A curious episode on our departure from Helsinki. As we approached the entry ramp to the E13 (the main road to the North East) we pulled up beside a large white truck pulling a large white enclosed trailer. The driver signaled me to wind down our window and promptly asked (in a language I did not recognize) something about St Petersburg. I pointed right onto the E13 and tried to also signal that we should stop together and look at our map. That seemed to work a few miles down the motorway we both pulled into a rest area. The truck was a mobile television production facility and the two guys in it were taking it to Moscow via St Petersburg. After some discussion over our iPad map they seemed satisfied and got underway. At this point in our journey St Petersburg is about 400 km east.

What a great day, bright sun, warm weather, good roads, not too much traffic, and the never ending vista of trees - ever greens and birch. In amongst those trees we passed a number of largish towns but really never saw them. Occasionally a patch of cultivated land and increasingly lakes of varying sizes. From the ever present guide book Nina advised me that Finland's land mass is 10% lakes, 8% cultivated and 68% forest. We started to see that today.

More reading of the guide book unearthed a missed opportunity. It seems that from the north east Finnish city of Lappeenranta one can take a cruise along the Saimaa canal to St Petersburg and that this cruise does not require a Russian Visa. Good thing we did not know about this 2 days ago or Nina would have been unstoppable. As it was we contented ourselves with a walk beside the canal in question.

We spent the night in the parking area from where we took our stroll along the canal. For part of the evening we had the company of a young man who seemed bent on becoming a motorcycle stunt rider. He spent considerable time practicing wheelies right next to us. The amusing thing was that he was doing these stunts on a scooter.