Waking Up with the Sun: Riding Toward Hankasalmi
7:00 AM and I’m already awake. Honestly, sleep hasn’t been great lately—the endless daylight is a real challenge. Up here, it barely gets dark anymore. The sun sets around 11:00 PM and rises again by 3:30 AM, leaving the night in a perpetual state of twilight. Tonight, I’ll give my sleep mask a try and see if that helps at all.
One thing’s for sure—when pitching the tent from now on, I’ll have to be strategic. It’s all about finding that perfect shady spot, especially in the early morning. Once the sun hits the tent, the temperature inside skyrockets in no time, turning it into a sauna.
On the bright side, we hit the road early and covered some serious ground today, making our way toward the town of Hankasalmi. The ride was absolutely stunning—winding roads through Finland’s lake-studded countryside. Hardly any highways, just scenic routes with gentle hills, lakes on all sides, and the pure, serene beauty of nature.
Underway in lake district
We stopped for a hot meal at a roadside diner along the way, which means tonight’s dinner will be simple: just some soup with bread and a coffee to wrap things up.
The campsite we’re staying at tonight, Ruokoniemi, sits right on a lake. It’s a bit of a mixed bag—it just reopened this week, but you can tell they haven’t tackled the spring cleaning yet! The facilities? Let’s just say they’re pretty basic—cobwebs, outdated amenities, and not much else. But we’re not picky, especially for just one night. We even took a dip in the lake (no photos, unfortunately) and rinsed off with a cold-water hose. It was refreshing, if a bit rustic. And we could use our mosquito head net for the first time!
Tomorrow, we head further north—onward to new adventures!
camping Ruokoniemi
camping Ruokoniemi
Mosquito net in place
camping Ruokoniemi
Empty fire extinguisher cabinet
Pier at camping Ruokoniemi
Midnight sun
nature at camping Ruokoniemi
nature at camping Ruokoniemi
nature at camping Ruokoniemi
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