Our Midsummer tour continued further down the dirt roads near the Russian border. We found a bigger road, but again my friend ordered me to leave it for narrower gravel paths. Suddenly there was a gate blocking the road, and we had to continue by foot. Parking was an issue, however, as there were at least three cars parked by the barrier, and one of them had occupied the space of two.
My Volvo fell down a ditch and had to be pushed up. In the end we really didn’t care about the badly parking asshole and just took the only vacant spot blocking his exit.
We walked past the gate and were right in one of my favorite landscapes, the Southern Karelian fields. I don’t know why, and I can’t explain how, but there the shade of green is just a small bit different from everywhere else. And it makes my heart feel warm.
After a short walk we found a fence running alongside the road. Every few metres there were signs telling that it was forbidden to enter the quarry area and that there was a danger of falling.
That literally says “Even swimming is forbidden”, which is funny.
That was exactly why we were there. By the way, I bought this towel on my way to Pyhä-Nattanen, as I had forgotten to pack one with me back then.
According to another Finnish blogger, the quarry operated between 1985 and 1998 and was used to mine minerals for rock wool. After the company closed the quarry down, it filled with water. The company still owns it and is responsible for its safety. That’s why everything is forbidden.
That hasn’t prevented people from making the quarry their swimming place, and what a popular place it was. We counted at least five families, a very old couple with their grandchildren and even a family of Russian tourists each entering the area through a large hole in the fence.
My friends took a swim, I didn’t, as the water smelled like egg farts. It was also very turquoise coloured, so sulphur might have something to do with that.
But my friends swimmed. After that we ate some sandwiches, and enjoyed a (not so) cold beer. Or my friends had beer and I had Juhannussimaa. It’s name comes from the comic Fingerpori and is ingenious: it means both ‘Midsummer Mead’ and ‘Fucked by Juha’. I found it a hilarious joke. And the mead was good, too.