Dwti Draig

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 nights at Nallikari campsite. Lyn survived his run, and even managed to join me for a 3-mile walk afterwards. Although it was windy, it was a lovely day with beautiful blue skies. We made the most of the weather and headed out. Finland is well geared up for outdoor activity, with lots of people jogging, walking or cycling the paths. We just started walking with no end goal in sight, and just saw where it took us. We ended up crossing the water to the neighbouring little island of Pikisaari. We were about to turn back when I noticed a sign for an environmental art exhibition along the path, so we kept walking. It was really interesting, and Pikisaari turned out to be a fabulous little island, with a real artist vibe, and a load of edgy industrial type buildings. Lyn was disappointed to see the brewery/sauna/restaurant was closed as it was Sunday! We took a circular route back and had another look at the sea before our Sunday dinner. 

We were up early this morning as we wanted to catch the local bus into Oulu centre. Oulu is the largest city in Northern Finland with a population of around 210,000. It’s often called the “Silicon Valley” of Finland due to its booming tech industry. It is also the home to the World Air Guitar Championships and has one of the largest universities in Finland with about 13000 students. It is also going to be Europe’s City of Culture in 2026. In saying all that, we found the centre to be very quiet for a Monday morning. We took a walk to the market square where there is a lot of construction work going on, probably in readiness for 2026, and we took a look at the infamous statue of “Chubby Bobby”.We spoke to the lady in the Oulu tourist stall in the tiny market hall and asked her about “Chubby Bobby’. She said he is to symbolise when the old policemen on the beat had “big bellies” and used to sort out any trouble with words. She said it is comforting for older people to remember those times.  I think to myself that Neath will be commissioning a statue of “Chubby Lucy” if I don’t cut back on the pick n mix!

Oh, and please don’t misspell “Chubby Bobby” to “Chubby Booby” and google it like I did!

All thoughts of “Chubby Bobby/Lucy” were pushed firmly to the back of my mind when we wandered into a local bakery which sold amazing cakes. Lyn couldn’t resist a hot cinammon bun, whilst I went for a lingonberry meringue cake, which was divine. Chubby Lucy is another tomorrow problem! We stopped for coffee and then caught the bus back. Yet again Oulu is another town with a superb and easy to use bus facility. 

We packed up and left the campsite after a last look at the sandy beach and the cold sea, to head further down south. We backtracked 4km to go back to Prisma where I needed to buy my bitter grapefruit drinks, foil and butter. We bought those, plus a thermal cup, hat and coat for me. Oh, and more pick n mix! I found they had my favourite sweets…. My family will know what they are!

We drove about 146km on to a place called Kalajoki where we have parked up for the night and enjoyed a fabulous sunset. Lyn has found another fabulous little parking spot yet again. 

Well, today has been such a lovely day, helped in no small way by the beautiful weather. It’s still cool, at about 8 degrees, but the sun has been shining and it’s so nice to see lovely blue skies. 

We didn’t have far to go to get to our first planned stop. We got to the nature trail at Kalajoki, which was set in the most amazing forest. The Siiponjoen Luontopolku is a 20km trail that runs across magnificent pine forests to the Siiponjoki river. It was absolutely glorious! The pine trres were huge, with bare, straight trunks towering up into the blue sky. The path underneath was soft and springy with all the fallen pine needles. The air was so fresh and clear. We followed the blue markers down to the river, where we came across the ubiquitus Finnish hut, complete with fire pit, BBQ and wood shed with loads of wood. Inside the hut was a Finnish man who tried to communicate with us through Google Translate. He had passed us on the trail earlier, and was now sitting in the hut with his little tea pot brewing on the fire. He wanted us to know he had walked 20km to get there. He walks 20km every day to help his knees. His spot for a cup of tea was idyllic, and it must have tasted sublime. Very well earned. Again, it brought home to us how trusting and honest the Finns must be; not only were there BBQ tools for everyone to use, hanging nicely against the firepit, but on the seats someone had obviously forgotten a down jacket, hat and gloves. They had been carefully folded and left there. 

I was sad to leave the forest; we had had such a lovely walk in there, stopping to take many photos and videos, and even got the drone out. We drove on for about 50 minutes to the town of Kokkola, which is famous for it’s old wooden town. We wandered around the old wooden houses, all painted in different pastel colours. These date back to the 1600’s which made me wonder how they had survived WW2, but apparently Kokkola was not a big enough target to hit, so escaped unscathed. It was too far from the front lines of the Winter War or the Continuation War, and was not a target like bigger cities such as Turku and Helsinki. The houses were nice to walk around, and very reminiscent of similar houses we have seen in various Norwegian ports and harbours. Lyn was intrigued by the little mirrors that were attached to the front of some of the houses, but we struggled to find out what they were for. Chat GPT was my friend, and told me that are called “courting mirrors” or “spy mirrors” The mirrors were traditionally used so that people inside the house, could discreetly see who was coming to visit!

We had parked in the car park of our favourite supermarket chain; Prisma, so felt obliged to have a wander around. OMG, it was huge! It had the biggest pick n mix range I had seen, plus also a huge display of Golf Frisbees, so if you ever find yourself in need of one; you know where to come! We stocked up on our favourite cheesey bread; which is fast becoming a daily treat.

We drove on to our next park up, where Lyn has yet again excelled. We are right at the end of a fishing harbour, surrounded by sea and boats, with views over the sea in every direction, and islands off in the distance. Lyn has been oustide with his bioculars, watching the sunset and chatting to some locals, who thanked him very much for “liking Finland”! They were impressed to hear he has been dipping in the Batic Sea and said he is “more Finnish than most Finnish men!

Last night was peaceful on the dock, until the fishing boats started to leave at 4am. We managed to get back to sleep, and woke at about 8am. It was an stunning morning. The sea was all shades of blue, and the sky co-operated too. We even had sun. We had a very lazy start to the day, and even both managed yoga on the dock. 

Today ended up being a day Carling would be proud of. It was probably my favourite day of the holiday so far. We followed the advice of the Finnish ladies Lyn spoke to last night, and drove 3km back down the road and parked up to take a tiny walk on a forest path to the prettiest beach. It was perfect. The sand was golden, the sea calm and blue, and beautiful rocks to sit on. The sea temperature was 6 degrees and the air temperature 5, but we had to go in. It was blissful. It was tempting to stay in longer, but we had to be sensible and head back to Dwti for a hot shower and a warm-up. We had lunch, but I didn’t want to leave. 

I managed to talk Lyn into wrapping up, grabbing the box of matches and thermos mugs of tea and hot chocolate and we headed back down to the beach. We used some of the newspaper left kindly in the shelter, and some of the neatly stacked logs to make a fire in the fire pit, after Lyn had used the axe and saw to create some smaller logs. 

It was blissful. I was truly in my happy space. Imagine the sun beating down, the sound of soft waves, golden sand, bright blue skies, the smell of a fire, the scent of fir trees and the whole beach to ourselves. It was a heavenly spot. It was exactly what we needed, a chance to relax outside and just be in nature. The beach was as beautiful as those I’ve visited in the Caribbean and the Maldives, and the memories of it will stay with me forever. One of those perfect hours in life. Simple things!

I eventually had to drag myself away, but not without making a mental note to google the price of cabins nearby! We had another quick stop at Prisma (getting to be a guilty habit now!) and headed on to our next parking spot for the night. Such a beautiful day.