Turku to Kirjala, 25 km
It would have been better to have walked a few more kilometres to Pargas which is a delightful waterside archipelago village where I’m sitting right now with 0.5 litres of Finnish beer, a burger on the grill and good reggae music on the PA (see photo above). My accommodation in Kirjala is a cabin in the woods and dinner would have been a microwave curry washed down with a bottle of water from the refrigerator so I took the happy 801 yellow bus to Pargas instead.
The day started with a satisfactory breakfast in the hotel Centro. The receptionist made my packed lunch, gave me a mischievous wink and said she’d given me two blueberry muffins.
I walked to the Cathedral but the pilgrim centre only opened at 12:00 so I set off without their words of encouragement.
It was a pleasant if not memorable walk out of the city, which soon gave way to forests and then a big swamp which was crossed by a two plank wide, overgrown wooden pathway with bits missing. I was grateful not to be in Florida.
The path is amazingly well sign posted with the little St Olav cross. Sometimes there’ll be 3 or 4 signs on successive trees along a straight path and then, just when you need a little help, nothing. So I took a few wrong turnings. The cross has 4 arrows, each pointing in a different direction so one of them is always right.
I reached some high ground with a look out tower and settled down to my picnic lunch which was an epic cheese and ham salad roll, a banana and only one muffin which a child could have swallowed whole.
A young couple from Berlin joined me while I was looking for the other muffin. They are also walking St Olav’s Waterway so we exchanged information and plans.
This afternoon the Waterway became a cycle path beside a busy road. It left the mainland and crossed a bridge onto the first archipelago island where a supermarket awaited. I bought an ice cream and a bottle of cold fizzy fruity water. The temperature is in the low 20s, couldn’t be better. After that, the next bridge was being replaced by an impressive new one. In Britain we paint over the cracks or just close it to traffic.
Turku Cathedral
Pilgrimage 
It’s good to see that your celebrity status has reached Finland – making a new bridge just for you amazing 🤩 Am disappointed to hear there’s no crocs in the swamp💪
Certainly a massive project building that bridge but there were some huge trucks using the old one. No crocs in the swamp but millions of biting insects
Beautiful pictures, Tim. Florida has crocs and lots of insects. Sorry to hear about your itsy bitsy blueberry muffin. The Cross of St. Olaf would drive me mad…
Thanks MJ, I think the muffin would have been bigger in Florida
Hi Tim
Seems. Like I can only comment this way . Good to see you on the move again
Cath and Dave
Sent from my iPad
Hi Cath, it’s good to be walking, especially in cool Scandinavia
I eagerly await to hear if you located the other muffin. Agreed, fortunately no crocodiles in Finland, at least not yet…
I think one of the insects might have swallowed it
Kia ora Tim, great to have your pilgrimage reports as a perfect distraction from from the southern midwinter! Finland looks beautiful & warm … long may it remain crocodile-free.
Hi Philippa, many people in Europe would appreciate a little bit of cool air from NZ. Fortunately I’m just outside the European heat dome
Safe travels Tim. Limit yourself to six flapjacks per day.
Good advice, Dave. That would soon lower the weight of my backpack
A pilgrim marches on his stomach Tim…hit the flapjacks if you can’t find croissants for breakfast.
I think what you believe is cabin #3 is actually the storage shed for cabin #2?
It feels like it, especially with the occupant of cabin #2 snoring next to my head
Happy to hear you are back on the trail! I look forward to following your adventure!
It’s good to be walking in this part of the world. Paul seems to be enjoying himself in Greece
Yay! Good to have you and your blog back tim. Beautiful photo’s! That receptionist knew you wouldn’t come back!😡
Perhaps it fell between the floor boards. It will remain one of life’s mysteries
So wonderful to be back on the Tim Train again! We will be with you all the way…hope that doesn’t add any weight to your backpack 😉
Seeing the St Olav’s Way symbol again brings a combo of some fondness & a bit of trauma…so is the mixed bag that is the trail.
Curious to know if there is actually enough walking for you with all the island hopping…I’m sure some are tiny? 🤔
Hi Karen, so good to hear from you! The Waterway walk is only 170km so I’m taking the train to Copenhagen for a longer walk to Lübeck in Germany but even that makes for a shorter walk than normal. I remember you telling me about your mixed experiences on the trail to Trondheim so apologies for showing the marker
🤣All good…like I said, there is some fondness. I actually love the marker itself but understand the frustration directionally!
Happy trails!
🤣 All good…as I said there is some fondness too. I love the marker itself but understand the frustration directionally!
Happy trails!
Every footpath is different and it’s fun to learn how each one communicates