Further north in Finland (and getting cooler!)

We left the site at Helsinki on Friday and drove up to a small site in the middle of Finland. Again this is a site we stayed on in 2007 and in this case it didn't seem to have changed very much. It is a lovely setting, in a forest by a lake, and is probably more of a weekend retreat for locals than a tourist site, although there are walks through the forest and a nearby National Park.
The view from Helga.

We just stayed the night and then carried on over towards the Baltic coast (actually up here it's technically the Gulf of Bothnia!). It was a long day's drive, including some persistent rain, and a slightly unnerving experience for me when Edith volunteered to drive for an hour or so! (The roads have got very quiet now.). Eventually we arrived at Oulu quite near to the top of the Finnish Baltic coast. This is a seaside resort, albeit with quite a short season, and the campsite we are on is just next to the main beach. This morning (Sunday) we decided to cycle into the town centre, about 3km along a dedicated cycle track, but first we went over to look at the beach. It was quite windy and the sand was blowing about so it wasn't exactly inviting, but there was a lot of activity and noise further along the front so we wandered down to find an professionally organised children's beach run was just getting ready. It was called ExtremeRun and seemed to involve running through a series of hazards on the beach.



I rather think that the wind and blown sand were going to add an extra dimension to it!
























We didn't stay to see the fun, but continued with our ride into town. We found most of the town closed when we arrived, (It was Sunday morning) but many of the shops opened at midday and there were several outdoor eateries in the Market place and elsewhere in the town. We did a bit of browsing and a little bit of shopping, and then headed back to the Market place. It seems to be the custom to go out for a brisk walk on Sunday morning and then eat a lunch of moose balls and reindeer sausage with fried potatoes, or a fish based alternative. We had one of each! There is a statue of a fat bellied policeman in the Market place (their description not mine!) so after my moose and reindeer feast I went and compared!


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