4 August 2014 (hot and sunny) 36km

Just when you close your eyes on what appears to be the perfect campsite……hey ..hey…hey….NOT.

We had enjoyed our swim…our tea[ dinner…for the more refined ] and were just drifting off to sleep at 11.00pm when four girls on motor scooters came down to the lake along with a guy on a lowly cc rated motorbike of some description.  Three other girls also turned up at 11.30pm and although they all stayed away from the tent, they were very noisy for 45 mins until at last they buggered off and left us in peace.

At 6.10am a local swimmer wandered down glaring over at the tent and probably thinking “dirty bloody gypsies, I wish they’d camp somewhere else.”  We however, enjoyed our morning cuppa and jam butties, packed up our gear leaving no trace of our presence except a flattened piece of grass and then enjoyed an early morning swim ourselves, with no-one else there to bother us.  It was just what the doctor ordered to wake us up and get us ready for the day and we left this little paradise at 7.25am only to be assaulted by the early morning traffic on the main road.  We had hoped we might have escaped it as in Sweden the whole country doesn’t seem to get started until 10am. 

taking a break on the road to Ekenas

However, in Finland, things are definitely different.  You get the idea they are not as well paid as the Swedes and that life is harder.  The towns are not as vibrant (that we’ve seen so far) and the people appear more dour.  Once you get talking to them however, they are fine and just like people everywhere.  It took us an hour to get to Ekenas as there were a number of hills to grind our way up first.  A few people have told us that Finland is flat – I’ll bet they’ve never cycled the roads here.  The gradients are good but the roads are definitely not flat.  There are a lot of lakes, but to have a lake, you need a hill to separate it from the next lake, and the next etc etc.  

Ekenas marina

Once in Ekenas, received directions from a couple of locals to Ingemars Cycle Shop where we were told to come back at 1pm.  Ju was overjoyed to have the morning off as she’s still not well.  So we bought a few breakfast supplies and headed to the beach where we laid out our wet flysheet in the sun while we ate breakfast looking out over the glassy water, sitting in the shade as it was already quite warm.

the streets of Ekenas with wooden houses a feature here.

Then had our second swim of the day and as per usual, ever since Denmark really, it may look great but it’s pretty slimy and murky underneath.  You do not want your feet to touch the bottom, put it that way.  Suitably cooled down we retired to the shade to have a little nap and upon waking had our third swim of the day before Pete went off to drop his bike at the bike shop.  He was told it would take an hour to replace his spoke, (Pete was tempted to tell him it would take Matt five minutes), but left him to it and got the lunch supplies before joining me back at the beach for ham and tomato sandwiches with a yoghurt drink. 

Ekenas Tourist Information Office

Then we were in for our fourth swim – the guy at the bike shop said this had been Finland’s hottest summer for fifty years!  Supposedly tomorrow is going to be even hotter.  Then we cycled to Tourist Info and had a chat to the girls there – we’re the only NZ tourists to come to their office this year!  Took advantage of their free wifi to upload the blog and then had a cycle round the town, taking in the sights. 

Ekenas Church - quite different with all the white inside.  Dating from 1566, burned down and rebuilt in 1800's.

The beach where we spent a lot of time today!

That called for an ice-cream followed by yet another swim before we could endure a trip to the supermarket.  Picked up dinner supplies and a wine for me and a cold beer for Pete – this is not something you can take for granted in Finland or Sweden though.  All too often they just have all the beer sitting on a shelf and none in the fridge – same goes with the wine.

Then we cycled to the outskirts of town to the campground having long since abandoned any plans to cycle further today – it was just too hot and the shade by the beach too inviting.  Booked in and set up the tent then charged the computer in the kitchen while we sat outside and had our drinks.  Then cooked tea and by the time we’d finished that, the computer was at 100% and we went and got showers.  Downloaded the photos and wrote the blog, looking forward to sleep even though we’ve hardly done anything today.