Finland 🇫🇮 - heading south from now on

Sven Walther

July 23, 2026

Change of course

After weeks in which the needle pointed further and further north, the direction from now on is: south. We have a workshop appointment at Krug in Schladming, and there are still a few thousand kilometres to cover before then. So we say goodbye to Sven’s friend at the Arctic Circle and set off on the long way back towards Austria.

For us, though, a long way does not mean driving it in one go, but three stopovers of a few days each - Sven’s working week happens on the road as well, after all.

Kylmäluoma

The first stop is Kylmäluoma, an area of lakes and hiking trails not far from Kuusamo. We are put up at a youth centre and park Mammothon among the pines, a few steps from the water.

Mammothon parked between tall pine trunks on a clearing at the edge of the forest — Our pitch at the youth centre

In the usual manner Saskia explores the surroundings while Sven gets on with his working day. The paths here are soft sandy tracks through open pine forest - and Lou sets the pace.

Lou standing in the middle of a sandy forest track between tall pines, looking into the camera — A signpost on four legs

At some point the forest opens up and the path continues as a narrow boardwalk straight across a bog. Two planks wide, kilometres long, and nothing to the left and right but cotton grass and the occasional pine.

Narrow boardwalk of two planks leading straight across a wide bog under a blue sky — Two planks across the bog

At the end of it there is a visibly ageing jetty across a bog pond. Lou goes first and declares it fine.

Old wooden jetty with a crooked railing crossing a dark bog pond, Lou standing in the middle of it — The jetty has seen better days

In the evening there is a special surprise: the canteen makes pizza especially for us. After weeks largely without a restaurant that feels like a banquet.

Speaking of cooking: this is where we get to know a Finnish achievement we had been sorely missing without knowing it - ready-crushed garlic in a jar. Valkosipulimurska. That definitely has to come home with us, or rather into Mammothon.

Opened jar of crushed garlic with a spoon in it, labelled Valkosipulimurska — Probably the most important Finnish invention

Suomussalmi

The next stop is Suomussalmi. We stand by the water, between boat jetties and birches, and in the evening we have the best view in the whole village.

Mammothon on the far shore of a calm lake, with boat jetties and red buoys in front — Mammothon by the water

Sunset with orange glowing clouds above the trees, motorboats moored at a jetty in the foreground — This late in July it finally gets dark again

Finland keeps going on the culinary front here too: salad on the pizza. It sounds unusual at first, but it tastes so good that we will definitely be trying it ourselves in future.

On foot we explore the village and find a white timber truss bridge, a surprisingly deep rock gorge in the middle of the forest and a decommissioned steam locomotive quietly rusting away at the edge of town.

White timber truss bridge spanning a still arm of the river, a green meadow in front of it — The bridge at the edge of the village

Steep grey rock faces dropping down to dark water, pines and spruces all around — In the middle of the forest it suddenly drops away

Old black steam locomotive numbered 1132 standing on a piece of track in front of trees — Number 1132 has clocked off

And then of course there are the reindeer. Up here in the far north they are simply part of everyday life and some of them do actually come right up to our door. At some point you almost get used to it. Almost.

Three reindeer grazing on a closely mown lawn, the front one wearing an orange collar — Mowing the lawn is delegated here

One of them stands out in particular: a completely white reindeer stands in the middle of the meadow and calmly lets itself be photographed.

Completely white reindeer with large antlers standing on a green meadow, looking into the camera — White reindeer are considered lucky here

North of Kuopio

Our last stopover is near Toivala, a little to the north of Kuopio. We stand right by the water, in a place where no tourist would normally come past - and certainly not with a sixteen-tonne Mammothon.

That is of course a talking point, and so once again we have a number of lovely encounters with the locals.

The forest here suddenly looks completely different from Lapland: no more pine heath, but dense birch woodland over waist-high ferns, with a narrow boardwalk running through it.

Dense birch forest with white trunks and tall ferns, a narrow boardwalk leading through it — Birches as far as you can see

Lou walking along a boardwalk between ferns through the birch forest towards the camera — Lou in the green

Lou standing on a fallen tree trunk in the forest, looking down — Viewpoint

And in between, in the middle of the undergrowth, stands a sculpture made of old machine parts, stacked and rusted, with no sign and no explanation. Very Finnish.

Sculpture of stacked rusty machine parts standing between birches in the undergrowth — Art in the forest, entirely without an information board

With that we have almost crossed Finland - and we are on schedule for Schladming. At least up to this point.