Now, to some, it may seem strange to make a serious tourist trip only 23 miles away from your home, but in this world of North-Karelia, it can be a remarkable distanse. Our towns are pocketed in their own munipacities, surrounded and divided by forest. They can have totally different characteristic populations and quirks, and often carry their own cultural pride. They are joined together by a network of gravel roads and little rivers. Paved, straight highways are scarse in North-Karelia.
Tuupovaara is one such a town, that is set slightly aside from the main road, and thus most people drive past it. On my forest adventures, I have driven through the town a few times, but this time, I desided to get better familiar with it. After all, it was a splendid summer day!
Teboil of Kovero, an oasis in the desert
I started by fueling my car and my own coffee-running engine at the gas-station in Kovero, where the main road takes a turn towards Tuupovaara. There I also red the local newspaper, Pogostan Sanomat. It notified me about a summer event happening in Tuupovaara today! The promise was for food, free entertainment, lottery and pancakes on campfire. Sounds good!
Then I began to investigate the location. I had never heard of it. No one else in the world seems to have head of it either. It did not show on any maps. No search brought it up online.
Eventually, I found that 1 person had made a brief video of the location on youtube, in his hiking trail videos. He used a drone to take video from up in the air, and let me tell you – you can barely even see this place through the forest that covers it. There is a campfire with some benches, and a cabin that looks smaller than my flat, grey and worn-out, and a short jetty to the lake. This is, where there is going to be an event?
My mind began to draw images of the forest spawning the worst kind of inbred hillbillies, that gather to such places to get totally wasted on moonshine, shag and fight and eventually drown or throw a few of their own in the lake, or make other kind of sacrifice. Do I really want to go there and risk getting involved? Well, I desided to brace myself and just go. This is what you came here for, Venla!
Still, one had to find the place somehow. I asked the man who keeps the gas-station, and he kindly brought me another man, from among those who sit outside the gas-station and watch the traffic. He gave me very clear driving instructions. What gents, both of them!
Follow what you can through differing realities
I had a couple of hours before the start of the event, so I desided to check out another location in Tuupovaara in the meantime. A place called Ullakko (attic). It gets mentioned in papers and other instances sometimes, so it is assumably some kind of a hotspot. However, I had difficulty to figure out where it was too! Clearly, you cannot trust Google maps in North-Karelia, and I would not advice anyone to rely, or even use it! I have very nearly died a few times by following Google maps in the country roads, and even in town, it seems to show locations that clearly are not there. So I have long since given up on it and just rely on other sources available.
Driving along the main road through Tuupovaara town, there are very few signposts. Markletplace, church, and an old post that says “Kaksi kalaa”(2 fishes), with an indicator for accomodation. I had driven past this sign before, and I was sure that such a place does not exist, that it must be an old hostell that has long since gone bankrupt. But just today, as I was writing this post, I checked it out and it appears, that it is real! Overall, North-Karelia is full of places and sights and services, that either are, or aren’t there, and places that market themselves with enthusiasm, but don’t give you any indication of how to get there, how to contact them, and even less of when they are open.
It seems, that people here rely on everyone here just knowing these things. So the best way to get around is to rely on these people. I did just that, and I had no trouble at all. By asking someone, I found Ullakko too, - and to my surprise, it was where Google Maps said it was!
Colonialisation by administration
In Ullakko, which was a very pretty old wooden house, I found two very engaging women doing their thing. Currently they were arranging a little exhibition of old postcards, and one of them explained to me how she was arranging them by what flowers are portrayed in them. Roses in their own category and tulips in their own section etc. Interesting choice!
The other one was nearly yelling at me, but I soon realized that it was just her way to talk. She told me, that there used to be an art exhibition in the upstairs of the building too, but when the town of Tuupovaara joined the city of Joensuu, Joensuu STOLE all their art exhibition and moved it over there. Now Joensuu holds their exhibition as their own, in a whole another settlement, and benefits from it too. This theme of colonialisation by administration is something I heard the locals talk about in other instances as well. I will write more about it in another blog post. Please stay tuned!
Kesäpilkkeet – not a scary summer event
It was time to step outside my comfort-zone and risk this event that I had planned for today. I found the location as it was instructed to me. It was that place in the woods with a tiny jetty and a campfire and a shed shown in the hiking video. But there was nobody there. I was alone, at what appeared like a place for swimming. There was a big sign with the name of the place too, and it matched with the name of the place pointed in the event ad. So where was everybody?
I looked around a bit. This kind of tiny swimming places are known to me from my childhood. Nothing better than to take a dip in one of these, in solitude from the world. You can swim naked, let your dog swim, no one is there to see you, beautiful nature around.
But now, my eyes catch information tables of terror! No dogs allowed! No smoking! Keep children at an arm’s length! Watch out for blue-green algae!
