I know, it's been WAY too long without new content. After Rovaniemi 150 race I started to hammer 45-50 hour / 6 day work weeks. I squeezed one overnighter with Peter and JJ in the end of winter (worth of another blog report) but after that it's been a long push of work, bike commuting and some family life. Now I'm having a much deserved summer holiday and I have some time to do small adventures and also write my blog. This blog is certainly not dead and I hope to write more before the holiday ends and also in the forthcoming fall and winter.
Although in recent years I've been more of a 'winter man', I still like all of the other four seasons. The past two summers, the 'paradise shores' in Kimito Island have been certainly my favourite place for an overnighter, as I was there with Peter in 2014 and also last summer. This time, with some help from Peter, I got some maps to explore new areas, and find a route with some trails and small forest and gravel roads to the 'paradise'.
This summer has been warmer than the previous one, but the weather has been pretty volatile all the time, so it's been tricky to have the 'right' weather window. Why that matters? This report with the photos will give the answer. And it's summer. There are enough rain and misery when the fall comes.
Indeed, I had just the right weather window as I started on Wednesday early evening from Långdalen.
After the nice gravel road section through Norrlångviken I decided to skip Brokärr area, which is certainly very interesting but also time consuming. Next 14 kilometers were on tarmac.
The airport of Kimito Island. Small planes can land and take off here:
In Dragsfjärd, I was excited as the new-to-me trail/forest road section started. It was a nice mix of small and big trails.
Then the trail ended. It was supposed to continue through this but it didn't:
Looking at the map, I figured out another route, by following the forest road and visiting Ölmos to reach Långsidan:
And soon, I reached the 'paradise shores'. At Ölmos:
The coarse forest road along Långsidan was fantastic as it was at times very close to the shore!
Then, Purunpää, just in time for the sunset:
Before it got too dark, I pitched my tent and prepared myself for the night.
After pretty good night of sleep, I woke to beautiful morning. I milled and brewed the coffee and enjoyed it with some sandwiches. These kind of mornings doesn't come too often these days, one should have more of this. The peace of nature around you, and no need to hurry anywhere!
Some photos of the campsite.
Old sail boat on the waterway:
After peaceful morning it was time to move. This trail didn't continue for too long...
...so I turned and rode back to Purunpää road.
Next up was a different route back to Kärra. There is also a shelter that I wanted to see, so it would be interesting for future trips.
The route was again a very nice small forest road:
The shelter is located roughly 1.5 km from one intersection of this road.
It continued to ascend until I arrived to this:
It was pretty steep ascent, all the way up to the top of the rock. My jaw literally dropped when I reached it as what I was going to see.
I actually had the foreknowledge that it's the 'finest laavu of Kimito Island'. Are you kidding me? I've visited pretty much every shelter in South-Western Finland through the years, not including the ones found in Satakunta area. This is without any doubt the finest laavu of South-Western Finland, probably whole Southern Finland. It's big and it's gorgeous, and there are some pretty impressive details.
There is a fireplace inside the shelter:
The other side looks great too:
Then there is this big board on the front, with appropiate seats:
And look at the roof:
And the location, just wow! You have incredible views directly from the shelter to all of this:
I could not have imagined to find all this here, but I did. This is very stunning area and I rarely get this excited around here.
After enjoying the spectacular views, I continued riding. Another batch of lovely small gravel and forest roads were ahead of me.
Fatbike is the right tool here, because the roads are very coarse but fat tires rolls over them very smoothly:
Trollkullavägen:
Dragsfjärden:
And back to Långdalen on the same route.
It was a great summer adventure. There are still the trails and forest roads of Brokärr to be explored. Needless to say, I will do more small adventure to these areas, also in fall and winter.