This is a bushcraft-ised version of a related blogg I have posted over on SOTP. It was time for my annual fix of Finland so I was very kindly invited again by my friend Timo for a few days to his summer house in the Mantyharju area, two hours' drive north of Helsinki, for some canoeing, laavuing and mushroom gathering, it being peak mushroom season right now in Finland. Before we departed (KLM had lost my luggage so we had to kill a few hours in Helsinki before my bags caught up with me), we visited a kind of bushcraft-heaven market by the waterfront in Helsinki, where the main items on sale were all kinds of superb fungi, including the superb sheep polypore which I had not tasted before, various leuko and pukko sets at reasonable prices, some more expensive but still reasonable kuksas and firesteels, and then any number of fur hats and fox and silver fox pelts, for those that way inclined. I splashed out on a leuko/pukko set and had fun with it during the trip.
The summer house (something of an understatement) forms an amazing base for the trip, on the shore of the Kallavesi lake, shown here on our first evening with the lake very still :
After the obligatory sauna it was time for the team photo prior to setting off :
The plan had been vaguely to complete the whole of the Mantyharju canoe circuit which is about 50kms of interconnected lakes with three laavus dotted around for overnight accommodation (more of these later). However, time was short and a mini-hurricane was circling somewhere out to the west, so we decided to do an out-and-back overnight paddle, heading down to the bottom of the Kallavesi lake, over the short portage, then down the length of the Tainavesi lake, through a narrow shallow channel and into the superb Herajarvi lake, where Mantysaari Island, situated at the western edge, boasted a laavu we had not visited before on a sandy beach looking eastwards down the length of the lake.
We set off in good form and made fast progress to our overnight stop :
Conditions were very easy, despite the threat of high winds and rain, and we reached Mantysaari island in two hours, where we found the superb laavu :
For those who have not experienced laavus, these are community-mantained log shelters for use by canoeists and others, complete with outhouse, fully-stocked woodstore and various pots and pans and fire irons - amazing really, that the local community goes to such lengths to welcome visitors, and also amazing that some morons don't trash it.
After a quick lunch of dried reindeer heart and reindeer leg (shown here with a Bernie G knife which I gave to Timo on my arrival as a thank you for having me to stay)
...a glug from one of my bargain kuksas and a first go with the leuko (slightly dodgy feathersticks but they worked)
…we set off to have a look round the island, which probably covers a kilometre squared. It turned out to be fungi heaven, with an amazing abundance of Chanterelles, Horn of Plenty, Sheep Polypore and Birch Bolete. We filled our boots, but took only a tiny percentage of the fungi growing there
A picture of the final haul with a Rob Evans bushtool for scale:
Back at the laavu and Timo was getting the hand of the birch bark and firesteel fire-lighting method. First go!
Dinner was Salmon cooked over the fire (but brought with us), flavoured with Lingon berries which grew in abundance on the island, and a range of sauteed mushrooms, all cooked on the excellent fireplace at the laavu
After dinner we settled down to the fire and were soon treated to a rising full moon
It proved a damp night in the laavu, with a few mosquitos circulating, which called for headnets. Half-way through the night the wind direction changed and we heard the sound of small waves lapping the shore and felt a cold humid breeze blowing into the laavu and dampening our sleeping bags. In hindsight, I would probably prefer to sleep in a small warm bugproof tent a little back in the woods, and use the laavu for socialising and cooking, but it was a great experience.
By 5.30am we were ready to start moving and we got the fire going to warm ourselves up. Shortly afterwards we were treated to an absolutely stunning sunrise that warmed us up properly:
…and we basked with our morning kuksas of coffee in the warmth of the rising sun
The sun was not to last, however, and a damp mist rolled across the lake with the new south-easterly wind. After a further fungi foray, we packed up and said goodbye to Mantysaari, a most magical island, and headed back through the system of lakes, channels and portages to our summer-house base.
It had been a truly magical trip, providing a fantastic cocktail of memories of an amazing place. Timo's hospitality was fantastic throughout and I very much hope to be invited again next year
The summer house (something of an understatement) forms an amazing base for the trip, on the shore of the Kallavesi lake, shown here on our first evening with the lake very still :
After the obligatory sauna it was time for the team photo prior to setting off :
The plan had been vaguely to complete the whole of the Mantyharju canoe circuit which is about 50kms of interconnected lakes with three laavus dotted around for overnight accommodation (more of these later). However, time was short and a mini-hurricane was circling somewhere out to the west, so we decided to do an out-and-back overnight paddle, heading down to the bottom of the Kallavesi lake, over the short portage, then down the length of the Tainavesi lake, through a narrow shallow channel and into the superb Herajarvi lake, where Mantysaari Island, situated at the western edge, boasted a laavu we had not visited before on a sandy beach looking eastwards down the length of the lake.
We set off in good form and made fast progress to our overnight stop :
Conditions were very easy, despite the threat of high winds and rain, and we reached Mantysaari island in two hours, where we found the superb laavu :
For those who have not experienced laavus, these are community-mantained log shelters for use by canoeists and others, complete with outhouse, fully-stocked woodstore and various pots and pans and fire irons - amazing really, that the local community goes to such lengths to welcome visitors, and also amazing that some morons don't trash it.
After a quick lunch of dried reindeer heart and reindeer leg (shown here with a Bernie G knife which I gave to Timo on my arrival as a thank you for having me to stay)
...a glug from one of my bargain kuksas and a first go with the leuko (slightly dodgy feathersticks but they worked)
…we set off to have a look round the island, which probably covers a kilometre squared. It turned out to be fungi heaven, with an amazing abundance of Chanterelles, Horn of Plenty, Sheep Polypore and Birch Bolete. We filled our boots, but took only a tiny percentage of the fungi growing there
A picture of the final haul with a Rob Evans bushtool for scale:
Back at the laavu and Timo was getting the hand of the birch bark and firesteel fire-lighting method. First go!
Dinner was Salmon cooked over the fire (but brought with us), flavoured with Lingon berries which grew in abundance on the island, and a range of sauteed mushrooms, all cooked on the excellent fireplace at the laavu
After dinner we settled down to the fire and were soon treated to a rising full moon
It proved a damp night in the laavu, with a few mosquitos circulating, which called for headnets. Half-way through the night the wind direction changed and we heard the sound of small waves lapping the shore and felt a cold humid breeze blowing into the laavu and dampening our sleeping bags. In hindsight, I would probably prefer to sleep in a small warm bugproof tent a little back in the woods, and use the laavu for socialising and cooking, but it was a great experience.
By 5.30am we were ready to start moving and we got the fire going to warm ourselves up. Shortly afterwards we were treated to an absolutely stunning sunrise that warmed us up properly:
…and we basked with our morning kuksas of coffee in the warmth of the rising sun
The sun was not to last, however, and a damp mist rolled across the lake with the new south-easterly wind. After a further fungi foray, we packed up and said goodbye to Mantysaari, a most magical island, and headed back through the system of lakes, channels and portages to our summer-house base.
It had been a truly magical trip, providing a fantastic cocktail of memories of an amazing place. Timo's hospitality was fantastic throughout and I very much hope to be invited again next year
and beautiful photos of the whole thing 
