Safe Return Doubtful

Sunday morning in Southern Konnevesi National Park was quiet, and much cooler after than rain from the previous day. We repeated the hike that we had done yesterday, but in reverse. Just before we were going to depart a lady in a high visibility jacket stopped me. She was a National Park volunteer and responsible for parking, which at the time seemed unnecessary as there were only two other vehicles. She told me that today was the tenth anniversary of the Park, and that there were some special celebrations. I asked if a lot of people were expected to attend, she said that it was impossible to know, word had only been passed out by social media. 

She was really keen for me to attend. The event was to be marked at the shelter by the lake just more than a kilometre away, there was to be tea and coffee, cake, and traditional music. Seeing as it was in only an hour, and there were so few people, I felt I needed to attend, and after a brief respite, Roja and I headed down to the lake. by now there were quite a few people, the car park was busy, mainly with cars with families, and there was a coach dropping off about thirty older people. We didn’t stay long down at the lake, but it certainly was memorable. There were some very short speeches from dignitaries, and two sets of musicians. The highlight from the first was the performance of the Finnish Reindeer Calling Chant; I was being talked through proceedings by the same parking lady in the hi-vis jacket. Apparently it is taught to kids in primary school, so pretty much all Finns know it. A version of it is here.

The second set of musicians were four men who were members of the Shouting Men’s Choir of nearby Huutujat, who had achieved some fame five years ago, and even reached the top ten of the Finnish hit parade. This is a traditional style of Sámi music,  though it is dying out. The video is of the whole choir performing at the Southbank Centre in 2017. A version of it is here.

Exhausted from music and having to be on our best behaviour, we left in the early afternoon, and drove via the city of Jyväskylä where I managed an hour’s sauna, and then on for an hour to the Himos ski resort just outside Jämsä. This is a relatively new resort built with special attention being given to erosion of the hills, and offering holiday and retirement cabins around the forest. It offers sport for the whole year, with a smart golf course, mountain biking and hiking for when there is no snow. It lessens erosion by rotating the slopes used for downhill skiing, and actually tending the grass slopes for the rest of the year. The authorities are strict on prohibiting skiing until enough snow has fallen, which otherwise can be a major cause of erosion. Yesterday though, there was hardly anyone around. We parked up at the top of the hill, took an hour out to nose around, though that was now between heavy showers. 

This morning we took in the hike called Trail of the Hill that I had looked at the previous evening, about 10 kilometres, and very pleasant on a cool and fresh morning. 

I then drove into Jämsä to stock up at the Lidl grocery store. Strangely, Lidl has the best bread, fruit and veg of all the supermarkets here. On the way into the car park I was surprised to be following another British campervan. In the last few days I have hardly seen any other motorhomes or campervans, as we are off the main tourist trails now, and the season has quietened. I haven’t seen any British vehicles for a few weeks now, so I was indeed nonplussed. As we both parked at the same time, I shouted a hello, and it was to Manon, a solo female traveller, not far from my age, who also lived in her van. Throughout this course I haven’t encountered many people who are also living in their vans. I’m sure they are around, but concealed by the masses of holidaying vans on the main routes. We chatted for a while, and exchanged details. Manon had been no-fault evicted from her rental house in Oxford two and a half years ago. Without anywhere to go, she had decided on van life, and been on the road ever since. 

From Jämsä it was only forty minutes to Isojärvi National Park. There are two entry points for hikers here, and I am currently at the southern one, Heretty.

There was a short nature trail which we walked just before the sun went down, at 7ish, and there is a longer trail that we will do tomorrow. More about Isojärvi in the next post.