Would Finland cross your mind when you think of a
vacation on inline skates? Well, not mine, until I heard some enthusiastic stories of some
friends who have skated there already. Since 1992, each year, the Helsinki Street Gliders
organise Finline, an inline skate tour which takes you of a six day roadtrip through
Finland. The concept is simple: rent a bus, book some accommodations and find a group of
skate-crazy people.
The 2007-edition of Finline led us through the lake district
in the South-eastern part of Finland. Bart, Wout, Angelika I myself arrived in Helsinki a
few days earlier so we could explore the city, before going into the rural part.
The center of Helsinki is not very skatable. A lot of old
cobblestone roads. However you can skate around the center along the waterfront. There is
a smooth bicycle path. First we skated on the west coast to the Seurasaari Open-Air
Museum. They've collected old buildings from all over Finland and put them on one island
each within walking distance. Really worth a visit! www.nba.fi/en/seurasaari_openairmuseum
On our way back we skated along the east coast of the
peninsula, where we passed the harbour. If you stay inside Helsinki, there is not much to
skate. Get into contact with the local skaters for a tour out of the center. On Sunday we
visited the Suomenlinna Museum island just south of Helsinki where you can see the old
fortress.
On Monday we met the other skaters from Finland,
Sweden, France, Russia, USA, Germany and the Netherlands. The bus took us in the direction
of Russia. Just 265km away from St Petersburg we started our tour on skates. The weather
was excellent. The group was split up in smaller groups with people of similar speed. In
six days we skated to our destination, about 460km from the start. The landscape was
diverse: hilly roads through forests, flat agricultural areas and of course beautiful
lakes.
The roads are a bit rough and at times very rough. So
bringing speed skates is not a good idea, use a softboot. Around cities, you'll find wide
bicycle tracks, but for the most part, you share the roads with the cars. Usually there is
not much traffic, but since there are not so many roads, the major links between cities
can be busy.
Each evening everyone went into the sauna, which is immensely
popular in Finland. Every hotel has one. This is the place where you socialise, bring beer
and some snacks. And die-hards change the sauna for a jump in the lake or pool every so
many minutes.
The accommodation ranged from four-start hotels in a city, to
converted holiday farms at a lake-side in the middle of nowhere. Even there, we did not
experience one bug bite, but I guess we were lucky. A few times we got wet from a short
shower, but most of the time it was very warm. The distances ranged from 70 to 108km and
you should be in good shape to enjoy the tour.
Thanks to the Helsinki StreetGliders, Anna, Panu, Joha,
Pekka, Johanna, the bus driver Kirsi, the foreign skaters, for a great trip!
(video: still to be published)
More information at: www.katukiitajat.fi/english/finline/
Panu's wonderful report: www.katukiitajat.fi/english/finline/2007/album/index.htm
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