120km North of Lapeenranta
120km North of Lapeenranta
Finishing Finland, Ready for Russia
Finland has thrown everything at us - hail, arctic winds, blistering sunshine and even Santa to try put us off our mission. At times it was touch and go and days when it would have been just too easy to stop. With such a tight itinerary to get us to reach the Russian border in time for our visas we had to press on regardless. Some of the days were truly gruelling - grinding down the distance, metre by metre. Others, well the tandem was flying. Smooth, controlled and focussed it became something of an art form. The north of Finland was very remote with the scenery vaguely changed the entire time with rolling long hills cutting through the never ending pine forests. Where do all these trees go?
As the tandem pressed on we got closer to civilisation - at first we saw traffic lights, then street lights, then bars and when we really knew we were in a town was the sight of a speed camera! Never thought we would miss that sight! Being so remote with an unchanging background to our tough days made the cycling harder but the further South we have gone the brighter it has got, literally. A scorching heatwave has been with us for the past four days with temperatures reaching around 34oC. It has been a lot more pleasurable cycling and gladly got to show off the full custom kit in all its glory for the first time. We built our daily averages up gradually, bringing us closer to Russia and now with only one day to the border we can breathe a slight sigh of relief. Now, to get across the border.
Highlight of the last few days has probably been a start of the camping season! “Mum” Soph has excelled herself in camping skills and we our now enjoying the true outdoors. Another highlight to break the tedium of cycling was spotting four bird species in just one field. No idea what they were but we did get very excited about seeing some life - think all this time on the bike may be getting to us! Next challenge is to take on Russia unsupported as Suzanna the Van(na) and Soph take the ferry across the Baltics to meet us on the other side, hopefully.
Saturday, 11 June 2011