Jeff: A night with the bears

We got up the next morning and we headed to the local leisure centre where we paid 5.50 euro and had access to the gym, swimming pool, sauna and showers. Its been a long time since we were last in the gym and it was nice to be back (and not purely running or using outdoor gyms) which I know is a little sad but also true. However the gym wasn’t as stocked with the cardio machines as we are used to, having only 1 treadmill and 1 cross trainer. As I wanted to do a run before the workout we had to think of our options and I had read that there was a running track so we asked where it was and was told it was downstairs. This centre was a maze and after walking around in what could only be described as a basement for almost 10 minutes we found a long thin room with three lanes to run in but they were only about 60 meters long. Down in this room was also some free weights, a climbing wall, a bouldering wall and a large trampoline. Anyway we managed a bit of a run before going to use some weights and then headed for a nice swim, sauna and shower before leaving feeling very chilled. We then spent the day exploring the city and got on the bikes to cycle around one of the lakes in the town, which is one of the over 180,000 lakes in this country. We then headed back to the place we parked last night to chill by the beach for a bit as it was sunny but there was a chill in the wind so we didn’t spend too long out there. It was long enough however to watch some locals playing on their boat and towing an inflatable and trying to stay on it.

The next day was Monday and it was a bit of a chilled day, we are stuck in this town for a few days as we have a trip planned on Tuesday evening so we used the day to clean, tidy and managed to find some half decent (although not that fast) wifi to upload stuff on the internet. We also ached after the gym as its been a while since we actually lifted any weights.

Tuesday started with a run around the lake we had cycled around as we knew it was flat and we could actually plan a 10k route for the first time. It wasn’t a fast run but we both managed it and then we had some breakfast before heading back to the leisure centre where we had a swim, sauna and a shower. After that we had to service the van and pop to Lidl for the last bits of food before heading East towards the Russian border. About a mile from the Russian border we turned left but not before seeing the cameras that watch the area to ensure people do not cross and to ensure only people with permits enter the restricted zone which is around 1km each side of the border. We reached our destination a bit early and got ourselves ready for our vegan bear hunt. The place also does husky tours in the winter and has about 150 huskies and some reindeers which we got to see before we headed off on the trip. This involved us, a family and a German man being taken into the woods and into a bear hide to watch for bears. We had to walk quietly from the car into the woods so we wouldn’t spook the bears and we entered the wooden building which had three windows of one way glass with disguised holes for cameras and comfy chairs as we could be here awhile. There were also bunkbeds, a rustic toilet and blankets if you got cold. The hut was about 1.7km or just over 1mile from the Russian border so still outside the restricted zone but some of the tours go into the zone and for these you have to give them all your details before you go as they have to register you to get a permit.

The tour we went on does use food to encourage the bears to the space in front of the hide and most companies do this as it increases the chances of seeing bears but not all companies do. Its always a difficult choice as feeding them does impact their lives more but mostly it is food like salmon they would catch anyway and the aim is not too much so that they still need to hunt or gather berries.

We sat in the hide and some bears were already having a look to see if there was any food for them, which they had just placed, the bears know what time the food is placed and come regularly although some may go elsewhere for awhile and then come back months later. First there was a large male who they think is over 5 years old and he was enjoying the best bits of the food. Shortly after another two bears came to join him and they all explored and snacked on the food. There was a bit of tension between these three bears and it looked, at one point, that there would be a little bit of an argument but it was clear who was the top bear and the others backed off. As food is used to attract bears it also attracts birds and sea eagles who are keen to get in on the action. The birds were gutsy and were not too bothered by the bears but did flock more once the bears wandered off into the forest. The sea eagles were more cautious, mostly due to the number of other birds, and would watch and then swoop down to steal some of the salmon. There were two or three sea eagles and they were huge and great to watch but you had to be very patient.

The activity outside died down a little so it was tea and cake time and the guide had bought us vegan chocolate cake which was appreciated and just as we were finishing it three bears came to find a snack. These three explored more and as some fish was placed in the trees they did some climbing to get it and were more active, as they were younger. They wandered around the area and did get quite close to the hide but they were far more jumpy and you could tell that they could sense/smell humans nearby and as the hunting season has just started this may have made them a little more jumpy.

After they had eaten the rest of the food they retreated into the woods and we waited a little bit longer to see if any other animals would come but after awhile we all agreed to head back as it was getting darker. In total we saw 4 different bears in the two groups of three and two or three sea eagles.

We headed back to Jeff and started the drive back and soon caught up with the German driver who had stopped at the side of the road. We also stopped and soon saw why he had stopped. There were two moose at the edge of the forest eating which was very exciting as we haven’t yet seen any moose. There was one larger moose and a smaller one but neither had horns/antlers. They were aware we were there and a little jumpy but we sat and watched them for a bit before carrying on back towards the town and our stop for the night. Its been a fabulous night all in all.

The next morning we headed back to the town for an hour so we could use the free WIFI again to just upload all our pictures and save them (while having breakfast) before heading south to Hossa National park. The drive took about an hour to the park and first we went into the visitors centre to work out where in the park was best to park. The plan is to do an easy mountain biking route that I have found but we couldn’t find on google where it starts. Having found the start was about 6km away we jumped back into Jeff and headed off further into the park. Once we got to the car park we had some lunch before heading off down the path on the bikes. it started with a nice gravel path to lure us into some sense of security and then it started with the smaller paths lined with slippery tree roots, dips, sand banks, mud and duck boards. We did struggle to start with as it was a bit harder than we had thought it would be and we had to get off the bikes several times to walk them around large sections of roots if we didn’t have enough speed or weren’t in the right position to get over them. The duckboards (essentially a thin board or two over muddy sections) proved difficult as well as usually the start and end were surrounded with roots and Rich found them a little too thin to ride on. We did get more confident as the ride continued and managed to get over more of the different terrains but it still wasn’t something we were comfortable with. The views were supposed to be stunning but most of the time we were concentrating on not crashing to pay too much attention. The whole root was just under 14km and a suggested time for it was 1 hour 30 and we ended up finishing it in 1 hour 40 having managed not to fall off once which we were happy about.

After that we headed a bit further south to the field of 1000 quiet people which is an art installation that started in Helsinki and travelled to several different countries (including the UK) before being placed near Suomussalmi. The quiet people are essentially 1000 scarecrows/crosses dressed up with turf for their heads. It’s quite eerie really and I'm glad we knew it was here rather than just getting scared when you drive past it as they glare over the main road. We parked up here for the night and chilled as we are quite tired after the last couple of days.