9 August 2014 (hot, sunny with cloud) 47 km

Great sleep….!

We made it to Helsinki!

No noise…..no birds….no disturbances..

Up about 7.30am and both had showers and then wandered downstairs for breakfast, which was included in the room rate. Big mistake on their part …..

Little did they know that two ravenous kiwi cyclists were about to alter their pricing structure.

Began with the biggest bowls of cereal and fruit the Japanese tourists sitting around us had ever seen. Ju had an apple juice, whilst I had orange.

Then … into the main dish. Meatballs….Sausages….scrambled eggs….something that looked a bit like a Yorkshire pudding and pancake puff thingies….?

Back at the table we pondered why they hadn’t included…..bacon…black pudding…baked beans…mushrooms….hash browns….

Downed that in quick time…before casually strolling up for a second main.

Two cups of coffee and multiple danishes to follow….completed breakfast.

When we left, there was no one in there, from when we first went in.

Breakfast over……we were ready for lunch….?

Back up in the room we managed a skype with Brody.  It was great talking to him and we can’t wait to see the kids.  Mapped a route into town and being paranoid about the boxes we had finally acquired yesterday I went to see the girls on reception, to ensure no one moves them from their storage place, before we get back on Monday.

Asked them to put a note explaining the situation, on the boxes.

There were hordes of dogs at the hotel as there had been at last night’s campground out at Espoo.  It must be quite some dog show as there is every breed imaginable, except for Briards.  Haven’t seen one yet.  There are people from Russia here too showing their dogs.  They had bowls of water for the dogs just outside the hotel, but the dogs were staying in the rooms with their owners.  We didn’t notice anyone weeing in the foyer though….dogs or otherwise.  I was glad to see they didn’t allow the dogs in the restaurant as we didn’t want to be tripping over them on our numerous trips up to the buffet.

!

Out of the hotel and making our way toward Helsinki. Vantaa certainly has some great shopping opportunities available, which I can imagine Julia may want to check out on Tuesday, which will be when we hope to check the bikes in at British Airways…ready for take off on Wednesday morning.

Had a few missed turns…but with the help of the locals, we were soon cruising into the centre.

Our final goal had been completed. It had taken 25 years to finally get around to doing it….but we did it….and we did it well….!

After taking just one photo yesterday, we made up for it today.  Helsinki was a bit slow to get started but as we cycled further and further, exploring all the city had to offer, we found some worthy subjects for the camera.  We just can’t get over how efficient bicycles are when you’re trying to get round a city.  All the cities today have great cycle lanes so it makes it a breeze – well it does when you have no destination to get to and just cycle where whim and fancy take you.  Otherwise cycle lanes can be a bit of a nightmare as the signage hasn’t caught up with the amount of lanes there are.  They are probably more often used by locals than travellers like us, but we have managed.

Stopped at a Picnic café for lunch which was very nice and stopped again a bit later by the harbour to brew up our own coffee which we had with a muffin.  I love being so independent that we can just stop wherever we want to make a delicious cuppa, just the way we like it, free of charge, with no queues.

A bunch of punk rockers were protesting about something,
but this sign caught our eye.

About 5pm we started to meander our way out to the campground which is the only campground in Helsinki and about 12 km from the city centre.  We had to fight our way through hordes of people going to the Flow festival and I started to worry there may be no room at the inn.  We had also noticed lots of people in town with football shirts on and suspected there was a match on tonight – there was.  Then you had all the dog show people here as well!  We can’t get away from them and their yappy mutts.  

So when we eventually rolled up at the campground at 6.30pm, we weren’t surprised to be told they were full.  They were redirecting people to the campground out at Espoo, 35 km away.  As the guy was telling me they were full, other people who had been turned away left the office and I was the only one in there with the three staff.  I said to them we’d already cycled 80km today and I was too knackered to cycle another 35km so asked them, seeing as they know the area, if there was anywhere to freecamp.  They said there was a forest area about 5km away which you weren’t supposed to camp in but if no-one saw you………

I said thanks very much and went outside to break the news to Pete.  We sat down to have a bit of a planning meeting with our map when the guy came out of the office and said they’d just had a little meeting and agreed to let us stay the night but they just couldn’t put us on the computer as it would take no more admittances tonight.

We thanked him profusely and I went back inside to fill out the paperwork while Pete witnessed a girl have a tantie at her boyfriend as they had just been turned away……on their motorbike!  I mean Come on.   You just have to turn your key and drive 35 km.  

So pitched our tent for the last time in a not overly crowded campground – we’ve been in worse.  I then cooked up Chilli Sin Carne (was looking for chilli con carne but this was the closest I could get), a tomato based stew with beans and corn and had that on a bed of rice – very nice too.  A couple of jam butties followed and then a cup of coffee and a lemon muffin.  Headed to bed at 10.30pm hoping for a peaceful night in this busy campground.