It's time to catch up. Friday we were in Vaasa, Finland. We had an afternoon excursion booked, so we did a walk around the town in the morning. As you can see, it was overcast and cold. It was a short walk!
Our excursion was Hike in Kvarken Nature. The excursion began with a bus ride through the Kvarken Archipelago to the town of Svedjehamn. The town had these nice little houses on the water but there seemed to be no one around. Our guide told us that everyone had left to go to their summer homes! We wondered where those summer homes were and what they might have looked like.
The hike was supposed to be a 4km loop. However, when we got to the Bodvarrnet Runt trail-head, our guide explained that, on the morning hike, part of the trail was very rough with many rocks and tree roots which slowed everyone down. As a result, they missed the coffee and snack break and were late getting back. So, she suggested that we do only the smooth trail. There was almost unanimous agreement. We did out and back in two directions as shown by the white dots on the map.
We took the top part of the loop first which brought us to the viewing tower. You will notice that the weather had greatly improved from the morning!
We did walk a bit past the tower to get a taste of how rough the trail was. The views were good but the trail wasn't. Good decision!
Linda and I had commented earlier that we had seen no whales or dolphins on the entire cruise. The hike did give us the opportunity to see one seal!
At the turn around point, there was a sign pointing to Hamburg. We decided that, though it was only 1,274 km to Hamburg, we would stay on the ship rather than walk it!
We then walked back to the Salteriet Cafe where we were given coffee and a snack of smoked salmon on a locally baked bread. And we were visited by a black-headed gull who made no attempt to steal our salmon.
It turned out to be a beautiful day and beautiful hike topped off with a beautiful sunset.
The hiking decision to take the safe part of the trail brought to mind Rule of Civility number 82:
Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.
Peace and blessings,
Linda and Larry
What a great hike!
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