Blogging at 22:30 on Saturday 17th August from intended overnighting spot 60.76825°, E 22.18918° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:60.76825%2C22.18918
And so: to the day of illness / parkrun reckoning.
We dutifully battled our way into Tampere first thing only to find - open mouthed - that the parkrun venue had been completely swallowed by a huge music festival, complete with 3-metre high fencing and very serious-looking security people. After all we'd done to get here, and all the symbolism we'd attached to wobbling around a Finnish parkrun: we were both just stunned.
It looked like a compete washout until - of all things - Facebook came to the rescue. It turned out the organiser had come up with a last-minute alternative course and had specified a new muster area.
And so it came to pass. We walked / wobbled weakly around the very pretty lakeside course and though we both achieved very significant personal worsts, the sense of achievement was strong. We now have, against many odds, a Finnish parkrun in our palmarès!
Immediately following the mini-victory we had to return to being normal sick people and, like normal sick people the world over, found ourselves battling through a strange city in a big truck with a pressing need to do some boring grocery-related stuff / fill with fuel in anticipation of a massive haul across Sweden on Monday.
Dull bits done, we then resumed our preferred way of capering on, quit the city, and headed down a long series of back roads in the general direction of Naantali (the port we have to be at in the morning). The roads served well and we spent a couple of very pleasant hours of bumbling in the warm afternoon sunshine.
And so, to a random forest clearing down a random Finish track and home for the night (pic).
Finland's been good to us, again. It's massive, very outdoorsey-orientated, with lots of free space and hardly any tourists. We've seen a slack handful of motorcaravans and motorbike tourists but they've nearly all been from the country itself. You just don't (currently) encounter that many non-natives here. I don't pretend to speak for the city-break scene, but out in the sticks gringos are a very rare breed indeed.
The Finns are super, too. Again, it's a massive generalisation but in our estimation they're extremely stoic, respectful, and just plain no nonsense. The country's extraordinarily well fettled and there's a sense that there's a great deal of contentment here. In other words: they're on to a good thing, know it, but aren't all shouty about it.
You could be forgiven for initially thinking Finns are extremely unfriendly, suspicious of strangers, and wilfully avoid any kind of interpersonal interaction. Though it's true they just don't bother with pointless waffle and perfunctory pleasantries we again found that whenever we needed a leg up the people we approached were extremely accommodating and helpful. It's like their default is to totally nothing you but, as soon as you engage, they just can't do enough to help.
We've really enjoyed our time here (again), in spite of the obvious adversity. It's a great country and is, so far, undefiled by gringos in white boxes. We urge all readers to flock here and ruin it, at once!
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