I’ve started to become famous among my friends for my tours around Finland and countless explorations in strange locations. They often ask me for tips for their own roadtrips nowadays.
One of my friends asked for an even more comprehensive adventure. She told me that she wanted to go on a roadtrip to Northern Karelia, as she had never been there. And she asked me to be her tour guide for one weekend.
A free adventure to my favorite region? Of course I said yes! I planned us a route to the top of Koli, one of my favorite places in the whole country, for the first evening. The second day would be spent driving around lake Pielinen ending in Joensuu by night and finally the way home would take us through the most beautiful road in Finland to Ilomantsi and Vaara-Karjala. She was thrilled.
And it surely became an adventure even before it began. We had agreed that I’d take a train to her home town Tampere after my working week ended of Friday afternoon. On Thursday evening I was piss drunk at my home putting the childhood treasures I just collected from my childhood home up for sale on a website. And my friend was piss drunk on a restaurant terrace with her friend enjoying the first warm spring day. That was when we got the news that a train strike was starting at midnight cancelling all service.
We had three options: I could try to take a bus the following afternoon, which would delay our departure. I could wait for her to drive to pick me up from Helsinki, which would delay our departure even further. The third option was, that I’d take the final train of the evening departing in 30 minutes and stay the night at their place. We chose the third option, I packed in 15 minutes and rushed to the station hoping that I had everything with me.
After finishing my working week the following afternoon, we left eastwards. The first obstacle came after just a few kilometers, as a car crash had stopped traffic. But finally we were out of the first city, past the second and the third. And there was our first location.
This is where we chose to stop the car and continue by foot.
The roads were narrow and very wet.
The good question was of course, why would anyone build such a small, narrow road in the middle of nowhere.
Well, let me tell you something. It wasn’t a road. It was a former railroad.
Leading straight to the second railway tunnel built in Finland and completed in 1917. It was also the second longest until 1964.
The tunnel was decommissioned in 1995, when the railway got electricity. It was too low for that, but instead of enlarging it, it was cheaper to build a 200 meters longer tunnel next to it.
The tunnel was now closed with a solid metal net, which can’t be seen in the pictures. It was more than 1,2 kilometers long, but its speciality was, that it was so straight, you could actually see from end to end. That white spot is the other entrance.
The tunnel is now considered dangerous and is off bounds for everyone.
Although it was late in May, the place was so deep in the backwoods, that there was still ice left from the winter.
And there was water running everywhere. The old tunnel had issues with water especially during winters. They solved this problem by installin curtains and later double doors in front of the tunnel entrances. There were also houses for tunnel guards on both ends of the tunnel. We couldn’t find one at this end anymore.