Less than three hours after boarding the Estonia / Finland ferry we had arrived in Helsinki. For the very first time on our travels we were asked for proof of our vaccination status. We proudly showed the NHS app on our iPhones. The Finnish boarder force were a friendly bunch and, on seeing our truck, one officer commented that we looked as if we were going to invade his country.
We were soon on our way heading towards Turku, 120 miles west where, in a few days, we would take the ferry to Sweden.
We stopped at a family camp site at Ruissalo on the coast, set in 50 acres of mature woodland. The site was a holiday resort and had many more facilities than we needed – but Finland didn’t appear to offer the casual stopover places in rural areas that we had enjoyed in other countries. The camp site had clean sandy beaches, saunas on the beach (€20 per hour), sports pitches, a dog exercising compound, children’s play areas and a crazy golf. The weather was exceptional too with highs of 22° and we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine watching the children play. By 10 pm the site was quiet, everyone tucked up inside although it was still broad daylight.
