Perfect. That’s what I can say of today’s swim. Water was 22 °C. Most of the time I was alone. I swam back and forth the shoreline and played with my camera. I felt privileged to have such great conditions. Public beach in Lake Ojajärvi is pretty typical Finnish lakeside beach: it’s remote and clean, surrounded by forests and has a good (actually brand new!) changing room and a life belt hanging somewhere. One island, closest to the beach, looked like … Read More
Today was the official opening of open water swimming season. Every spring Helsinki-Uusimaa region has a week-long campaign to promote open water swimming and to inspire people to enjoy lovely waters we have in the area. It was the warmest and sunniest campaign start this far. Water temperature in Lake Lohja was astounding 20 °C! All week of sunshine has done its job. First-time-this-spring swimmers took their wet suits off, when they realised water temperature. I had a short swim … Read More
After training life saving inside a swimming hall all day, boy, what a relief it was to walk in Nuuksio National Park, to get some fresh air and to rinse chlorine off my skin in beautiful lake upland. Nuuksio is “Wild Woods and Lakes on Helsinki’s Doorstep”. So true. The Park is easy to reach by public transportation and there are over 80 little lakes and ponds in the area. And few brown bears and wolves… Today I didn’t reach the most … Read More
Now it’s hard to pass by any lake without dipping or swimming in it. So I’m totally addicted after one week. Hooked to daily swims. Especially when weather has been really warm the whole week, and it feels like summer, although it’s early May. Water temperatures have risen to 12-16 °C in Southern Finland. Lake Puujärvi has sea like shores and clear water. Wind had blown warm surface water towards this beautiful beach. Few rocks and gulls here and there. I felt like … Read More
I was driving to seaside, but then I got interested in three tiny lakes, which were not far from the road (not very big road :). When I looked closer to the map, it was easy to choose, which where to go. Lake Pålsträsket is situated by a hill and there are no fields around it. There was also a path leading to it, so I decided to give it a go. I had a short walk through a forest and found … Read More
Today I had to settle for my home lake, Lake Lohja. It was a nice evening swim between two islands and sun going down behind a third island. To get to the small neck of land, I walked a slope path through a forest. There were tiny leaves in trees, but still the landscape looked naked. Yellow reeds sticked out of the water and new green growth waited underwater to pop up. Lucky to spend time by a big lake, … Read More
Lake Sääksjärvi. So clear, so clean, so warm, yet so empty in May. But wait ’till end of school term. Then the long sandy beach is full of people from near and far. Sääksjärvi is the biggest ground water lake in Finland and motor boating is prohibited. Luckily for swimmers. Location: Sääksjärvi, Nurmijärvi (2,6 km²)
There are many picturesque old ironworks villages in South Coast Finland. Teijo is one of them and Teijo area was luckily nominated as National Park just over a year ago. Lake Matildanjärvi in the southern part of the Park is a treasure. You can take a brisk walk along the trail round the lake (5,5 km) and then cool yourself in fresh water of Matildanjärvi. Brown water of the lake had really absorbed sunshine and was surprising warm. I stepped … Read More
I visited this beach many, many years ago. Couple days ago my friend ask me to drive with her to Kemiönsaari and I immediately said yes, because I remembered this wonderful public beach is there. I also remembered I tried to dive from its diving tower, but it was so windy September day, that the tower was swinging back and forth and felt sick standing there. No wind, nor nausea today. Just lots of sunshine on empty beach. It was … Read More
I owe this to Viv. Her exquisite photography and stories have inspired me to take this challenge to swim in 31 different waters, in lakes, ponds, rivers and sea in Finland, in 31 days of May. Let’s see what happens! I’ll visit familiar beaches and other beautiful swimming spots, but I’m sure I’ll find new exiting outdoor swimming locations too. It should be easy, because there are 187 888 lakes to explore… I started this challenge on home ground, swimming … Read More