The Pohja Tunnels

In Pohja (near Raasepori) there are three railway tunnels, only one of which is still in use. One has been entirely decommissioned and there are no rails there, another one is used as a storage depot for old railway cars, and one is indeed still in use. The tunnels go through a large cliff by the Pohja harbor. The unused tunnels have been a popular urban exploration site, but apparently no longer, as they are closed shut, and there are signs about surveillance and fines... nice visit, interesting to see the old railway cars, but ... couldn't get inside the tunnels.

The tunnels are in these coordinates:

• The currently active railway tunnel, built in the end of the 1980s, is at coordinates N 60.094357 E 23.557961. This one is live, beware!

Pictures:

 

• The de-commissioned tunnel, built in 1964, is at coordinates N 60.095121 E 23.558043. It is privately owned and closed with a wooden wall. Don't enter!

There's one picture at the top of this article, and then some other pictures:

 

 

• The oldest tunnel, built in 1896, is at coordinates N 60.093774 E 23.556414. This one still has rails, so trains might move here. But it is currently used a storage depot for old railway cars, again with gates and warning signs indicating there is surveillance. Don't enter this one either.

Pictures:

 

More information in Wikipedia and Retkipaikka.

There's a very interesting harbor, Pohjan Satama, on the west side of the cliff. The Pohja train station is on that side as well. And behind the harbor there's a shipyard. Pictures:

Also, some house ruins at coordinates N 60.094739 E 23.564605:

And, finally, an underground basement, cellar, or bunker on the other side of the road at coordinates N 60.094804 E 23.566624:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko and Jarmo Ruuth. All rights reserved. 

Espoonlahti on my mind

... or at least the Espoonlahti swimming hall :-)

I've only been here a couple of times, it is kind of far away from where I live. 

There's a 50-meter pool with 8 tracks, a kiddie pool, and a half of a track with a shallow bottom (maybe for training beginners). In the dressing and shower rooms there's two fairly large saunas, well designed ones with plenty of space both high up and further down.

The facility was built in 1983, and with the 50-meter pool can be used for competitions. There's also seating for viewers. It used to be the premier swimming hall in Espoo, and the only one with the long pool. Today it is the third most popular one, after Leppävaara's and Matinkylä's newer halls. (And sadly, Tapiola's historic swimming hall should be a popular one as well, but it has fallen into a cycle of unrepairable problems.)

The Espoonlahti hall is getting a bit dated, though, very basic dressing rooms and cabinets, tiling in the swimming pool is getting a bit discolored, no outdoor water features, no jacuzzis, no cold pools. Hopefully it gets a renovation at some point.

More information from the City of Espoo webpage or Wikipedia.

A view to the hall from the parking lot. Plenty of trees, that's nice:

The building itself is a bit boring design:

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of saunagoers or swimmers, all photos are taken from the outside or when the facility is closed or empty. 

Just a hole in a wall - Toravuori

I was driving back from a very nice midsummer visit to a friend's cottage when I spotted a grand, 20+ meter cliff by the roadside. I had seen this before, but never had an opportunity to stop. But now I had to, because there was a hole on the middle of the wall, staring me in the eye :-) The question was though if I could get to it without climbing equipment. It turned out that a steep ledge was leading up to it, not great and not for wet weather, but still climbable carefully. So I got to the hole! It turned out to be a pretty small though, maybe 3 meters long. Still something, but as a too short cave I had to return it back to the nature :-)

The coordinates are N 60.353291 E 23.143689. The place is a popular aid- and sport climbing cliff. Topos are available here.

I also did a 3D scan. There's a fly-through video, 3D model for download (GLB, BLENDER), and a model to rotate on your own browser screen. I also used my tooling to draw a map, seen below (there's also a full-resolution PDF).

This is what the hole looked like from the road:

Here are some views from the cave:

Here are some more pictures of the cave/hole:

Above the bigger (?) cave there's an ever smaller hole, basically just a little bit of shelter and a very low horizontal crack running maybe a meter plus inside the cliff.

At the friend's cottage, I stayed on the beach in a tent, it was a bit of a crowd inside and actually it turned out to be very nice to stay there, warm ... beautiful ... the sauna and swim on the beach beforehand was also superb. Thank you.

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. 

Ice bears from the streets of Helsinki rescue my ski trip!

Ski trip in the surroundings of Kista is going badly. Can’t find open skating rinks or their excess snow piles. And I dragged my mini-skis all the way to Sweden for this! Sigh. But, as you know we have ice bears walking on the streets of Helsinki... and they bring the cold, good stuff.

There was even a slope next to the snow.

Surroundings of Kista were at the Solna, at the Ulriksdal Idrottsplats (sports place). And Ritorps Ishall (link). But it wasn't a totally wasted trip, I did find a very nice new swimming hall. A place to come again. The Medley Solna Simhall (link).

These streets of "Helsinki" are in Vantaa, in Myyrmäki. Specifically, the Myyrmäki ice skating hall #2 (link). The snow is at the back of the hall.

Medley Solna simhall:

Ritorps ishall:

Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites. Photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.

Green weekend at the cottage

Early June is a perfect time to enjoy the Finnish summer. The nature is so nicely light green at this time of the year. We visited our summer cottage in Teisko, including of course plenty of stops at the sauna and the lake. Summer 💚

For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Pearl Lounge at Arlanda T2

Visited my long-time lounge in Arlanda's T2 (where Finnair flies from). They've changed name though, and the entrance is no longer at the back of the restaurant... which is an improvement. The lounge itself is still very similar to how it was before. Basic foods, decent breakfast though with eggs, pancakes, etc.

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. 

Sausage sauce at the Platinum lounge?

Visited the Finnair Platinum lounge at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport again. This time they were going for some traditional Finnish delicacies, and it was my turn to taste the "sausage sauce", i.e., cut pieces of sausage in sauce, served with potato mash. It was good, even if not traditionally considered much of a gourmet meal...

Here's the meal as served:

Otherwise, at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport there's some renovation going on, and this means that the usual cargo terminal isn't apparently accessible, so the cargo aircraft are parked on the being-renovated runway instead. Interesting. 

Saw some rare planes, too, like Sichuan Airlines:

I was on my way to Sweden, here we are at Terminal 2 in Arlanda:

For more flying stories, check out the planetflier.com website! And of course the Planetcaver, and Planetskier blogs for other stories in Blogspot and TGR! The photos and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.