14-Jun-2001 -- Thursday June 14, 2001: Visit at 18:30 hours

During our trip's 3 previous confluence visits the weather had been rainy and rather unpleasant, generally speaking, so it was nice to notice gentle summer sun peeking through the clouds. So there was use for sunglasses, after all!

Being situated on a lake region of the country, the confluence seemed first to be not so easy to reach by car. It might even be in water! After a brief moment of assessing the situation and reading the maps, we managed a find a possible route. It seemed like there might be summer cottages along the way, so we prepared to explain our business to local residents, should we meet them.

Most of the way the small dirt road we drove was fairly good, but after turning right from a small intersection about 1km from the estimated confluence site it became apparent that this was going to be a rough ride for our car, which certainly didn't have the frame of an off-road vehicle with lots of road clearance under it.

City-boy laziness or not, we decided to try to drive the car as close as possible, just out of curiosity. It took a bit of careful steering - if the ground had been wet, the outcome might've been different. Several logging trucks had been around moulding the road.

Picture #5 (CP to the right) shows the road and way out of the big clearing which had been mowed clean by forest harvesters. The confluence point was situated 200m north from the road, in the other end of the clearing (near the lake).

We took the snapshots and enjoyed the sunshine for awhile by the lakeside near the confluence and headed then to Kuopio, where we had been promised a place to stay overnight and as we found out later, there was even a sauna - a real treat for weary travellers!

A million thanks goes to our hosts, Jussi and Kirsi!