When did the world become like this? And the worst: These ‘information tables’ claim to teach you how to live ‘responsibly’. As if you were a bad person if you enjoyed yourself like you used to – like all generations before you have done, freely, respectfully. It is like the purpose of putting these sign posts here is to bring the surveillanse and judgement of the world to these isolated places, where you are not otherwise watched.
I want to tell you, dear reader: Let your dog swim! It will love it! Smoke if you want to! Hell, swim in blue-green algae if you feel like it! There is nobody here, at this little swimming place! And even if, don’t be afraid of your fellow man. Enjoy yourself and live your life! The signposts are not alive and watching you. Those people who write signposts and do ‘responsible’ have no life. That’s why they want to control your life. Don’t let them.
Anyway, where is this event? On my way back along the road, I saw a couple of cars driving further down, and desided to follow them. And there we are! At another small beach location, with another campfire and another grey and worn out cabin of minuscule caliber, there were a good couple dozen people present! There was the promised food – moose meat soup with bread (5€/serving), promised entertainment (improvisation theatre group, quite fun), and coffee and pancakes. No moonshine that I could spot, and nobody was wasted or drowned. Some people arrived on boats across the lake, and everyone had a warmly fun time. I didn’t win anything in the lottery, but I am glad that I risked it!
The event was hosted by Tuupovaaran Pilkekylät Ry, which is a little assosiation of joined nearby villages.
Pizza in Wirsuvaara.
After the event, I felt like risking another location that I had prejudice about. Wirsuvaara is a hotel-restaurant at the heart of Tuupovaara, where someone gets a bottle to their head almost every weekend. So I have red on many occasions in Pogostan Sanomat.
I entered the establishment to see people already on the dancefloor and sounding mildly tipsy, at 3 PM. In that sense the place stood up to it’s reputation. However, the staff was very professional, even classy by North-Karelian standard. I ordered a pizza and a soda. The pizza was good, but small. I wonder why. Usually these off-chain restaurants serve the biggest pizzas to build trade by reputation. Also, usually in pizza-places around here, the serving comes with coffee for dessert, so I asked the waitress if my order included any coffee. She said, that she would ask in the kitchen – and I assumed that she must be new and not certain about it. When she returned, she told me that coffee isn’t usually part of the pizza order, but they had a birthday party earlier that day, and there was some leftover cake! So she offered me strawberry cake with coffee for free, as a complimentary! This has got to be my lucky day! And what personalized customer experience!
After leaving Wirsuvaara in quite a happy state, I saw an old woman who had fallen down in the parking lot of the shop nearby. She was fine, but witnessing the dedication of the local growd to help her out made me finally convinced, that Tuupovaara as a whole outshines it’s shady reputation by far!
Rajanpolvi, forgotten history in many layers
After a visit to the restaurant, it was a good time to burn some energy! So I did a quik online search for some forest adventure location! As some of you know, I like to pinpoint historical or otherwise interesting locations in the backwoods and check them out. Such places are many in this area. The hilltop villages around Tuupovaara hold many legends. Every name on a map holds a story to it.
On the official Tuupovaara website, I found a mention of a place called “Rajanpolvi“(Border’s knee). It is literally an old border point between the regions of Kuopio and Viaborg before the last war, and previously a border between kingdoms of Sweden and Russia, and even earlier a point between something else. So we are talking about a marker or an indication in terrain, that likely makes a good referense to use as a border marker.
Again, finding it took some effort. It was not on Google maps, not on terrain maps, not on official maps of finnish museum insitute. Tuupovaara official website gave vague indicators on where it might be, but good enough. I found it!
It was an uplifted slate of stone on a bed of smaller stones. There was a clearly carved line on it, like the letter I or number 1, but nothing else. It was in the deepest jungle. Even though the distanse between the pointer and the road nearby wasn’t much, there was no path leading to the stone, or any indicator telling that there was something there. Where would you even put a path in this kind of terrain? Rocky, forested swamp where each step was a risk. The air was thick of hungry horseflies. Great place for a border zone! No one will want to come through here!
Still, there was an old signpost, that likely had in the past told the story of this place. I cannot imagine it ever having many people reading it, but it made me sad, that now, when someone came here to read it, the story was gone. I hold this kind of story-boards in the woods in high regard. I wish they were better maintained. If only I knew the story, now all of you would too.
Korpiselkä – you made it this far!
I was sweaty and insect-bitten when I made it back into my car. So I thought I’d look for a place to freshen up! There is a nice beach along the road that vaguely follows today’s Finno-Russian Border zone. I had seen it, driving by. Sadly, I forgot wether to take left turn or right turn when coming from Tuupovaara, so ofcourse I took left, and went the wrong way. I drove all the way to the village of Korpiselkä, without seein a glimpse of a beach. However, there is an orthodox chapel there, which I had not yet seen. Might as well check that out.
