Got up very late as I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep on the train (does anyone ever). Had a short walk and then some lunch.
I agreed with Timo that I would spend a night at Kylkeinen. He said he needed to check if access was OK, so trundled off in his tractor to do so. On his return we agreed that I would walk down to the cabin and that he would send my bag later together with my evening meal.
It took about 1½ hours for me to trudge down the road passing over a couple of small rivers on the way. Fortunately, I remembered which turning to take although looking carefully, I could see Timo’s tractor tracks.
The first thing I observed on arriving at the hut was the answer to the mystery of how the water hole is connected to the lake. When everything is covered in snow, there is just a hole in the ice near the sauna which is some way from the edge of the lake. With the snow gone it was possible to see that there is a channel connecting a sort of “bathing hole” to the lake and it is here that the water can be collected.
I did some modest exploring around the site and found the remains of an old board walk around the edge of the lake. I was rather deteriorated and some sections were under water, but I managed to go for some distance across the swampy area which surround the lake.
Timo had already lit the fire so I settled into the hut and waited for my food and bags. Eventually Aria arrived with my meal and a huge box of other food for breakfast. I asked where the bags were and she professed ignorance. Apparently Timo hadn’t passed on the message. Since I didn’t have a torch, this was a bit tricky, but I managed to eat with the aid of candles.
Aria went away and returned about 45 minutes later with my bags and finally I had some light. After reading for a little while I went to bed reasonably early.
