A lazy lazy morning this morning meant we didn't actually move from
our parking spot in the forest until about midday, then after stopping
at Rovaniemi information centre to pick up a Finland road map, we have
now turned the corner, and are headed south.
Around 14:30 when our rumbling pukus told us it was time for lunch. We
stopped off at a rest area which also boasted a 'point of interest'.
This turned out to be the Ylimaa battle site from 7-9 Oct 1944. With
all the info boards in Finnish we couldn't work out much else though
we figured the Germans were on one side with either the Finns or the
Russians on the other. There is challenge for anyone interested -
find out about the Ylimaa battle and enlighten us - you could even be
published on the blog!!
We took the path through the Northern Finnish/Russian frontline,
across a swamp which must have been no-mans land and back along the
German line. Each line had a number of little dug outs just big
enough to fit one or two solders in. You could imagine them just
sitting in their little holes waiting for someone from the other side
to dare come out into the open of the swamp. We also found along our
path rusted old food cans, buckets etc.
We continued on our way towards the coast and Oulu, when deciding that
Pat seemed a bit sluggish we stopped off to give the tyres a quick
check, only to find one of the back dual wheel tyres completely flat!!
A quickish change with not too many dramas, thanks in part to tyre
changing rehearsals in the back yard (one out of your book Dad
Verry!), and we were back the road.
Oulu seems a delightful town with lots of cycle paths, bridges and a
dominant heavy metal element. There was a concert going on in the
middle of the main street that cost €28 to get into. Or like scores
of locals, you could just go round the block and sit directly behind
the stage for free and get the fill force of the rock music that I
think we were the only ones, who didn't know the words!!
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