Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Hiking in Turkey, October 2015

The pilgrimage this year started from Izmir (former Smyrna) and ended in Antalya. Had no fixed waypoints other than Efesos but came across many interesting places during the walk. People I met were polite and very friendly. Often we didn't share a common language but some elderly men had worked in Germany and spoke german. All in all the journey was a very positive experience.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Kayak trip Jämsä-Lahti, June 2015

Our yearly inland trip started a week before midsummer. Got a lot of rain and some sunny moments. The summer cottages along the waterways were still empty nor did we meet any other paddlers, but the wildlife was springin into life. Here some pictures from the journey.



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Friday, October 31, 2014

Hiking in Greece, October 2014

The pilgrimage continues further eastwards, this time through Greece from Igoumenitsa to Pireas. I started mid october and walked 17 days.The tour was 460 km and luckily mostly along coastlines. I didn't have to walk up and down that many steep hills! The greek orthodox church is not at all involved with pilgrimages so it was up to me to find the accommodation, sometimes unsuccessfully. The weather was mostly good and I met many interesting greeks. All in all a very good pilgrimage.



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Friday, August 1, 2014

Hiking in Finnmarken, August 2014

Spent the first weeks of august hiking and fishing. There was no human contacs during that time. The weather was good and sunny during the whole trip. The food consisted mostly of fish and was delicious



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Friday, July 4, 2014

Göta Kanal sommaren 2014

Under somrarna i 20 års tid har s/y Henrietta seglat längsmed Höga kusten på svenska sidan. Inspirerad av filmen Göta Kanal eller Vem drog ut proppen? företog vi denna sommar en kanaltur, vilket betyder i praktiken mycket motorköras. Resan gick från Vasa, genom både Göta- och Trollhättekanal ner till Göteborg och tillbaka. Under den cirka månadslånga färden byttes besättning fyra gånger. Här följer ett bildspel från den resan.




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Sunday, June 15, 2014

Kayak trip Äänekoski - Jämsä, June 2014

Our annual kayak trip started were we stopped last year; Äänekoski. After 4 days, 4 locks and descending 13,5 metres we arrived in Jämsä where we packed our kayaks in the car and headed home, hopefully to return next year when we'll continue our journey along the finnish inland lakes.

This year we experienced all kinds of weather, even snow during the midsummer week. Here are some of the photos we took on our trip.



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Thursday, October 31, 2013

La Via Del Francigena Sud, October 2013

Already in the Middle Ages Finns made pilgrimages to Rome. Some of them continued their pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Some years ago the route in Italy was reconstructed and named La Via Francigena del Sud. My route ended in Brindisi and took three weeks to complete. One morning it rained for a couple of hours, otherwise the sun was shining all the time. Met many interesting italians but only one other pilgrim. Nevertheless, I can warmly recommed the Via.



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Thursday, June 20, 2013

Kayak trip Pihdipudas - Äänekoski, June 2013

Photos from our annual kayak trip on the finnish inland lakes.


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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cammino di Assisi, October 2012

Cammino di Assisi is a relatively new pilgrimage route in central Italy. It stretches from Dovadola near Forli to Assisi near Perugia. The map we got in Dovadola was not stellar but luckily we brought a roadmap with us. The pilgrimage is about 300km and planned to last for 12 days. The pilgrimage was very good exercise because it was most of the time either uphill or downhill. We were this years last pellegrinis and all in all it was a very interesting experience.


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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Kayak trip Hämeenlinna - Tampere, June 2012

Early this summer we paddled from Hämeenlinna to Tampere. The inland lakes are already warmed up this time of year but sadly the trip started in rainy weather. By day two the weather started clearing up. On the fourth and last day we experienced good tail-winds and surfs. When we reached Tampere our Suunto GPS showed we had travelled 101 kilometers.


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Monday, October 10, 2011

Via Francigena terza parte

The third and final part of Via Francigena. We started from Siena where left off last march. Via Francigena roughly follows the SS2 (Strada Statale) highway, which is mostly built on the old roman Via Cassia road.

Tuscany and Lazio were the provinces we passed this time around. Again we had luck with the weather, even if it was october. Just a little rain on the last walking, there were a total of 15 walking days. Our goal was Basilica di San Pietro and Pietros tomb in the Vatican.


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Friday, August 26, 2011

Hiking in Norway, August 2011

Needed some fresh air so we went hiking in Finnmarken in Norway. Nine days living rough and without human contact, food was great.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sailing in Lake Saimaa, July 2011

This summer we decided to experience what the inland lakes of Finland had to offer. First we had to sail south through the Gulf of Bothnia, the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland towards russian waters. After passport checks at the border we would have to make our way up the Saimaa canal and into finnish territorial waters again.

This was a one and a half month journey and we had four different crews helping us out along the way. Everybody took photos and after sorting through all of them, here's a small selection. Click the first photo after the map to start the slideshow.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Ikaalinen - Tampere kayak trip, june 2011

Our inland kayak trip started right after the 5o5- Championships in Helsinki. On sunday evening we drove to Manso-niemi, where we on monday morning set off. When we got to Kyröskoski later that day we found out, to our surprise, that the whole river Pappilanjoki in Kyröskoski was closed. One of us had to go back and get our car to get us passed this unforseen obstacle. Despite this setback the trip was a success, we had all kinds of weather and gathered 73kms.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Via Francigena, stage 2/3, April 2011

Centuries old Via Francigena was calling us once again. We continued our journey from Fiorenzuola in Emilia-Romagna and ended this leg in Siena, Tuscany. There were very few pilgrims, during three weeks we only encountered four others walking this route.

The weather was on our side the whole way, blue skies and sunshine for the 375 kilometers, 15 walking days plus a couple of days as tourists in Lucca and Siena. This part was also kind of a gastronomic journey as it took us through the region of Parma and Chianti.

The last leg of the pilgrimage is planned for October 2011 and it will take us to Rome. They say all roads lead to Rome but we managed to get lost a couple of times. We didn't mind it as we took in the sights and scenery. We also took a couple of pictures as seen here below.