May 18th: Vasa to Oulu

The day dawned early,bright and with a cool but not unpleasant breeze. The 5 cars all set off on their own timetables to meet up that afternoon at  Oulu, the 6th largest city in Finland with a population of about 14,000. We (Wendy Tim and I ) decided to start with  a quick look around Vasa before setting out for Oullu. The town is  on the sea so we went back to the venue from the previous evening's dinner down at the old wharf area wharf to look around.

Wendy and Tim with the car at the waterfront

Street sculpture near the old customs house, oulu

The restaurant where we ate the night before

Then it was off on the road north and the road was similar to what we had seen the day before; flattish country with straight main roads and a surprising amount of agriculture.  A lot of very nice houses out there

Two examples of the fields and farmhouses

 We soon  were alongside a large inlet of the sea and found ourselves enveloped  in mist that was pouring inland from offshore.

As soon as we went away from the coast the temperature went up from 3 degrees to 9 degrees and sunshine appeared.
Then we turned off the main road and followed a smaller road. On the way we passed a rather fine looking monument.........

 so we stopped and learned its history from the Russo-Sweden war and of an heroic defence of the crossroads by  some Finnish troops.

 The nearby village was very picturesque and we had another photo-stop.

Next we turned onto an even smaller road and went back to the end of the road at a small weekender and fishing community - again lots of fog and  some surreal pictures of waves, seas, boats, houses and even a swan in the ethereal atmosphere.

A trip across country on an even smaller gravel road was  decided against as we were uncertain we could get out at the other end.
On the way back we saw a single Common Crane in a field and tried to get some good pictures.

By now it was nearing lunch time but we pushed on a for a while and then turned off a what we thought was a small waterfall but turned out to be a natural bar turned into a sluice gate and fish ladder.

The waterfall with the fish ladder in the foreground

Very pretty but it was amazing how brown the water was with humic acids.
Later we stopped for fuel  (cheaper than in UK) and saw an old Russian helicopter that had two main rotors contra-rotating and no tail rotor at the filling station.

The helicopter is behind the gravel but you can see the 2 sets of rotors 

The road into  Oulu was finally a motroway and we arrived about 1600 and found we were the first to arrive despite our various excursions.  One thing we have noticed here is how law abiding the drivers are with nobody speeding - there are speed cameras everywhere it is true.And many times we come up behind local traffic travelling exactly 10 kph below the limit!
As the others arrived there was good news - the Discovery with the broken window now had a perspex replacement panel that Bob had made up after some shopping at a DIY store in Vasa; but there was also bad news - sadly Ahmed has had an apparent  fuel pump failure in his Mercedes SUV and will not be able to follow us until at least Friday - if the part gets here from Hannover and if it works.  He already had had his share of rotten luck when the other car in the shipping container across the Atlantic broke loose and smashed up the front of his nearly new car and broke the inter-cooler which had to be imported from the USA as is a feature unique to that market (his home).
After a discussion on options for everybody over the next few days T, W and I went for  a walk downtown  through the riverside park  next to the hotel. It is great  with lots of sculptures in the gardens  and fountains in the river and a great barrage across the river which puts the river level above the ground floor of the hotel!

The water level beyond the wall was above our waist level

The barrgae to the right and the fish ladder  alongside the near wall

One of the sets of fountains with the barrage at the back

Town was OK and after our walk  past the cathedral

- the inside was plain but impressive

and the town hall

...........we came back to a superb dinner at the hotel. The others had all gone downtown in search of a place to eat - however, the hotel was very good indeed. A very Finnish gourmet style with plenty of fish, dried reindeer and local crayfish and salmon, all superb Wendy had a very fancy desert

We have decided to alter our route and go inland after the first stretch of main road tomorrow and take in more of the inland area that is the home of the Lapps and Father Christmas! Tonight we are in almost 24 hour daylight and at 65 degrees north. Tomorrow should see us cross the Arctic Circle at 66 degrees 33 minutes.