I got going just after 9, with Matti and Kaija accompanying me on their bikes for the first kilometre to their post box (actually a newspaper distribution box) to pick up the paper. I texted home just after 9.30 that I was on my way to Kankaanpää town, where I would bypass the centre and head south. At that moment I was pedalling tight up against the right hand verge of an extra wide straight stretch of road which served as an emergency landing strip for planes (mainly military I suppose) to land on in emergencies. It was a strange feeling to have traffic overtaking me on my left but so far away! Felt like I had the road all to myself! You can even see it in Google satellite view! There's a sports track beside it, but I couldn't see it 'cos of the trees!
I kept to tarmac roads on the way back to Marko's, stopping a few times for a cache here and there. One was called Mordor, and the view from there (even without going up the newly built observation tower) is a bit reminiscent of the place of the same name in the Lord of the Rings.
The tower wasn't completed when I was there, but you could climb to the top. One of the flights of steps had no side rail! Going up with nothing to hold onto felt a bit scary! (The cache was an easy find, not far away!)
Further down the road there was another cache I looked for, and found, called Keskimaa which means Middle Earth, and it was located in a museum area of old wooden buildings, so it was a nice setting for it.
It was drawing towards evening and I was feeling hungry, so I found a Rest Stop place and had a bite there before doing the last 12 kms or so to Marko's, where I arrived just before 8pm. Total cycled: 82 km.
After unpacking the trike he took me round three of his own caches so he could also check their condition and I could log them as found. A wash again in the sauna and a reasonably early night, so I could get up early for what was to be the longest and toughest ride of the trip, and in some respects the worst!
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