UnRelated discussion > Off-topic
Trip to Finland
zuberbohler:
Hi,
I think this topic seems to be adequate so...
Next summer me and my wife plann a trip to Finland for about 10-14 day depending how our babysitters(moms :D)would agree and I would like to ask you for some help in planning this adventure :). We like nature and kayaks A LOT so we are going to spend A LOT time in both. Basic concept for this trip is to buy something like this ->https://e.allegroimg.com/s512/01c6b0/9f21bd3b4fe0a9e80ee699c21f2e<- here in Poland, backpack it(only 17kg), take a flight to Helsininki and spend every single day in beautiful finnish scenery, camping somewhere in the woods with help from this site ->https://www.tulikartta.fi/index.php?type=Kaikki&lataus=1<- and our trusty tent. Every night in different campsite.
These are main assumptions but I need help with details:
1. Where to go? :D Depending on our canoing concept, please post your suggestions in this matter. Preferably not so common places, standing aside from main courses - beautiful and wild. Of course visiting URW fans would also be great option! :)
2. Pneumatic kayak. Maybe this is not best solution, we always uses normal, inflexible ones. I also thought about buying kayak or canoe directly in our start area and leave it or sell in the end. Maybe you could help - is it expensive? Is there some internet sites where I could contact with potential seller?
3. I plan to fish but I am totally green - maybe you, more experience forumers have some advice for a novice? :) Basic equipment, tips and tricks... I also heard that you could fish with the rod in Finland without license, is that true?
4. Buying food (and of course alcohol;) ) . Let's suppose that I won't catch a single fish :D - Some advices regarding supplying?
5. Traveling in Finland. Quickest, cheapest way of traveling - by bus, train or maybe car sharing? Again I would be very grateful with help in this matter :)
For now this all that come to my mind, probably I would have more questions later. Once again thank you in advance for every single advice! I hope that with your help it would be amazing journey in country that I always wish to visit and get know better:)
Best regards,
Szymon
PALU:
What about renting kayaks or a canoe? The disadvantage to that is that you have to return to the starting point to return them.
I know nothing about rental services in Finland, though, and they'd reasonably be located at places where they get customers...
Tervaskanto:
Hi, and Welcome.
My first suggestion is for your map site, just in case you don't know, to use green markers (laavu=lean-to) or red (kota=kota, duh!) for sleeping, orange are places you can make fire at but not necessarily for sleeping. Blue markers labeled autiotupa are small cottages free to sleep in, päivätupa are intended for short stops, not sleeping and varaustupa need to be rented. Grey markers are either sights or bird watching locations. Sorry for rambling if you already knew this.
Second, this map might be usefull for planning your trip if you want to find more "natural" places.
Their main site at http://www.nationalparks.fi/, particularly the self-guided tours section for ready routes is worth checking out, but I'm guessing Päijänne is the kind of place you are looking for? Lahti would make good starting point (I am in no way biased just because I live here ::)) since it is in the southernmost bay (it's name literally means "bay") of Päijänne region with straight train lines from Helsinki. Lahti-Vääksy-Heinola is popular water route there and south-east of Heinola river Kymi connects city of Kouvola to Kotka by the coast, but I'm not sure how accessible that route is since there are few dams, might have to carry your kayak.
Right next door is Saimaa, largest lake in Finland and probably another place you want to visit, with Savonlinna worth a special mention.
Saimaa and Päijänne together make up the so-called Lake Finland (or "Lakeland" as some PR guys want to name it) region filled with lakes and rivers, many of them connected to either Saimaa or Päijänne (this seems to be present in URW as well, I've noticed), so it's probably the place you want to focus on. There's plenty of islands off the coast as well, especially near Helsinki, Turku and Kotka, but I don't know how kayak would handle that.
But that's all popular commonly visited places. Hossa is the most recent National Park and doesn't have much in the way of turist crap yet (aside from that one steel pontoon), and from the map it seems to connect to Oulujärvi lake, where river Oulujoki runs to city of Oulu at the coast. That route would take you pretty much across the country, east to west. That might be your best bet at "wilderness" (unless you want to go all the way into Lapland, Lake Inari would be worth visiting), since most river and lakesides are populated to some degree, summer cottages at the least.
Cheers, and remember not to drink and paddle.
Erkka:
--- Quote ---1. Where to go? :D Depending on our canoing concept, please post your suggestions in this matter. Preferably not so common places, standing aside from main courses - beautiful and wild. Of course visiting URW fans would also be great option!
