Radtour zum Nordkapp

Sunny all day long and warm. Only light winds.

I decided to ride on the main road towards Nivala, when the bike lane along it ended, but that was toppled by some heavy road works. I ended up wheeling my bike across a meadow in order to reach a gravel road. After that I turned onto a good tarmaced road through the woods to Haapavesi. In the evening more good and lonesome roads in the woods. I made good progress here, as it went slowly downwards all the time.

After quite a long trip back to Haapajärvi to do some breakfast shopping (which I obviously should have done the evening before) I eventually left the 'wild' camp site and got going northbound along the bike lane. Lost some time on the road, but after Malinkylä and my lunch at a bridge in the forest I sped up towards Haapavesi. As it was pleasanly warm I had a swim in the river after my coffee break on a beach near Haapavesi. There were lots of mosquitoes in the woods, so I was busy rubbing on my repellent. It worked! Cooked supper (soup) at the roadside in the woods after having asked for a bottle of water. I was good at asking "saisinko vettä"=Could I have some water? My plans were to pitch my tent on the shores of lake Mankilajärvi a long stretch further down the road. But because of the lovely weather, the good gravel road and the slightly downwards sloping terrain it did not feel a long way. When I yet another time asked a woman for water, who just came out of the family's sauna in a gown, I got the answer: Certainly. But wouldn't you fancy a place to sleep and an opportunity to have a shower at our sauna? Hey, perfect. So I slept in their caravan on their ground.