Getting into the swing of it in Finland

Zagan the motorhome has another fantastic view tonight, this time over Lake Mehtio. He is parked up in a picnic spot beside the E63 (N62.47736, E26.86968) – yes, it’s all glamour with us!

Yay, found some more lakeside parking – our spot for tonight

Last night I started to shut Zagan’s blinds and curtains around 10pm in an effort to make it a bit darker so we might get to sleep at some point before midnight. We headed for bed only to be woken at midnight by one of the most dreaded noises there is – mosquito. Yes one of the little flightie bitey buggers had got in and was having a munch on Jay’s arm. We both leapt up and started the search for it, and as we ruffled the curtains to see if it was hiding there, outside we saw a beautiful sunset over the lake. Maybe the mozzie didn’t want us to miss it, we’ll never know as less than 30 minutes later he and one of his friends were swat-fodder.

Finland sunset at midnight

This morning we were up and at ’em, and on the road heading east by 10am. We had two tasks today – get rid of our Lidl can collection and use the deposit to buy some milk, and see if we can find a mosquito net. The first was easy, with satnav programmed we just selected a Lidl en-route (we have the Lidl POI files in our satnav) as we arrived I jumped out with a bag full of cans and spent a few minutes popping them into a machine just inside the store. Some people were there for a very long time with bin bags full of bottles and cans from the Midsummer weekend.

The machine takes the cans on a conveyor belt, spins them around, scans the bar code and puts a credit on the screen (in this case 0.15c per can). When you are done, press the button and out pops a voucher for that amount to spend in the store – simple, if you only shop at Lidl. Seems the only take what they sell, oh well we got our €1.80 back and it was promptly spent. Sadly the liquorice crisps promised in last weeks leaflet were no where to be seen, I’ll keep looking though.

Back in Zagan we noticed that all the Finn Vans and caravans were parking up at MegaMarket across the road so we nipped across on the off chance they would have a net. They had a few to choose from, as well as loads of stuff for Zagan, tools, crossbows, sauna heaters, homewears, pretty much a Finnish Wilkos – handy to know if we need any bits and pieces.

Those bitey beasts won’t get me!

An hour later we reached Jyväskylä (pronounced yoo-vah-skoo-lah), which is described in our guide book as ‘vivacious and young-at-heart’. The only parking showing on satnav that wasn’t underground was by the marina (satama) and as we pulled up we spotted there was dedicated motorhome parking, with hook-up (N62.23565, E25.75938). Then we spotted a sign in Finnish and English explaining you had access to showers, loos, washing machines, dryers and electric for €20 a night – we rolled Zagan forward into the free for four hours spaces and went to explore the town.

Petajavesi Old Church – a Unesco site, passed a great speed only realised when we reached the Tourist Office in Jyväskylä – ooops!

Motorhome parking in Jyvaskyla €20 inc elec and showers

In winter you plug you car in to keep the engine block warm, you can see these in loads of car parks, wonder if they’d run Zagan?

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t massively taken with the place. Once over the train lines we arrived in the pedestrianised centre which was full of people, shops and bicycles. I nipped into the tourist office to grab a map and while in there overheard two American couples discussing accommodation with the lady behind the counter. “So this one is the more expensive one but it has a bathroom. Do we want to pay an extra €100 for a bathroom? Perhaps we could go out for a meal and use the restaurants bathroom instead”. They obviously haven’t eaten out in Finland yet, unless they were talking about going for a Hesburger (the Finnish version of McDonald’s which seems to be holding its own over the golden arches here).

Huge rug painted on the floor and a lampshade street lamp

A great way to preserve your old trains, sadly the folks sitting by it were already through one bottle of vodka with another on the go – it must be costing them a fortune!

Jyväskylä train station

Jyväskylä is famous for being the home town of the architect and designer Alvar Aalto. We wandered by a couple of his buildings but stopped short of going into the museum as from the photos it looked pretty much like an Ikea store inside. I guess as he was at the forefront of Nordic design in the 50’s and 60’s, his designs would be the basis for many of the things we have back home in our house.

The City Theatre in Jyväskylä, designed by Alvar Aalto

Floating sauna – oh yes! Motor, BBQ and hot tub included.

These looked like fun, but I think I’d prefer the sauna

Back in Zagan we continued our journey east to a restaurant that we could stop at for the night, which has a service point. The row of cars in front of us as we approached the restaurant were driving super slow GGGAAAARRRRHHHHMMMOOOOOOSE! For weeks we’ve been seeing signs along the road, I’ve gazed into mile after mile of trees as they zip past my window, I never expected one of them to try to cross the road. Luckily it saw sense, turned around and hotfooted it back into the forest, disappearing in seconds. It got the adrenaline going and was fantastic to see, hopefully we’ll get to see more as we journey north, but at a slightly safer distance.

Poor thing legging it back into the forest

The restaurant, wasn’t a restaurant as such, it was more like a motorway services. There were several spaces marked out for caravans and motorhomes and around the back a free service point, with loo, loo emptying point and water all in a little room so they don’t freeze in the winter (N62.22872, E25.90291). We serviced Zagan but decided we didn’t fancy sleeping at Watford Gap so carried on east.

It seems quite a few service stations have motorhome service points tucked away around the back

After pulling into several parking places, we finally found one with a nice lake view which isn’t right next to the road. Sure it’s close, but we’re staying up late to watch the footie tonight (thanks to everyone on Motorhome Adventures facebook page who offered suggestions on how to watch it online as it’s blocked on ViewAbroad.com). We’ll sleep through pretty much anything after that – even a mozzie trying to gnaw its way into our net!

Aaarrrgghh – looks like we need an alternative to watch the footie

Ju x

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