--- End quote ---
I think 'where to go' depends on timing and your choice of equipment. Like, would you prefer river routes with rapids, or would you prefer criss-crossing the lake networks? If you have a canoe which is better suited for lakes, then shooting rapids isn't necessarily a wise option. And if you don't have a lot of earlier experience, going out to the sea might not be the safest option. In any case, the the options are plenty.
For river routes May or early June are usually best, as the water levels are at their highest after the snow has melted. Later on in the summer some river routes might become so shallow that they are uncomfortable to navigate.
In addition to great suggestions by Tervaskanto, visiting my place is always an option. I'm located roughly 100 km north from Tampere, and there are several canoeing options nearby. For example Haukkajoki route starts from Helvetinjärvi national park. I'm not exactly sure but to me it seems that the Haukkajoki route could take you all the way down to the city of Tampere, in case you plan to switch locations by public transport.
--- Quote ---2. I also thought about buying kayak or canoe directly in our start area and leave it or sell in the end. Maybe you could help - is it expensive? Is there some internet sites where I could contact with potential seller?
--- End quote ---
I'd guess there also are canoe rental services, and some of them are fine with starting at point A and collecting the canoe from location B. But I'm not so familiar with them so on top of my head I can't recommend any webpage listing rental options.
For second-hand equipment here is a link listing 'for sale', 'for rental', 'to give away' options. At the moment second hand canoes seems to sell from 500 € - 2000 €. If you decide to try this option, I think I could personally offer you some help with selling away the canoe once you are done with your trip.
But, of course, a pneumatic kayak would enalbe you to see various locations using the public transport. If you'd buy a second hand canoe, you either need tranportation help from local UrW players, or you are stuck in one water system (which won't be a problem, as all the major lake networks are big enough to paddle around for the whole summer)
--- Quote ---3. I plan to fish but I am totally green - maybe you, more experience forumers have some advice for a novice? :) Basic equipment, tips and tricks... I also heard that you could fish with the rod in Finland without license, is that true?
--- End quote ---
Yes, a simple fishing rod with hook only and no reel - that you can use without a license. With a little bit of luck one can catch enough perches worth a meal.
My tip would be to consider a foldable / expandable portable fish trap. In the evening when you start to settle to camp for the night, you expand the fish trap and set it somewhere nearby. In the morning you go check the trap, fold it and pack it in the canoe for the day's voyage. That, of course, would mean more stuff to transport in your canoe, but gives the option to catch fish while you sleep.
Using a fish trap would require paying the national-level fishing license (they sell for 15€ / week. If you pay that, it would also allow you to drag a lure while you paddle around. Another nice way to possibly catch a pike while you go.) To be precise, a fish trap would also require a local-level license depening on the waters where you are. But my personal opinion is that if you are switching places every night, and you aren't highly experienced fisher then you catches are likely to stay so small that paying a local fee isn't that necessary.
--- Quote ---4. Buying food (and of course alcohol;) ) . Let's suppose that I won't catch a single fish :D - Some advices regarding supplying?
--- End quote ---
Regarding alcohol, anything stronger than 5.5 % is only sold at special liquor stores, which can't be found in every small village. So if you want to have that bottle of dark rum to warm you up in one of those rainy evenings, plan to buy it beforehand while you are in a city or a town with liquor store (they are called "Alko"). Otherwise I'd guess it is the basics of camping food. Dry and canned stuff. Things are a bit easier if you have a portable stove - that way you don't have to start a fire every single time you'd like to have a mug of tea. (Ah, especially in May / early summer most of the water is safe to drink. And becomes safer once boiled. So packing a lot of drinking water isn't absolutely necessary. You can boil lake water every night and store it for the next day.)
It never hurts to have a bar of dark chocolate for quick energy if in situation where you need it.
--- Quote ---5. Traveling in Finland. Quickest, cheapest way of traveling - by bus, train or maybe car sharing?
--- End quote ---
Trains are the quickest and often the most comfortable way of travelling. Buses can be either a lot of cheaper or more expensive. (Like, where an ordinary train ticket would be 30 € / adult, with a luck you can buy a bus ticket for the same route for mere 2.50 €.) I think train and bus operators all have such a pricing scheme that the earlier you buy your tickets the cheaper the prices.
For buses see matkahuolto.
For trains see VR.
I know there are car sharing services out there but that's pretty much all I know about them. That they exists.
--- Quote ---For now this all that come to my mind, probably I would have more questions later.
