Kaleva swim. 2x.

I was looking for a visit in the Tampere swimming halls on the way to my summer cottage. It turned out that just on that day most of the halls closed for the summer. Bummer, I thought, and grudgingly decided to go for the remaining one. Little did I know that the Kalevala swimming hall - or Tampereen Uintikeskus as it is officially called -  would be a truly magnificent place. Perhaps one of Finland's greatest swimming halls?

For one, it is truly massive! There's an indoor side and an outdoor side. Both have 50 meter pools, and plenty of other pools to go with it... indoor there's also a 25 meter pool, kiddie pool and a jumping tower. Outdoor there's another jumping tower and kiddie pools. Wonderful! Much recommended.

(Just remember to buy a ticket for both indoor and outdoor if you visit.. I didn't realize I needed to do that.)

Links: official page and visitor's information page.

And then... for the apres-swim I went for a walk in Tampere... with a lunch in the market square huts... a bar visit at the top of the Ratina shopping mall's roof (the Periscope)... all nice.

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) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

Can you believe there's a swimming hall here?

I've lived in and around(*) Espoo for 35 years. And I often go to the swimming halls. How is it then that I've never visited Olari's swimming hall? I think I've heard about it, but had forgotten about its existence until looking for pools that I have not visited in the Helsinki region the other day. 

And the Olari hall is quite remarkable. It is in an apartment building. In the middle of the suburb, where you'd expect to maybe find offices, shops, or bars in the lowest floors of buildings. But no, this door leads to an actually swimming hall.

Granted, it is very small, just 15 meters long. But there's saunas and showers for men and women, and you can swim even in 15 meters. Unless there's a line of water walkers in front of you, of course... but overall a nice experience!

Sadly, the future fate of the hall is in question, with the new Matinkylä swimming hall quite close by there's been plans to close this one. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

The asterisk: I continue to live inside Espoo, sort of, since Kauniainen is encircled by Espoo. Anywhere I go, I need to pass Espoo :-)

By the hall's entrance, there was also an odd glass box with a ramp leading down... closed, not sure what it was used before, parking? Further commercial space? There's a massive rock in the middle of it, and a tree growing... interesting, but inaccessible! Does anyone know what the story is?

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) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

A year of walking.. and then, sigh

 

Just one day after completing my year of walking, I'm a cripple. Sigh. I can barely walk to the bathroom, let alone go outside. Problems with joints. 

It is improving, but when one leg gives in, the other one has to take more load, and now both are suffering. 

More hiking and other stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko.

Final nail to the rust bucket?

Crisis to crisis, which one will be the final nail to the rust bucket? Now the steering gear and rack are toast, no parts. And then they make you drive a Prius.

Previous article was here.

Here's the previous article on this series. More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko.

Here again... sigh

 

It seems as if it wasn’t that long ago since we were here… maybe because it wasn’t… so here we are again. The front supports and few other parts needed replacing so that the car wouldn’t feel coming apart on small bumps. And power steering kept making noises. Much of that but not all fixed now; still looking for a part that at the moment looks like it doesn’t exist. Saga will continue … maybe

And no, it wasn't fully fixed. The steering starts vibrating above 75 km/h. It will need to go back to the shop.

More car stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko.

A year of walking

 

Completed my first year of tracking steps, not super much and all of it slow. But still yearly avg 12500 per day. Highest monthly day average was 19200 on the month where my hotel was 5km from the conference, and I kept making several trips per day. And highest daily count was 63000 when I walked to the office and back (43km, took eight hours).

What’s next? I don’t know. I can’t anymore find any useful YouTube videos to listen or podcasts that I want to listen. Conference calls still work, but only a small subset of them are suitable to be done while walking. Maybe roll back the tracking a bit and try to do more different things? I didn’t bike last year for instance because it wouldn’t increase the count

Below is a photo of the loaner dog from last day's walk:

More hiking and other stories in the Planetskier blog series at Blogspot. The photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko.

For once, a nice airport cart

Saw an interesting passenger assistance cart at Heathrow today. Actually, would have wanted that service, given my troubles with my feet... 

Here's me returning on the A350 home, above my house :-)

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) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Dogs and kids, unfazed by a cave

Took some dogs and kids to a cave today, the Högberget cave in Kirkkonummi (near Peuramaa).  Amazingly, none of them were particularly impressed or interested. Just another place, moving on to picnics and computer gaming or peeing on plants and light poles... which is ok and natural. 

(It may be more unnatural to be interested in underground holes, but I'm not going to admit THAT.)

Read more urban exploration stories from theurbanexplorer.net, and other underground stories from planetcaver.net. Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot or TGR. Photos and text (c) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved.

Swim break

Phew, finally at the my summer cottage. Time for a swim break for everybody, including the unicorns!

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) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me. 

Solbergabadet igen

 

Once again I'm in the caving meet-up, camping out on the beach. And since I'm an early riser, keep taking off from the camp at 6am and heading to the Visby swimming hall, the Solbergabadet. Very nice. Quiet, not crowded, showers, bathrooms, saunas, and the pool. Great experience!

I've been here basically every year, but last time I blogged about it was in 2018: article.

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) 2023 by Jari Arkko. All rights reserved. I never take photos of other saunagoers or swimmers and visit when there is simply no one else or the facility has been closed or booked only for me.