First flight during the pandemic

I took my first flight during the pandemic. Nervous.

Three observations:

1. Told the flight attendant that it is my first flight in almost six months. She said that it was the first flight for the entire crew as well.
2. Also, I actually had forgotten how to turn on the airplane mode on my phone.
3. I thought that the meal I had in the airplane was the best meal I had ever. It was pretty good, actually, even on objective metrics -- salmon lasagna. But I also had not had anyone else make me a meal in six months before this...

Safety: Lets see how this goes. And before someone reacts about the travellers spreading disease, I should say that those that know me know that I take virus safety very seriously. I don't have zero risk for getting infected, but I've for instance avoided all public restaurants bars, and only visited shops four times on this two week trip.

FYI, I paid 20€ for my flights, and I have a policy of flying only on business class at the moment. I used a combination of vouchers from Finnair's cancelled flights and upgrade vouchers. Flights are also very cheap at the moment.

More flying stories at Planetflier.com. Photos and stories (c) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

The pond at the sports complex

Another visit to my mom's place! While I was on my way to the airport (yikes!) I wanted to put in one more swim at the Finnish lakes. Or pond rather, the pond at the Tuusula's sport complex in Hyrylä.

Small, but no one else around at 8am. A bit of dust (from algae or trees?) on the surface, but I did a quick swim anyway. Very refreshing. Not cold, but a nice sand-bottomed little lake. I mean a pond.

I was momentarily confused because there's a housing fair nearby, and the parking area for the fair is next door. But one can still drive to the sports complex and avoid the fair parking. Which is important,  because I'm guessing the parking fees at the fair are far from fair... :-)

The pond is at N 60.39110 E 25.02995.

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Underground biking in Maastricht

Biking underground, in a cave/mine? Why not when that's available! And in Maastricht it was!

The funny part was that we -- a bunch of network protocol engineers -- had to follow a curious but important protocol. Or two, actually.

The first protocol was the Duck! protocol. We were biking one after another, and when the roof level dropped down, the first biker yells "Duck!" and then this has to be repeated by the next ones to warn them as well about the situation.

The second protocol was the Peter protocol, because the last person happened to be Peter. The guide -- the first biker -- yells occasionally "Peter!". This message then has to be repeated by everyone on the line of bikers, until Peter himself hears it at the end of the line. He then yells "Complete!". This too has to be repeated by everyone until the guide at the front hears the message. Then he knows everyone's still with the team :-)

Contact the organizer for the tours. The location is at Sibbergroeve, an old mine.

Map:

Read more biking stories from the Planetbiker.net site and more underground adventures from the Planetcaver.net and TheUrbanExplorer.net sites. Photos and text copyright (c) 2010-2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Hietsu swim

Second to last day of July, having swam every day so far. But again, not much time for this after all the work and home stuff. I'm late, but I haven't yet been in Hietaniemi or Hietsu as it is called. Since it is late and weather is kind of sketchy, I'm guessing there won't be many people. What a treat I got, wonderful sunset/storm clouds. And a nice swim!

I also found parking very easily. Another benefit of going at a time when other people aren't :-)

Hietsu is the prime beach in Helsinki and perhaps in all of Finland. Prime as in not being the prettiest or nicest, but definitely prime for its crowd scene. "Everybody" goes there, particularly on graduation days, hot summers, etc.

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Rusutjärvi, the long lost beach from my childhood

I saw my mom today in Hyrylä, and on the way back wanted to drop in for a swim, and visit a swimming place that I remembered from my childhood: Rusutjärvi in Tuusula.

I have to say I didn't remember any of details. It is a beautiful lake, a very nice swimming spot.

If it weren't for the blue-green algae, that is. Sadly, there was a sign about that, and recommendation to check the situation. Yet there were no actual visible signs of the problem in the water, so I did a quick swim. All good. Or, at least no symptoms yet :-)

The Rusutjärvi swimming beach is at N 60.42970 E 24.98897.

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. All photos taken outside official swimming places, outside opening hours, and when no other guests are present or with permission. 

Late swim at Siikajärvi

Late, again. Past 9pm, and I'm in the back-areas in Nuuksio, at the Siikajärvi lake beach. Still, while I'm swimming the RC airplane enthusiasts manage to show up to give a flying demonstration :-) Cool.

Such a nice lake, too. The water is typical of these smaller, deep forest lakes: pretty brown. But it feels good on your skin, soft, nature water. And just the right temperature, too. Not too warm, but not cold either.

A place to come back to, I'm sure!

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Lauttasaari beach at night

Another day, another late start for trying to find somewhere new to swim in. I ended up driving to Lauttasaari, and visit their great beach on the west side. A good swim, there was a few people still on the beach after 9pm, but no crowds.

But I was surprised how long one had to go before the water started getting swimmably deep. But that's good for family outings, no sudden deep water.

I really liked the views in the evening though.

Coordinates: N 60.155012 E 24.871291.

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Hyypiänmäki massive roof cave

With the new cave map service that we've been building with Ralf, I was able to make more sensible searches for known caves. In the cave map I can select the length of cave, for instance, and look for the bigger ones (albeit all Finnish caves are small). It turned out that there's supposed to be a 50-meter roof cave in Hyypiänmäki, near Klaukkala.

That cave is reported in the Suomen Luolat book, a book of Finnish caves. But on site, I made measurements and it turns out the cave is even longer, maybe 75 meters.

I also drew a map, here.

There's two small side caves (coordinates N 60.409705 E 24.708373 and N 60.409540 E 24.708555), and then the main cave is at coordinates N 60.409106 E 24.709333.

The side cave maps are here and here.

Note: your parking will be VERY difficult. It seems like the whole area is on purpose closed for any possible places for cars to be left in. That's a practice that I find somewhat disturbing. The nature is not just for the locals.

The small side caves:

See more caving stories at Planetcaver.net, and all Planetskier and Planetcaver stories at Blogspot and TGR! This article, pictures and videos is (c) 2016 by Jari Arkko and Olli Arkko. All rights reserved.

Valkjärvi swim

I needed some freshening-up after my cave explorations in Klaukkala. And headed to the Valkjärvi...Another blue-green algae warning sign! But the water seemed free of at least visible algae. As far I could see... in the darkness. A quick swim and then head home to have a shower to wash off any residues.

I was at the Valkjärvi Tiiran uimaranta, maintained by the Nurmijärvi city.

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Too crowded!

 

I wanted to swim somewhere near Berlin. I thought Wukensee would be a nice place, but they were closing... so I drove to Bernsteinsee. They were not closed yet, but they also had way too many people. A little worried about the crowds...

So, only a quick swim and away from the main part of the beach, to the side where there water plants grow.

There's so much of sand on this beach by the way. Plenty of room for those beach games, bars, your own tents, and so on!

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) 2020 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.