--- End quote ---
So, if you are planning for summer 2019, feel free to start a separate topic when you get into more detailed planning.
zuberbohler:
Thank you guys for informations, your help is priceless!
--- Quote from: PALU on June 24, 2018, 11:57:09 AM ---What about renting kayaks or a canoe? The disadvantage to that is that you have to return to the starting point to return them.
I know nothing about rental services in Finland, though, and they'd reasonably be located at places where they get customers...
--- End quote ---
Yes, I considered it of course but this option has major cons:
- rental price (almost equal to cost for new pneumatic kayak for rivers scale III)
- lack of mobility (pneumatic can be packed very quickly and weights 'only' 17-20kg)
- 1 time event (with some luck pneumatic one will survive more than 2 weeks and we could use it for the next trip:) )
--- Quote from: Tervaskanto on June 24, 2018, 02:18:22 PM ---Hi, and Welcome.
My first suggestion is for your map site, just in case you don't know, to use green markers (laavu=lean-to) or red (kota=kota, duh!) for sleeping, orange are places you can make fire at but not necessarily for sleeping. Blue markers labeled autiotupa are small cottages free to sleep in, päivätupa are intended for short stops, not sleeping and varaustupa need to be rented. Grey markers are either sights or bird watching locations. Sorry for rambling if you already knew this.
--- End quote ---
I'm already aware of it but thanks :)
--- Quote ---Second, this map might be usefull for planning your trip if you want to find more "natural" places.
--- End quote ---
This is just great, man! Great site, very useful.
--- Quote ---Cheers, and remember not to drink and paddle.
--- End quote ---
Just a little ;)
--- Quote ---I think 'where to go' depends on timing and your choice of equipment. Like, would you prefer river routes with rapids, or would you prefer criss-crossing the lake networks? If you have a canoe which is better suited for lakes, then shooting rapids isn't necessarily a wise option. And if you don't have a lot of earlier experience, going out to the sea might not be the safest option. In any case, the the options are plenty.
--- End quote ---
Timing: I would say - the most warmer month, so july probably -/+ 1 month. Equipment: 90% pneumatic kayak, tent, cooking pot, wife, fishing rod and strong back.
Unfortunately, we have no experience on sea level but I read that pneumatic kayaks are much more suitable on sea than PU ones. We will sea... see :D Nevertheless our priority goes to inland waters. For now.
In past we both were on rivers class III but I'm not 100% sure about pneumatic kayaks hardeness so let's play it safe - criss-crossing lake networks with no hardcore rapids would be just fine.
--- Quote ---Using a fish trap would require paying the national-level fishing license (they sell for 15€ / week. If you pay that, it would also allow you to drag a lure while you paddle around. Another nice way to possibly catch a pike while you go.) To be precise, a fish trap would also require a local-level license depening on the waters where you are. But my personal opinion is that if you are switching places every night, and you aren't highly experienced fisher then you catches are likely to stay so small that paying a local fee isn't that necessary.
--- End quote ---
Great, thank you Erkka! Fish trap is very good idea, especially because it's foldable and my skills are far below novice. I don't quite get this part about local fee... It depends on size of the catch?
Lately, I read about more primitive fishings methods and maybe I would go that way, but for now let's stay with commercial fishing rod and plastic fish trap.
So, for now (thanks to you!), I have 4 main target areas. Of course every comment on these and new proposal are very welcome:
1. Lapland - as whole but further north the better :D Something is calling me from out there but I have to be cautious with wife, she is excited but not as much as me :D Also, myself would like to see more 'civilized' side of Finland first, afterwards this more cold and harsh. I have 1 year to think about it and talk with my other side.
2. Kolovesi National Park and/or Linnansaari National Park - this look quite easy and pleasant. Main objection is how popular it is. Especially in June, July or September. If you could help in this matter I would be more than grateful.
3. Hossa National Park - very promising not well know place with beautiful sights and route to Oulu where I could try kayak on the sea. Great idea, thank you!
4. Visiting Erkka, Helvetinjärvi national park and other nice places around, Tampere - thank you for invitation Erkka. Even if it won't be our main destination we consider to stop by for a day or two or seven :)
Once again thanks guys and take care
Szymon
EDIT: Just found fellow-countryman blog with pictures from trip Savonlinna-Kuopio in pneumatic kayak! It takes him 13 days. Look at those beautiful photos! - https://paragonzpodrozy.pl/15333/pojezierze-finskie-kajakiem-wyglada-najwieksza-kraina-jezior-swiecie/
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