We left Santa Claus to the preparations for the next Christmas and our goal was to get back to the sea. This time to the Baltic Sea. On our way there, we made a short stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere in the forest. Unfortunately, we had invited ourselves to the dinner of the local mosquito pack, so we spent the evening mainly in the bus and quickly left again the next day.
About 1 ½ hours later we reached the Baltic Sea and decided on a simple campsite with a beach, playground and hot shower near Kuivaniemi. On our way further south we came through Oulo, where we had another small organization day and tried to get the knock sensor again. Unfortunately, both stores didn't have the part and the order would have taken 2-3 days, so we decided to continue. But the prices had dropped to 1/5 of the price in Norway in the meantime.
A little south of Oulu we found a wonderful place in what is probably a former sand pit. Very nice especially for the children but unfortunately a bit muddy (we realised later - devastating in combination with water). Further south, we found a very nice campsite and rest area on the island of Österö just north of Vaasa. There was a BBQ area and outhouse, firewood and saw, and a small shelter for bad weather. There was no reception and it was entirely based on the checkout of trust via bank transfer or mobile phone payment. Unfortunately, when we left, we forgot to write down the account details because we would have liked to support the project – there are far too few of those places.
When I was in a big auto parts store in Oulu, they said in Tampere they had the knock sensor we need, even from Bosch. However, he could not reserve it, but said there are 2 pieces that were put on the shelf in 2006. So our further way led via Tampere. But that was too far that day and we found a perfect barbecue area in the middle of the forest without mosquitoes and with brand new toilets. The weather was great and the area was nice for running and exploring for the kids.
After three days of calm, fire, and a few runs, it turned out that we were in an area where the military regularly trains. So also in the morning when we packed up and left. Soldiers in full gear with sniffer dogs kept coming by. When we drove off and we hit some nice bumpy, sandy and sometimes very steep paths with Zacharias, we scared another soldier out of the thicket... I think they still have to practice a bit 😉
On the way to Helsinki we made a short stop in Tampere to do some shopping and to buy some crockery at IKEA, among other things. Meanwhile, Luisa was allowed to go to Småland or Kinderland and had a lot of fun. Of course, our knock sensor was not available (noone knows why). So we drove further south and looked for a quiet place not far away at a lake. We opted for a Saturday ferry as we had just missed the last seats on the following day's ferry. Thus we were able to spend another night at the Gulf of Finland a little west of Helsinki, which was very nice. On that Saturday we drove to Helsinki at noon, had a quick look at the Temppeliauko Church and just made it to our ferry to Tallinn, which unfortunately was a bit confusingly signposted.
Comments