Night Train to Ylivieska
I booked the ticket almost spontaneously, packed, cleaned up. The options weren't great — every connection arrived in the evening. It looked like Haapajärvi station isn't in use anymore; everything went via Ylivieska. I decided to take the night train to Ylivieska — that way I'd at least save a few hours to wander around.
11 pm. The pet car. Maybe 35 kilos of stuff. I managed to shove it into some compartment.
Night Train to Ylivieska Tue, Jun 13, 2023, 12:16 PM Hopefully the gear is in order. I just bought the ticket for tonight. You can't get to Muurasjärvi by public transport. Have to go via Ylivieska to Haapajärvi and then take a taxi. Fly the black flag!
The night train was exactly the right choice. As dawn breaks you can see the landscape you're about to travel through: misty lakes, fields, birch and pine forest. Flat.
The trip is no longer in my mind as a journey to the sea — I don't think that's possible. Getting to Jyväskylä would already be something. That's 250 km. The plan now is to be out for about three weeks. Sitting here watching the scenery you start to realise that three weeks is a long time to be outside. Somewhat different from the few days I'd been out continuously before.
I waited a couple of hours for the bus to Haapajärvi, did some shopping there, and took a taxi to Muurasjärvi. The weather was perfectly calm, cloudless and hot.
Wed, Jun 14, 2023, 2:19 PM Muurasjärvi beach, 14:15. Heading southeast. Plan is to take it easy after a sleepless night.
I stopped to make lunch when an absurd number of mosquitoes attacked me. I quickly rigged up a mosquito shelter from the hammock and now I'm sitting inside it. The bus driver had mentioned that there were plenty of mosquitoes, but this number is unbearable. They can bite through wherever the mesh touches skin. I can no longer tell which bites I'm imagining and which are real. What to do? I'm not sure how to continue the trip either — landing was already so difficult that clambering out of here might not be safe while wearing a mosquito net that restricts your vision and while trying to wave them off. I also haven't yet got the packing routine down for this load, so stuffing everything back in the boat would also be unfinished business.
Camp Skeeter Wed, Jun 14, 2023, 7:11 PM The meal break turned into a full camp when a ferocious swarm of mosquitoes attacked and everything became difficult. I only managed a couple of kilometres today. The island is called something like Pig Island, if I remember right.
