Trip to Åland

I made a one-week bicycle tour to Åland with my girlfriend Tuulia last August. Åland is an archipelago in the Nordic Sea between southern Finland and Sweden. It is famous for the great scenery and cycling tours there are very popular in Finland. There are lots of campgrounds and cottages all over the islands available for lodging and the roads are good. Bicycle paths are also quite common. The islands are quite small, so they might not be the best place for performance-oriented cycling, but for casual riding they are ideal.

The trip was made totally self-sustained. We both had panniers full of stuff, and I was also pulling a BOB trailer with me. The total amount of gear was quite considerable - I think I hauled over 30 kg of weight behind me! On the other side, Tuulia at first had only little over 10 kg. After the first couple of days we tried to relocate the heavier stuff to Tuulia and take less drinking water, and that way the weight distribution became more even. I still had over 20 kg with me all the time.

Ready for the road! Picture taken in front of my parents' home.

We began our trip on 18.8.1997. That day we rode from my parents' home in Turku to Galtby, Korpo. The route went through several bigger islands near the mainland. Countryside along it is quite nice and peaceful, with forests, fields and meadows.

The contact ship was scheduled to leave at 6:00, so we decided to ride all the way to the harbor and set our tent in the woods nearby. Another option would have been to stay at a campground along the route and then ride the remaining 7 km in the morning, but in that case we would have had to wake up half an hour earlier.

The total distance was about 80 km. That proved to be a bit too much for me with the extreme weight I towed. The terrain was very rolling and my Optima didn't have low enough gears for me to spin in the uphills, so I was quite exhausted at the end of the day. Even worse, next morning my right knee felt really stiff and bending it hurt somewhat. It later appeared that I had gotten an infection in my calf-tendon from over-straining my knee! Oh well.

Spider web moistured with dew. Picture taken in Galtby in early morning.

Next day we had to wake up way too early to get aboard the inter-island ferry that took us to Kökar. Kökar is a desolate island located somewhat south-east from the Åland main archpelago. It appeared to be a lot greater place than I had expected! There are very few trees on the island, and lots of wind-swept rock and huge carpets of juniper.

Campground at Kökar. I've never seen as great a campground in my life! The campsites were located at small clearings between the juniper bushes. The facilities were at the shore, and they were in reasonably good condition and also clean.

We first rode to the campground to leave our excess luggage and take a shower. After that we rode off to see the old church and remnants of a franciscan abbey nearby. There has been settlement on Kökar for a long time! The island is situated along a viking trade route, which presumably gave it some wealth and visitors in the early medieval times.

Roof of the old franciscan abbey at Kökar.

Me looking at the scenery at the north end of Kökar

Shallow water at Kökar. Only hint of the water surface is the light reflection in the upper right-hand part of the picture.

The weather in Kökar was splendid that day. It was at least 25°C warm and almost no clouds at all. For some reason, however, we decided to leave Kökar the same day and spend the night at a campground in Föglö. The ferry left in the early evening, and we were at Överö harbor around 21:00. There we had only a few kilometers to go to the camping ground.

An inter-island ferry at Föglö harbor. These government-funded ferries are the only contact to the more remote islands of Åland. No prices are charged for people or bicycles. Car tariffs for local people are very modest, and reasonable for others too.

Next morning we rode to the ferry harbor at the other end of Föglö and took a ride to the main island. There we rode straight to Mariehamn, the capital of Åland (Åland has a wide autonomy, and Finland only controls the foreign policy of the province). There we ate at a restaurant. It takes a surprisingly long time to cook with a Trangia portable stove, and it also is quite cumbersome. From Mariehamn it's only a few kilometers to Möckelö campground, where we spent the next night. The campground was very spartan, but quite peaceful and the place was very nice.

My knee was still aching, so we decided to spend the whole day in Mariehamn. We visited a maritime museum and Pommern, a four-masted steel barque, which was built in 1903 and is still in sailing condition. The both were really worthwhile visits!

Pommern used to carry wheat from Australia to Finland during the early decades of this century. Nowadays large ships are major contributors to CO₂ emissions worldwide.

Optima low-rider. I tried the behaviour of the bike with the 16" BOB wheel on the front and it wasn't good. It felt really nervous, I guess it's because of changed front rake geometry.

The next morning we began pedaling north-eastwards. In the afternoon we visited the medieval Kastelholm castle, which had been extensively renovated. The results have been quite good so far. From there we continued to Bomarsund, which is an old Russian fortress from 19th century. There is also a campground nearby, at which we stayed the next night.

Tuulia coasting down a hill at Kastelholm. Unfortunately no good pictures were taken of the castle.

A boatshed at Kastelholm. Behind the castle there was an outdoor museum. This picture was taken there.

Mooo! Cows were being taken in for milking near Kastelholm. This was no museum, but every-day life for locals.

Next morning we rode to Prästö harbor, where we took an inter-island ferry to Brändö, which is the eastern-most island of Åland. There we had the whole day time to pedal across the island, since the ferry to the mainland archipelago would leave in the late afternoon. The mainland is quite forested and also cultivated, but Brändö is more picturesque, barren and wind-swept. It was very nice to ride along the road, which hops from one island to another so that you can see the sea all the time along the route! We also had lunch at the sea.

Tuulia at Brändö.

My Optima at Brändö.

Cooking at Brändö.

After we had arrived in Vuosnainen, we had to ride a few kilometers to Kustavi village. Since the road back to Turku was going to be very straight and a very dull highway, and my knee was still aching, we had decided to take a bus ride back to Turku. Well, in Kustavi we just could see that at 20 o'clock, the last bus had already taken off half an hour earlier! So, we had to stay our last night at the very expensive and dull campground there. Coincidentally, the following night was the only time on our tour when there was any rain - and that night we had lots of it! Fortunately, our tent held up pretty well.

The next morning we just had to wait a while for the bus and we were back in Turku by noon. All in all, a very nice trip! Warmly recommendable.

The total distance we travelled, was 264 km. That's not much for a week, but on the other hand this was not a performance-oriented trip for us and my knee also kept us from riding more. The average speed was just over 15 km/h.

More information on Åland can be found at the Åland web pages.

Pictures and text © Matti Airas, 1997, 1998. Use without permission prohibited.