Bikepacking the Saimaa Archipelago Route - 3 days of island hopping, biking, beer and friends!
Welcome back to Taival Outdoors and thank you for joining us on this three-day bikepacking adventure along Saimaa Archipelago route in Southeast Finland. Although some roadies might be able to do this loop in a day, we planned some sightseeing and detours along the way and focused on bike camping and having a good time. Our first day begun on the gravel roads of our old hometown of Taipalsaari. Being an archipelago route, there’s quite a bit of island hopping involved. The first water crossing we did was from Sarviniemi to Kyläniemi on a dedicated bike ferry called Rasti. For more information about the route and these ferries, check out the links in the description.
I miss my fatbike right about now. Well, that was sketchy, but we're here. Riviera of Saimaa. Here we are. This is the home for tonight. Our little tent village. It's already the first weekend of August, so the nights can get pretty chilly, down to +11 degrees which means that there shouldn't be any bugs during the night. There's still a bit right now. But not too much. Which means that I'm ok without the bug net.
I do have the mosquito headnet just in case, but I doubt that I'll need it. Now the plan is to go for a swim. And then have some dinner, it's seven o'clock in the evening. Easy day of riding. Weather has been great. Should be a bit more challenging weather and tomorrow's ride in general, but we have then the whole day to do what has to be done. We'll see that when it happens. Now hygiene, food, rest. First tests with 5.11 Ferro Knife. Seems like I can baton with it, which is pretty cool.
Still figuring out the grip. Kippis! Having a bit of a late start for day two. It's almost ten o'clock. The guys are still going for final bathroom breaks before we head off to the east. A bit windier and cloudier today, as expected. It should rain this evening. We don't still want to rush today. We have plenty of smaller destinations on our way today that we want to check out.
And not feel like we're in a hurry, fighting the weather. If it starts raining while we're still riding, we have some sort of clothing and protection. Quite different setups again for all three. Should be quite interesting and nice day ahead us, so stay tuned. Although day two was going to be our longest, it was divided to roughly eight sections or legs if you will, having either points of interests, water crossings or food breaks inbetween.
Our first leg was the shortest as we stopped only after a couple of kilometers at Utula town shop for a quick ice cream and chain lube break before heading of properly. The Saimaa Archipelago route goes right past Salpalinja or Salpa Line fortifications in Syyspohja and I definitely recommend stopping by and checking them out. Salpalinja is a massive defensive line that was built during World War II, but it never saw any action since the Soviet attack was stopped well before its advance units reached the fortifications. The line included over 200 kilometers of anti-tank obstacles, made of 350 000 stones each weighing about three tons. These stones are visible in Syyspohja area as well. The section from Syyspohja to Ruokolahti was our least favorite since it was a bit busier road, yet it was not big enough to have a separate bike lane.
Battling with loaded bikes against the headwind didn’t make it any easier either. After the hefty lunch we diverted from Saimaa Archipelago route to another smaller loop called Four Island Cycling Route. It’s roughly 30 bonus kilometers and the roads themselves aren’t that spectacular, but it goes by one unique point of interest. Also, the loop ends in the longest and most extreme bike ferry transit we had, so all in all the extra kilometers were worth it.
We are waiting for our last ferry ride of this trip and today. Guys are putting some more rain gear on. This is all rain gear that I have. Figured that I will just try to keep my core warm. The rest is either merino wool or something that shouldn't be that bad if it gets wet. If it gets too cold, then I will add some layers to my legs, but before that happens, this is the way I roll. At this point we were in Imatra and about to link back to our original route. However, by pure luck
we happened to cruise by Imatrankoski rapid just in time for the dam opening show to begin. This is the strong one! All right, there's mi bike. This is the home for tonight. Has to be probably - well, has to be, not probably - is the wonkiest setup I've ever done. A pretty steep hill. But it will do for tonight. Ground is wet, obviously. At least this sleeping pad is dry on this side, so that's nice. Ortlieb bags have been absolutely waterproof, so no problem whatsoever getting a dry sleeping bag and dry set of clothes on tonight.
We are planning to go for a swim still. As you can see it is raining. My bike light there pointed towards the kettle. Boiling some water for dinner. My things here. There's food and clothing. Sleeping bag ready. Bibs and shorts drying up. And there's my rain jacket, acting as a table of sorts.
Charging up heart rate monitor, bike lights, and so forth. Went for a small wash / shower the rain really started to pick up. And now plan is to have some warm dinner, warm food. But pretty intensive day, 90 kilometers or so, plus all the ferry trips, but well worth it. Saw a lot of things, experienced a lot of things, and combated the weather a bit as well. So made some good memories, no doubt. Kippis! (Kippis!) Right now I'm trying to dry out this merino wool cycling jersey from Keli Clothing with my own body heat, and actually considering the fact that it has been raining for hours while we we have been cycling today and these sleeves have been absolutely soaked, it's like 90% dry. So pretty impressive. Time to call it a day. Tomorrow early wake up at 7:00.
So we can hit Lappeenranta around lunchtime, that would be pretty ideal. But anyway, eagerly waiting for tomorrow and tomorrow weather most importantly. Let's see. It will be better weather-wise than this, but it's pretty hard to beat today in terms of the different sites that we went to and all that history learned and interesting ferry rides experienced. So not a bad day. See you tomorrow. (Is it cold outside?) It's not cold.
Yesterday, we woke up at 7:30 and got going around 10 I think. Now it's 8:30. Guys are still doing their finishing touches and then we are on our way. Improving every day. Cloudy and gray looking Sunday, but it's not raining and it's not windy, so should be a pretty good riding day. And just like that, we were back in Taipalsaari, and our journey was almost over. By the way, Finland’s biggest and best ice creams can be bought here. The town turned 450 years old this year, so a celebratory ice cream was definitely in place.
2021-08-24 18:52
