Palvajarvi 2018: Day 14 - Hot, Sunny, Perfect!

Sunday 22 July 2018

Day 14 - Hot, Sunny, Perfect!

Every year we have been coming to Finland in the summer, I always pray for glorious weather. Sometimes we've been lucky; I'll never forget the wonderful years of 2010 and 2011, when it seemed every day was hot. Then we had a great year in 2014 here at Palvajarvi. But this year, above all, has been truly outstanding. Not only has the weather been sunny every day, it's been above 25C every single day we've been here, and above 30C at least half of the fortnight too. Moreover, in previous years when there's been hot weather it has always been followed quickly by thunderstorms. This year, it simply has been hot.

So today it was lovely again and we simply relaxed in the sun and swam in the gorgeous warm lake. I don't think anyone wanted to get out this evening! Tonight we are busy getting ready for tomorrow when we leave here at 3am for Helsinki!

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2018 will be the 12th anniversary of our first trip to Finland in 2006, when we first ventured to, and fell in love with this wonderfully beautiful and tranquil Nordic country.

This will be our 11th summer visit to this hidden gem of a country in the far north of Europe.

We fell in love with Finland in 2006 when we stayed at Santalahti Holiday Resort in the southern town of Kotka. We were back in 2008, flying to Helsinki, then staying in both Kotka and Varkaus, around 300 kms north east of the capital city. This gave us our first taste of the lakeland areas inland, and we loved swimming in the beautiful warm lakes!
In 2010 we returned by car from Scotland in a heatwave to the areas close to Juva and Puumala, renting our first cottages by lakes that were incredibly warm to swim in. After such fantastic weather in 2010, we had high hopes of the same in 2011, and incredibly, we were again very lucky to have a real heatwave! We stayed in two cottages close to Juva again, and fell further in love with the tranquil solitude you experience in this spectacular lakeland area.
By 2012, we wanted to try some new areas and cottages, so we planned a 24 day holiday, staying for a week in three different cottages as well as staying in a beautiful Helsinki aparthotel for 3 nights. It was lovely to discover the eastern town of Parikkala, as well as the western town of Ruovesi, and in between, we stayed for a week in what has become our firm favourite cottage of all our trips, close to Jyväskylä. We loved our stay on Lake Palvajarvi so much in 2012, that we returned to the same cottage again in 2013 and 2014 for two weeks, as well as in 2015. In 2016, we were back for our 5th year at what was definitely a real home-from-home! Then in 2017 it was time for our 6th year in a row at this lovely property!

Now, it seems we'd hardly want to go anywhere else, as in 2018, we return here again for the 7th year in a row!

Heating a Smoke Sauna

We've usually spent our time in wood-burning saunas while in Finland, but there is a different type of sauna that requires many hours of preparation, but which provides the "Rolls Royce" of sauna experiences once it's ready! Yes, the Smoke Sauna - and this short film describes the process for heating one! This year, after 10 years of wood-burning and electric saunas, we are going to try a Smoke Sauna for the first time, at the beautiful Taulu Manor which is only a short drive from our cottage.