We left Toivo Farm (we found out at Gaija that Toivo means hope in Finnish) at about 9am on Sunday, after a relaxed midsummer weekend. Various friends and relatives of Toivo's permanent residents came for the night, including a man named Pablo, who works at a bike shop in Helsinki. We talked bikes and touring with him, and generally enjoyed ourselves sitting by the fire, playing frisbee and reading. From Toivo, we headed west-northwest towards the town of Sysma and the enormous lake Paijanne. Once again, we had a route planned and queues written out from google maps. And once again, google maps let us down! Early on we could tell that google's route was overly complicated. Our directions would send us on zigzagging shortcuts on dirt roads, but they were a hassle to navigate, and the dirt made for slow riding. In places these shortcuts turned into little more than footpaths!
After riding through Sysma, about 70km into the day, we took a detour to a small national park on an island in the lake. Jere, one of the farmers at Toivo, had told us about an old lookout tower on the island which afforded great views of the lake and islands. We left our bikes at the entrance of the park, had a snack and, as it began to rain, headed into the park on foot. In keeping with the theme of the day, we took a wrong turn while hiking to the tower, leading us on a loop around the park and adding several kilometers to the walk. However, this gave time for the rain to clear before we arrived at the tower.
Back on our bikes, we got back on our route, and joined a road which winds its way across islands and peninsulas as it heads north along the lake. We would be on this road for 50km, which was about 40km longer than any other road that day. It was nice to be able to zone out while riding, instead of having to keep track of the queue sheet, odometer and street signs. Rain occasionally threatened, but thankfully held off. We knew we had to get to Jyväskylä in time for a train at 4:30 the following afternoon. So that we wouldn't be too pressed for time, we resolved to continue cycling as long as we could. We stopped to cook dinner at the side of a lake, which conveniently had a little dock to cook on, and a boat to sit in while eating.
After a meal of pasta and beans (which ended up very salty!), with fried halloumi cheese for appetizers, we continued cycling. By 8pm we were tired, out of water and getting hungry again. We eventually found a stream to purify water from and, all long the road there, wild strawberries! They were tiny, but so flavorful they almost tasted fake. While we waited for the Aquamira to catalyze, we munched away on strawberries.
Somewhat revived, we continued on, looking for a place to camp. Eventually we found an ideal flat spot, surrounded on three sides by water, next to a decommissioned ferry dock. It was just after 9pm, so we had been on the move for 12 hours, cycling over 120km, and hiking about 4 more. We put the tent up as quickly as possible and crawled immediately into our sleeping bags. Several hours later, the wind picked up, and it began raining. We had pitched the tent in a haphazard fashion, not thinking about wind or rain. Unfortunately, both came. The tent flapped a lot, and wind-blown rain pooled on our plastic groundsheet, under the floor of the inner tent. Unfortunately, the inner tent floor had a hole (holes?) in it, so Adie woke up to find his sleeping pad the only dry island on his, downhill, half of the tent. Over the night, as the slow leak in the sleeping pad slowly leaked, this island got less and less dry. We woke up at 6, damp, ate a quick breakfast in the tent, inside our sleeping bags as it was cold outside. As soon as we began riding, the rain picked up again, but an hour or two later this abated. We rode on, stopping in a hay barn for a snack, then later at a gas station in the town of Korpilahti to dry out and snack again. From there our route followed a large main road into Jyväskylä. This road was thoroughly unpleasant, with narrow shoulders, lots of trucks, and a 100km/h speed limit. After 10km we were almost viscerally relieved to make it onto a smaller, parallel road. At about 1pm we cooked lunch at a bus stop, then continued into town, arriving with a couple of hours to spare. We passed these hours sipping hot chocolate at a café, where we considered writing a blog post, but were too tired.
A two hour train ride, followed by a 6km ride delivered us to Gaija eco-village.
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