North, North, a day @ the Via Karelia

A very rainy day was perfect to make some kilometres to the North. We stopped at a visitor centre which informed us about Finnish carnivores and come past a couple of intersting places.

We were driving at the Via Karelia, a road leading up through Finland close to the Russian border. Mostly with tarmac we also had many kilometres on dirt road which gave the car a nice patina with the wet weather.

In Kuhmo we stopped at the Visitor Centre which informed us about the four big carnivores living in Finland: wolf, lynx, bear and wolverine. They all live in most parts of the country, but we will have close to zero chance to see one of them in the wild.

Yes, I'm allowed to drive too - sometimes ;-)

In the middle of nowhere, along this road with no village for tens of kilometres, we suddenly came past a supermarket. We stopped for a coffee, a chat with the owner and in the end a bag full of shopping.

It has it all: gas station, post office, cafe, supermarket, bakery, hifi store. It was nice to have somebody to point out the specialities or help you find a product you can't identify with these weird Finnish words.

South of Suomussalmi a monument reminds of the battle which was fought here during the Winter War 1939/40 against the invasion by the Red Army.

Around 17,000 large natural stones around the monument visualise the numbers of the victims. A museum next to it shows relics from that war.

The “Open Embrace” memorial has 105 brass bells, one for each day of the Winter War.

Russia is always close but the borders are closed

What is that? A field full of scarecrows? Over one thousand figures stand here as an instalation called "The Silent People" by artist Reijo Kela.

Autumn leaf of the Day