I cycled virtually to the southernmost tip of Finland on a bike called The Green Emerald. From the other side of town. And the little seaside town is called Hanko, The Pearl of the Baltic.
We discovered it only because a holiday to the Seychelles had been too hot for my wife. So the following year we decided to go somewhere cold, like Finland, the land of ice and Santa Claus. On the first year we went there it was hotter than the Seychelles had been.
But last Monday I left a sun baked Britain where it has been around 30 degrees for weeks and weeks. Not a spot of rain for ages. And I stepped off the plane in Helsinki into 14 degrees and rain all the next day. My wife, who chose to stay at home in the sweltering heat, was so envious.
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It's the Hanko Regatta and beach yoga combined. A very nice view
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We didn't have the best of weather while I was there, but seeing the sun set over the Baltic horizon from HUS beach is one of the things I have to do when visiting Hanko. The quiet lapping of the waves on the granite boulders and reeds, the beautiful scent of pine trees, the orange glow of the sun on the horizon.......it's beautiful
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Secrets of the Finnish Archipelago, No.1 .
With 75% of its country covered in forest, 180,000 lakes and 20,000 islands, it shouldn’t be any surprise that there are a few hidden secrets in Finland. And with relatively few foreigners who explore beyond Helsinki’s harbour front, it’s not surprising people don’t know a lot about the country. Or that Finland, as an independent nation, has only existed 100 years (the centenary was last year). In fact, having holidayed in Finland every summer except 2017 since 2011 I still have never met another British person on my travels in Finland apart from at Helsinki airport’s Departure gate.
When I’ve said I’m going on holiday, people have normally said, “Going anywhere nice?” Isn’t that probably the daftest question in the world? (Make sure you never say it again! After all, who in their right mind gets up in the morning and trudges off to work, day after day, week after week, month after month, trying to save up enough money to escape somewhere, only to book their precious ‘me’ time in some awful arsehole of a place, with filthy accommodation, terrible food, freezing wet weather and a complete lack of pleasantness? Eh? Just how many masochists are there out there?) But when I do say I am going to Finland, normally the reply is, “Oh!” with a downturned inflection at the end, as if they have no idea what to say next! Word really hasn’t got out that Finland is a beautiful, well organised country with high standards of everything including hygiene and a healthy way of living, and extremely polite and friendly people. It genuinely baffles me why I see so few foreigners, such as Brits, there.
On the one hand I want to tell people what a great place it is, but I have genuine mixed feelings about sharing some secrets. After all the Finns don’t want every Tom, Dick or Harry flooding into the country (It’s probably bad enough with me going there repeatedly). So I shall share this with just the few of you who read this.
Wenoxa. It’s an island in the Turku Archipelago. You can find it on Google Map spelt Vanoxa, Kimito island municipality. By any other means you will probably never ever locate it amongst the myriad of islands on the map.
I knew we were going somewhere, but had no idea where, in the high speed 21 foot aluminium Anytec boat. We had been weaving in and out of literally hundreds of forested islands (many with beautiful wooden holiday cabins nestled on pink and grey granite slabs amongst the tall pines by the water’s edge) under a blue sky with puffy white clouds, for hours already when we turned a corner into what appeared to be a little cove. I thought, a pirate cove.
Slowing down to steer the boat into the enclosed bay, we passed granite boulders and slabs topped with dense forestation towards some signs of human occupation in the deepest corner of the bay. The stern of what could be an old galleon alongside a wooden jetty jutted out, and then more low lying sheds around it came into sight. There was a traditional old Finnish wooden house partially visible, set back on higher ground above the hidden harbour. And I noticed a couple more smaller boats were tucked away, in quieter waters between other wooden walkways and an old timber boat shed and slipway.
Tying up our boat we clambered up onto the jetty, past a shed that was a glasswork gallery and along the gangway towards a door opening into one side of the ‘galleon’. One can’t help but be somewhat startled when entering it for it is a light and airy cabin ‘restaurant’ with galleon style windows down either side and at the end, which look out to the sea. The planked wooden deck rises towards either end of the boat. And it is fitted out with wooden tables and chairs and with an authentic nautical air, a kitchen, galley style at the landward end, you can really believe you are on a galleon. But as a first time visitor, with wide eyes, I followed the others outside to another decked area and then onto terra firma. We were surrounded by a random mixture of corrugated tin roofed and tiled sheds and huts, a workshop, a green house, machinery and oddments scattered all around. And surprisingly, a line of golf carts for the nearby 10 hole golf course hewn out of the heart of the island’s forest. Heading inland up a grassy track there were stone sculptures dotting the route, and ‘interesting’ objects rusting and decaying amongst the long grass and vegetation. Surely the golf course must be more rough than green but we never got that far, and returned to sit ourselves on wooden benches in the sunshine alongside the ‘galleon’. The owners, husband and wife served us cold beer, and settled to chat to their visitors interested to answer our questions and find out from where we had come. At my suggestion that this hidden treasure deserved a mention on Tripadvisor, they shrank back, the husband actually saying he once had a nightmare about boatloads of visitors coming round the headland into the bay. With a twinkle in his eye I got the distinct impression he quite liked the quiet life…the good life…. growing their own vegetables, mowing the grass on the golf course, sawing his own planks to make sheds and decking, and stopping for a breather every so often to chat to a visitor to their own little paradise. And in winter, delighting at the occasional convenience of driving their car over the frozen sea to civilization for a little bit of shopping. He looked at peace with the world, a gentle smile on his face surrounded by a clipped white beard under a flat cap and a ponytail to the rear.
You can find that tranquility in Finland with your own pink and grey sun-warmed slab of granite to sunbathe on, fish from, light a camp fire, on an island of your own for the day or night. Pick your own little hidden paradise island and secretly rediscover yourself .
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The Hanko peninsula stands at the southernmost tip of Finland jutting out into the Baltic Sea. It's a landmark for migrating birds who use it to navigate on their long journeys and a place to overfly and minimise the distance they are exposed over water. It is also historically of strategic military value and has been fought over by the British and Russians. The landscape is marked by gun positions and defences, most notably when the recently born sovereign state of Finland had to fight off overwhelming Russian forces through all of World War II. The Finns bought aircraft and armaments wherever they could get them using both British and German equipment. Although ridiculously outnumbered the Finns fought off the might of the Russian Army.
My photo shows a concrete block from an old gun position on the peninsula.......in the drizzle. There's something about the random spray paint on the concrete I like. It seems to blend with the landscape, and of course I love the iconic Hanko white beach huts in the background along Gunnarsstrand.
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