The New Pohjola Route

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Summer has been quite amazing and warm this year! We’ve had almost tropical temperatures. With that in mind, we decided to pack our summer clothes, swimsuits and hiking gear and head north once again. Oulu region had just opened its new Pohjola Route and we wanted to see what it was about. We knew that the area has beautiful landscape and many hidden gems, so it was time to see them for ourselves!

We started our trip from Ii and we had a sweet little walk around Hiastinhaara after our arrival. The river and beach by the parking lot was so welcoming, but we had to keep going after the walk towards our next destination, a place that I had passed by so many times, without stopping. Finally, I was able to go and see the rapids of Koitelinkoski! As I expected, they were marvelous! It was surely a nice day and we finished it with a little biking trip around Oulu.

After a relaxing morning and a nice visit to Oulu Botanical Garden, we headed to catch our ferry to Hailuoto!

It was another amazing place I had been wanting to visit for so long - even just the ferry ride was an experience itself. We made it straight to Marjaniemi, where the beautiful sandy beach was waiting for us in a warm sunny day. We picked up our picnic basket and headed to the beach.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay in Hailuoto for the night as it was time to hit the road again. It was a hot day, so a stop in Kempele for some ice cream was very welcome and a brief visit to the famous Liminka Birdwatching Tower was really nice. It was getting late and “the Captain’s Sauna” was heated just for us in a gorgeous historical neighborhood in Raahe, so there was no time to spare.

The next day was once again a beautiful one, but very windy. Our stop in the marvelous sandy beaches of Kalajoki had to cut short and skip swimming this time. Luckily, we had picked up a kite on the way down, so it became our main activity there and a fun way to go to enjoy the beach for a little while.

Rokua and Syöte were calling, so we had to go! We were kind of excited to drive inland and see some forests and fells. First stop was Rokua Geopark. At our arrival, the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go and visit Pookivaara and the fire watch tower. The sunset turned out to be magical, so it was definitely worth it!

Last but not least was Syöte area, which is less known for most people from the south. It is definitely a nice destination in summer and winter. The experience we had here and our stay in the Hotel Iso-Syöte definitely have definitely set this place on the map for me!

To summarise, it was an incredible fun trip with several places worth visiting. Hopefully, you’ll find some nice tips to go and visit the new #pohjolanrengastie!

Salla - December Blues

In paid collaboration - Visit Salla - Koronaexit -project

Salla is a beautiful outdoor destination located in Eastern Lapland. Its diverse nature and great services makes it a perfect environment to enjoy a special getaway all year around!

I got an opportunity to take a few of my friends and go have a fun long weekend in Salla. The activities on our visit would take us to enjoy parts of the new National Park area. The days are quite short this time of the year, so we needed to plan the activities wisely. Good thing about winter though is that it doesn’t really get dark at all as the snow illuminates the nature. Some activities are a lot better in daylight, but some are possible to do in the dark as well. More on them later…

Time of the visit: Mid December Weather: Cloudy/Snow Temperature: -1 to -9 Length of stay: 3 days

4 Activities in 3 days

E-MTB (electric mountain biking)
This year the winter has been a challenging one due to the unusually warm start. Most of the longer trails for biking weren’t open yet. We ended up staying on the trails close to the ski hill which still served the purpose and we definitely had a fun time. E-MTB’s are a fun and fairly easy way to get to the nature even in the winter. I highly recommend trying them!

More about the bike trails here!

Skinbased
Next on our list was Skinbased-skiing to the top of Iso-Pyhätunturi. I’ve done this quite a lot the past few years and it’s always as fun. There are a few things to take into consideration when it comes to the routes and it was nice to have a guide with us along the journey, showing the best trails to go on. We made it to the top and had a quick cup of coffee before skiing back down to the starting point. It’s good to bring your head lamp to provide more contrast when it gets darker.
Starting point: Itäkota-Cafe Distance: 4.6km Elevation gain: 140m Time: 2h

Winter Walking
Nice relaxing walk in the woods is amazing for the whole family. Salla has really nice maintained winter walking trails with beautiful scenery and good places for a bonfire. Definitely a good option for an easier day in between harder activities. The trail was nicely marked and well maintained. No need for snowshoes on these trails! Remember to bring your headlamp also for this one as most of the winter walking trails are not illuminated! We only ended up doing a 4km trip including a nice bonfire stop at Kontiolampi lean-to.
Starting point: Salla Reindeer Park Stop 1: Kontiolammen laavu (950m) Firewood: Yes

Cross-country skiing
Salla has really nice cross-country skiing tracks that partly enter the future National Park. There are tracks that are illuminated in the dark, so we had to give it a go. The terrain was fun and had a good variety of uphills and downhills. It was really nice to get some kilometers in before the sauna.

See more on the tracks here!

Resources for Salla
For dinner - Restaurant Kiela
For lunch - Keloravintola
Groceries - 10 km in downtown Salla
Rental equipment - Salla Ski Resort
Cabins - Pan Village

Other things to do or visit
Salla Reindeer park
Kaunisharju - Viewpoint
Napapiirin Safarit - Snowmobile safaris
Salla Ski Resort

Colours of Lapland

We have visited Lapland multiple times in the winter and spring, but never have we seen it without snow. This year we wanted to make sure that we would head up there and see the nature in all the beautiful Autumn colours called "ruska" in Finnish. We set the time and Visit Finland was kind enough to help us make the trip happen. 

We packed the car and headed towards the North of Finland. Whole drive was a beautiful trip through the roads along the autumn coloured forests. We arrived to our destination Äkäslompolo in Ylläs when it was already dark. Even on our first night we were able to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights. We were excited for the next few days that we were going to spend there.

The best time to see the Autumn colours in Lapland is usually the two middle weeks of September. If you want to catch the Northern Lights, you should head to Lapland in the beginning of Fall or in the beginning of Spring.

Here are some photos and a video of our hiking and camping around the Ylläs area. Enjoy!