Today was a long day. I traveled around 850km by three trains, each different.
As part of the journey I had a three hour stop over at one station and 15
minutes at another.
I didn't sleep all that well over night as I suspect I was nervous about
sleeping through the alarm at 5:15am. In reality I was awake at 4:45am so quite
soon after I got up and canceled the alarm setting. It was already light
outside, that grey dull light that makes up the night of the nightless day
experience.
Breakfast was water, a tub or yogurt with a muesli mix (this came as a unit from
the shop) and a banana. So about 5:55am I quietly crept out of the hostel and
headed down the street in the rain. There were lots of puddles to avoid but
this was difficult to manage at the curb when crossing roads.
I wanted to have plenty of time to get to the station as it would be difficult
for me to rush it. The walk at a steady pace pulling my bag took 45 minutes, so
I did get to the station with time to spare and very damp.
I had been expecting a train but what I got was a two carriage self propelling
unit, which we would call a 'rail car'. But this was a very modern version of
what we used to have in New Zealand.
We left on time with me having four seats to choose from. As soon as we started
I realized that I had my back to the direction of travel so I swopped my seat
to face the on coming view.
However, on each of the following trains I traveled with my back to the travel
direction and with reserved seats did not have the opportunity to change. The
trains were generally fairly full.
The first journey was for two hours and we sped along mostly through forest with
an processional view of a lake or river. There were some stops but not many and
some were very small stations surrounded by forest. I wondered where the people
came from or went too. On this trip the low mist gave the forest a mysterious
look as tree shapes emerged and disappeared in the grey mist. I did nod of to
sleep for short periods.
At 9am I arrived at Pieksamaki where I was to spend the next three hours in the
station waiting room. Actually the three hours was 15 minutes longer than
expected as the next train was running late. Nothing was open other than the
ticket office. The kiosk was closed for the weekend so no drinks and the
restaurant did not open till 11am. That was when I could get a welcomed cup of
coffee.
During the three hours the crowd in the waiting room ebbed and flowed as they
went off to catch various trains.
Finally it was time to go to Track 4 for the Intercity which would take me to
Kajaani, a three hour trip. To get to the platform I had to go by tunnel, but
thankfully the lifts were working and so going down and up was not problem. I
was able to avoid the steps, which I was very thankful for.
Intercity trains are fast and comfortable. They do not have the clacky clack of
the NZ trains and on wider gauge do ride more smoothly. The seats are styled
after airline seating but are not quite as comfortable. But they are ok.
Most of this journey was again through forest. Often the rain on the window
smeared into a wet film which diffused the outside view into a shadowy
abstraction. Then during times without rain it could clear and the view became
more distinct.
On this trip I did get to see more lakes and some seemed large. We crossed
canals and I knew that from seeing locks. There were several rivers. Every now
and then a clearing in the forest and some farming flashed by, to be quickly
replaced by trees again. We did stop at some larger towns with names I can not
recall, even if I could pronounce them correctly.
From Kajaani I downgraded to a regional express. Here the carriages were all
single level, were as on the Intercity some had been two levels. I have not yet
been seated up stairs but not to worry.
The express had luggage shelving so I was able to store my bag correctly. The
train left Kajaani pretty crowded but as we stopped along the way we deposited
more than we picked up. At Oulu, which is a coastal city and port I believe,
the process of crowded train and then drop offs repeated itself.
As Finland is "flat as" the trains could get up to good speeds and we would
race along. At one stage when we were close to a road, I watched a couple of
cars pulling caravans and they were obviously not going slowly. We quite
quickly left them behind so I assumed we were doing more than 80km per hr. The
closest trees were just one continuous blur.
We traveled past more lakes and one time I realised that we were actually on top
of a dam and the lake was feeding a hydro electric power station, which I then
spotted on the other side of the train and dam. We also crossed several large
rivers. They all looked very full of water.
After Oulu we began to see more farming with quite large areas covered in
pasture or recent ploughing. The farms looked different to any I have seen in
Finland so far. The houses were smaller and mostly painted red with white
facings to doors and windows. There were many older buildings and some barns
and sheds which had greyed with age and looked so photogenic. However, because
of the rain in the morning and the three trains, I had packed my camera and did
not want to hunt around to get it out. Hopefully I will see more examples which
I will be able to photograph as I travel northwards.
Rovaniemi station and we all tumbled out as the platform was ground level and
the bag on the top step of the carriage was shoulder level. A quick heave and
it was on the ground. I think I have developed quite a technique for loading
and unloading my case.
I knew that the hostel was close to the station but I could not see the path I
wanted to find. But no problem as I took another one, crossed the four lane
road ( empty of traffic) and pulled my bag up the short hillside to the road
the hostel was in. I checked my phone map for directions and headed along the
road. I quickly recognized the building from Internet pictures and as I
approached, found the top of the path from the station. At least I know where
to go down on Tuesday to catch the bus onwards.
My single room is small and and has en-suite so it is quite adequate. A pizza
restaurant was just around the corner so that was dinner settled. Actually
their smallest size was just right for me and the thin base was very nicely
made. I had a Zorbas pizza which I took to mean Greek and it did turn up with
olives and feta.
A bit of shirt washing in the hand basin and the day was complete. Incidentally,
this is the first place I have been to where they have a wall radiator actually
inside the shower. An it was on at a gentle heat level. Wow, it really must get
cold here in winter to have to heat the shower space.
No photos today.
No comments:
Post a Comment