new R1250 GS with everything. He proudly presented the bike to me and also showed me his new auxiliary headlights. 10,000 lumens per side. The auxiliary lights were from Clearwaterlights.de. (In case anyone doesn’t have a Christmas present for me yet, that would be something.) „I needed those in Mongolia to see the potholes!“. Absolutely amazing! By the way, we were standing on the second floor of his barn, where, next to the bike, there were also two cars, a trailer and a ride-on lawnmower. Just to explain the scale of it again. Next he wanted to show me my place to sleep. For that he started an old 50cc moped and rode down to the lake. I followed him. Down by the lake stood a little cabin with a sauna. „This is for my family when they come to visit! Today you’re staying here!“ In the cabin there were beds for four people, and next to it a big sauna. A small path led down to the lake, from where you could jump into the water off a jetty.
I was thrilled! Kalle also showed me how the sauna works and brought over some firewood. In the evening I fired up the sauna and went swimming in the lake at sunset. The lake, though, was so warm that you couldn’t really cool down at all! In the evening Kalle also offered that I could happily stay another night if I liked! Of course I didn’t turn that down! The next day I also already had a reply from Carl via Workaway. Some time ago he took over a small farm from his parents and now needs help with renovating! He was glad I wanted to help him, and we agreed on the period when I’d come by! I planned to help with the renovating for about two and a half weeks! The next day, after breakfast with Kalle and his wife, I offered to mow the lawn with the ride-on mower, to at least give something back. While he and his wife picked blackberries and blueberries in the garden, I rode the mower through the sunshine for about two hours! To cool off, I then first went for another swim! Towards evening I went into the sauna again and afterwards planned the remaining kilometres to Carl. He lived in a suburb of Helsinki. I’d arranged with him that I’d be at his place in four days. So now about 450 off-road kilometres lay ahead of me! The next morning I was literally woken by the sun’s rays! I packed up my things, clicked my sat-nav into the mount, said goodbye to Kalle and his wife over breakfast and, a short while later, set off on the TET Finland heading south! The sun was shining, a light wind was blowing, and in the rear-view mirror the swirled-up dust obscured the road I’d ridden… towards early evening I found a great bathing spot at a small lake. Again, off a small jetty, I got into the water to cool down and wash the dust off my face.
With steaming pasta in tomato sauce, I watched the sunset and then dropped onto the sleeping mat. Riding off-road, or here „only“ on gravel roads, is fundamentally more strenuous. You’re standing the whole time and have to pay much more attention to the road. Whether there are potholes, or every now and then bigger stones lying in the way after all. And something you always have to keep in the back of your mind is that the braking distance is quite a bit longer than usual… The next few days were great! Get up, have breakfast, pack up my things, get on the bike and ride south over gravel roads in the best weather until the sun slowly began to set! It’s lovely to have enough time and no appointments. But it’s at least just as lovely to be riding towards a goal.
