Lovely beach huts on the island of Pihlajasaari.  Unfortunately the summer of 2015 is turning out to be the coldest since 1962 and the beach and the huts are largely empty. 

Lenin in Turku

In the heart of Finland's old capital Turku is statue and plaque dedicated to Lenin. During December 1907 Lenin was holed up in Turku as he fled west to Sweden. Finland at this time was a part of the Russian Empire and Turku was the last point before Lenin crossed to Sweden. However the Russian secret police were watching key points including the Turku ferry building. To avoid detection he walked across thin sea ice to the island of Narvo from where he safely joined ferry service to Stockholm. Lenin later commented that walking across the unstable ice was one of the riskiest things he ever did.

Elsewhere in eastern European Lenin statues have long disappeared from parks and square. The Finns however are more inclusive.

Monument of the Selfish

In Toolonlathi Park in the middle of Helsinki is an intriguing moment dedicated to the 'Selfish'. This simple stone lists all the Finnish members of Parliament who voted for Finland to adopt nuclear power in 2010 without thought for the future generations (according to those responsible for putting up the monument).

Just what every Finn needs.....

Mongolian Yurts are right up there on every Finn's wish list. I guess if your job is herding reindeer, a yurt might be handy but I hardly think there would be many takers in the middle of Helsinki.

This display of yurts on the shores of Toololathe wasn't dragging in the crowds. A cheap summer cottage possibly?? Or just a sales person with an over dose of optimism.

Let this be a warning.

 Among the boats and fishing tackle in Bugoynes are racks of drying fish protected by fine mesh presumably from scavenging birds.

A closer look reveals a more gruesome warning to the avian raiders. Strung up on the racks are the bodies of several dead crows -keep away or else....

Norwegian Wood

High on a bleak rocky hill above the sea near Bugoynes is this neatly stacked pile of wood, yet there isn't a tree within 50km. What is this wood for exactly? A bonfire - though mid-summer has passed? A signal that the Russians are coming? Facebook could do that better. We shall never know....

To Norway

Since I was so far north in Finland and well inside the Arctic Circle, I decided that I might was well zip into Norway. Not expecting Norway to be much different from Lapland, I was really surprised at the changes in both the natural scenery and the human landscapes. 

Crossing the border at the Neiden River (very close to Russia) the terrain became more rugged and hillier with the vegetation rapidly shrinking from forest down to grasses and very low shrubs. 

Neiden Falls

My destination was the tiny fishing villages of Bugoynes which directly faces the open Barents Sea. This was one of the very few ports along the Norwegian coast spared destruction by the Germans during the Second World War. Sandwiched between a wide sandy beach and a sheltered harbour, Bugoynes is a very pretty little village though it can't have more than a couple of hundred people. And what an isolated place to live - it would take days to get to any place of more than 10,000 people and even in the middle of summer it was cold. I fancied dipping my toes in the Arctic Ocean, but it was a challenge staying outside for any length of time. A splash n the Arctic Ocean will have to wait for another day.

At least here the sea is a proper ocean with substantial tides and the smell of salt and seaweed. The waters around Finland are brackish and barely salty and tides make no impact along the Finnish coast. Norwegian houses seem less substantial and more brightly painted than their Finnish counterparts just to the south. I am betting thought that they are just as cosy in winter! 

After traveling along the Vaggefiojd I then follow the Utsjoki River and slip back into Finland via a striking suspension bridge. .