The chapel was closed. And when I was taking my leave again, my car didn’t start! It does that sometimes ...on a hot day. I had no other option than to let it cool down before starting again.
Just a stone-throw away from the chapel stands a mighty log-house called Korpiselkätalo (the house of Korpiselkä). It offers accommodation, and it crossed my mind to ask for a room, have a shower and a bed and continue adventures tomorrow. There was no one there, but atleast there was an ad poster on the wall, which told me a phone number, and that a room costs 35€.
“I am not present at the house, but I can guide you around so you can find what you need.” – a voice on the line explained.
“Everythign is included! There is a shower, and a TV, but we have problems with the broadcast, from Russian interference. The room costs 40 €. It costs 40€ because I guide you around so you can find the sheets for yourself. Do you have your own sheets? No? Well then the room costs 50€, with the sheets.”
At this point I told her that I’d think about it, and hung up. I wonder what happened to the 35€ and everything included? And how much would the room have cost without russian interference?
Luckily, I still had some coffee in a thermos and sandwitches with me. Always keep coffee and sandwiches, my good people! It will make an emergency wait more enjoyable. And what’s the emergency? It is still but a lovely summer evening! So I enjoyed my car-cooling time with coffee and a lovely view over a glimmering lake!
Wrap the day up in a blanket of magic
Once my car was ready to start I continued my search for a swimming place. The day had already turned late to the evening, but there was no sign of aproaching darkness. These summer nights of my beloved land are but lingering sunsets, where time stands still and the world dwells in golden light. There is a quiet, mysterious humm in the ambience. It forms somewhere in the forests and resonates somewhere in the lakes, the quietly swirling rivers an the clouds of mosquitos across the landscape. It all blends into one sound in the still air that carries each whisper far. There is no boundary between one sound and another, no boundary between earth and ether.
In this atmosphere I arrived at Koskenniska. It is a tiny museum site by gentle rapids that displays an old mill site, and Timo-Hilippa’s trapping path. I made a little video about that earlier, you can watch it here.
However, ofcourse the museum was closed at this time of night. I came here to see the small swimmign place next to the museum, and to feel the magic in the water. This is, to me, one of those places that make me believe in the water-folk, the fae that live in the lakes and rivers. There is something close to the surface about the vibes here. Something that leads your mind to step into the water, take a dive through the surface, and meet those who live under.
There were other people there too, at Koskenniska. Maybe three or five, I did not count. We did not even look at eachother. We did not speak to eachother. But we all were aware of eachother and welcomed eachother in this place. To speak a word would break the tranguility of the evening. To greet another would have violated the understanding. Destroyed that, which allowes drifting-by souls to merely linger here, at this time in the endless sunset. There was nothing awkward about it, even though all social norms would say otherwise. I do not know where else in the world strangers can meet on the same shore, and just be quiet and totally comfortable with it.
Not far from Koskenniska is an old deepwoods burial-ground called Pörtsämö. I thought to myself: what a better place to stay overnight than an isolated ancient graveyard! So I parked my car outside the gate and desided to try sleeping there overnight. I have a very distant memory of this place, from my early childhood, or maybe even a past life. Or maybe it was a dream? But from somewhere, I remember coming here a long time ago with my family, and someone had told a tale that was then mentioned. According to the tale, some local person succeeded to bring their son back to life from the dead here. Quite a disturbing story and thus it was printed in my mind.
Wether it is true, I cannot say. There does not seem to be a line between reality and fantasy when it comes to these stories, and these places. There is a tiny path leading into the woods, as I see it from my car at the graveyard gate. A signpoint says ‘Loma-Kitsi 9km’. I look it up online with my cellphone, and Loma-Kitsi is a holiday reserve, in a whole another region. Clearly this signpost is wrong by indicating that to be in fact located in that forest somewhere. Then again, we are in Tuupovaara. It either is, or it isn’t. Maybe I’ll take that chance one day.
Tips for travelling the gravel roads in North-Karelia
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Learn some locations and activities beforehand. They really do not tell much of themselves and you miss some real gems hidden away from the main roads.
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Start early in the morning. Most places and services close early.
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Have some picnic supplies with you, just in case.
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Have a travelling map on paper with you. Don’t leave yourself reliant on the internet or digital maps.
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Likewise, Not all info can be found online. Engage with the people. Read the local newspaper. Read the shop's billboard. Digital world is digital world. Reality is something else. Enjoy the reality! Leave digi in the office!
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Distances are surprisingly long here. Have your favorite car music to make just driving around enjoyable.
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Fill your tank up when you can, you wont see another gas station.
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Don’t even try these roads with a Tesla, they were made in horse-and-wheel era.
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Step out of your comfort zone! This is how adventures happen!
