The Bothnian Sea National Park

The Bothnian Sea National Park, or Selkämeri, was established in 2011 and occupies a 160 kilometre strip along the coast. 98% of it is water. There isn’t much hiking or cycling to be done, most of its visitors come for bird-watching, pootling around in a kayak, or diving. Nonetheless I was keen to visit, particularly to the most northern section, on a peninsula that extends northwest from the town of Pori and which includes several beaches. The most notable of the beaches is Yyteri, which at 6 kilometres, is the longest beach in Scandinavia. With the weather as warm and dry as it is at the moment, yesterday reached 27C, it is still a popular destination from loungers, paddlers and swimmers. It has a large hotel resort complex about two kilometres south from where I was parked. The coast is of sand dunes and pine forest, with holiday cabins scattered at random, and lots of them. In the late 1990s a links golf course was constructed, Ravintola, and has gone on to achieve quite a bit of fame, often named in ‘best golf course’ lists, and in the Top 100 website.

That famous golf course in the background

Add to all that that dogs are not allowed on the beach, and it would be reasonable to surmise that it wouldn’t be my sort of place. Fortunately though, there are two smaller, and much quieter beaches to the north, and a pleasing maze of tracks running through the forest. That was plenty to keep us occupied for a couple of days.

Aware that outdoor opportunities, for Roja and I at least, would be limited, we moved south of Pori this afternoon to see a bit more of the coastline, and are currently on the Väkkäränperä fjord. We will most likely stay just one night, but were able to get out on foot for 90 minutes to see the area.

Just after we settled, Roja to doze, and me to watch the cricket, a car pulled up with a mother and her daughter and their three whippets. They had come for the dogs to swim and chase hoops. It was low tide so there was plenty of muddy sand. Roja took an interest of course, especially as two of them were female, but I think it’s been a long time since he has seen whippets, at least when they move quickly – and it was the end of a day in which we were out for 10 kilometres this morning, and another three or four late this afternoon. He just stood and watched for five minutes, then returned to his bed.