77.15km –11H02’
Altitude : 91 m
After a break during the 2-hour ferry crossing between Tallinn and Helsinki, which was much appreciated by the whole group, here we are this morning at the heart of the subject. We are crossing Helsinki without first doing a reconnaissance.
Ludo, who will take the plane this evening, will accompany us on today’s course as far as the airport, which is about 20km from the center of town.
At 7:00 AM we reach the center of Helsinki, at the waterfront, from where Serge will start. The streets are empty, the shops closed and a Norman or Breton drizzle joins the party. We take the time for some photos and at 7:30 we are on our way, headed north. It does not take us long to see that Ascension Day is a holiday here too and contrary to France, everything is closed, except a few filling stations, restaurants and garden centers. Not one supermarket, of which there are many, is open. Here the natives take advantage of the holiday to be outside: cycling, hiking with walking poles (Nordic walking), walking with the dog(s), rollerblading with poles and motorcycling, especially because at the end of the morning the sun comes out and the thermometer shows 23°C at the warmest part of the day, as opposed to 10°C this morning when we started.
Serge is immediately in a good mood; actually, he is rarely in a bad mood. He has fun calculating his daily average over the past weeks and he tells us what he sees on the cycle and foot paths. He even gets lost for 1 km on a cycle path that leads to a wood. It’s possible to cover the 45km from Järvepää to Helsinki on cycle and foot paths, which are so wide that they often look like small roads.
This race, which is really a loop not always visible to the naked eye, as opposed to an east-west crossing for example, has often destabilized Serge’ s motivation, but strangely enough, he has been waiting enthusiastically for this arrival in Finland. Heading North toward Lapland represents an important goal for him before he starts South. At the moment, we don’t know exactly where Serge is taking us and it does not bother us at all.
Fair wind and thanks, Ludo, who, to his great relief, has a job waiting for him as of Monday. As Serge says, it’s our Lulu, unique in his own way and who since 1999 has accompanied us for many kilometres on many continents. It creates strong ties! Tonight we will camp at a parking area, in the sun. Long may it last!