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!
Spontaneus road trip to Lofoten
It was supposed to be very rainy Midsummer celebration weekend here in Finland and we decided not to stay to witness that. Me and Lauri came up with this road trip idea at 12 pm on a Thursday night. We decided to hit the road at 6 am to make it to Lofoten during the day.
Of course we didn't sleep that much as we needed to get all the camping gear together and pack the car. It didn't stop us. At 6 am the car started and we were in good spirits heading towards the Norwegian coast. It is around 18 hour drive including some short stops on the way.
We didn't have any specific plans for our time in the islands. We just wanted to do some hiking during our trip. We actually ended up hiking a random peak in Gimsøy the next morning as it just looked nice!
When you’re behind the wheel, you can stop and explore whenever your instincts point you towards something cool. There’s so much out there to be discovered.
We really liked topping a mountain and we did some research for our next hike and found a nice peak called Stornappstinden. We were little tired from hiking to the peak Gimsøy so we decided to have a chill day the next and just drive around the islands and go swimming and enjoy the views.
It was nice to see some new places and actually do some real hiking as the most for me has been the 1 hour hike to Kvalvika beach before. Next time I will for sure spend more time on the mountains and go further and higher!
Until the next trip to Norway... Here are some photos from our trip!
-Daniel
Google maps spotting
I had seen this weird looking place on Google Maps a long time ago. Now I had my camera with me and I decided to go and check this place out. Me and our friend Jolle took a tram and made it to Kallio, where this courtyard is located. We got in and it actually ended up looking better than on the satellite images I had seen.
Another cool little place that I didn't know existed in Helsinki. "Kallion tuubi" was found.
-Daniel
