The Winter War Finland

Travelled : 309km
Stay : Suomussalmi - free parking beside lake  1 km from town N64.88552 E28.91819
Visited : Kuhmo winter war battle fields.

View from our spot last night.

You will find water and air in these heated cabinets in most service stations.

Bought one of these traditional rice filled savoury pastry called a Karjalan-piirakka.

The highlight in Nurmes (from the Lonely Planet book ) is the Bomban Talon which is a large building of a recreated Karelian village 3 km out of town.  It was part of the spa resort but as it was not busy we went for a stroll around the complex and admired the pretty wooden cottages. 

This game of disc (frisbee) golf can be found in most towns.

On our way to Kuhmo we ventured down route 9111 to see the Winter War battle fields, fought here from Nov 1939 to Mar 1940.  We found the information from fellow bloggers, The Barkers (langdale-associates.com) via Marg and Baz's blog  (their link to talvisotakuhmossa.fi works but doesn't if you write the address in Google ... technology can be a mystery!  )

We enjoyed our time exploring the various stops along the road and learning about this War. 

A lovely little watermill 

A father and son enjoying the long weekend except for hitting a moose at midnight!

A walk in the forest...I was keeping an eye out for the Bears!

The first Finnish soldier and the only civilian killed in this war are buried here.

Tank barricades.

A memorial that depicts every life lost from all sides with each rock.

We even made it to the Russian border! But alas we had no visas and no one was at the booth so we turned back and retraced our route out of there.

We drove into Kuhmo that has a War Museum and a Nature Centre with information on the local wildlife - bears, Lynxes, wolverines and wolfs. Unfortunately it was closed so we continued on through the state forests lined with snow patches and ice covered lakes. 

Summer hasn't quite started here but it looks very pretty. On our way to Suomussalmi we did get a bit worried as we drove through snow slurries but when we arrived into town it was blue skies and sunshine again although not quite swimming weather at 6°c and the lake is still covered in ice!

This cold weather deserves a hearty dinner!