We spent some time this morning at last nights camp site, and also at stops along the days route, looking further at our water leak. It may be hard for those that don't own motorhomes to appreciate the frustration of having a problem like this and not being able to diagnose or fix it; but believe me it is (in our case) high. Thus we were delighted that today we believe we found the source of the water and it is nowhere near as big a deal as I had been fearing. I will say more on this topic in an upcoming post on Plumbing, but for the moment let me just note that the leak was from the second stage fine grained water filter we have installed for our drinking fountain. Now mind you we have not proven this beyond a shadow of doubt just yet but feel confident.

With the confidence that the water problem was behind us the day took on a markedly more rosy aspect.

Mid afternoon we pulled off our main route (Highway 5) onto a more minor road towards the village of Jumma. This village is famous as a stop along the route of an 80km/50mile hiking trail called the Bear's Ring orKarhunkierros and was our destination.

Approaching Juuma were a whole bunch of cars parked on the side of the road almost blocking progress. So I parked while Nina went to investigate. After a few minutes she returned to tell me we could proceed, and that the cafe at the end of the road would allow us to camp with some other motorhomes on a small grass patch for Euro 10 per night.

She also had the news that the cafe was right next to a hiking trail that led to the Bear's Ring and was a suitable starting point for a lesser hike (12km) called The Little Bear's Ring or Piene Karhunkierros.

We plan to hike the Little bear tomorrow.

Another thing of note from todays travels are the photos of The Silent People. These are located beside the road at a small cafe comprised of a number of traditional buildings. The Silent People are a collection of "statues" made from a wood cross, hung with clothing and topped with grass hair. Believe it or not there are 1200 of them. You can read a lot more about them and their exploits at this link.

PS

In writing this entry I am conscious of the fact that in the Australian version of the English language the phrase "bears ring" could easily be given an anatomical interpretation. So I would like to point out to any Aussies who so interpret the name, that perhaps a better translation of the Finish name could have been Bear's Loop.