You need not only silence but an entirely new life

Private

Wood

I managed to do what I have been planning to do for some time: I walked for 4 1/2 hours in the swamps and forests in Nuuksio.

I started from the parking lot at Siikaranta, and walked to the east end of Soidinsuo swamp, the biggest swamp in Nuuksio. I explored Soidinsuo from east to west, and started then to walk north, to lake Iso-Holmajärvi, visiting lakes Poro-Kolmoislampi, Ympyrkäinenlampi and Pitkä Saarijärvi on the way. I returned via another route, circling via lakes Ahvenisto, Mustalampi, Vähä-Romlampi, Kolmoislammit and Siikajärvi. All in all I walked about 20 km, maybe a bit more, going slow in the beginning, and faster when returning to Siikaranta.

It was great to be outdoors, and the weather was perfect for walking, about +1 °C in the morning, and +6 °C around noon. During the night the temperature had dropped below freezing, and there were frozen cranberries at Soidinsuo swamp. However, almost all of the frost had disappeared by the time I was walking there.

The photographs were taken a week ago in Vaakkoi.

(Posting title is from the poem The Atrophy of Private Life by Jennifer Moxley.)

Always happiest out of doors

Shadows

Bent

Up

Wood

Tracks

Stump

Bumpy

Stream

On Sunday I decided to go for a longer walk, to test how it goes. My oldest daughter wanted to go to Nuuksio, so there we went, exploring places where we haven't yet been this winter.

We walked along the paths to lake Iso-Holma, did a bit of exploring there, and returned via a slightly different route back to the parking lot. The map I was using wasn't completely accurate, so we had to do a bit of forward-and-back walking along the paths to find the way that goes to the right direction.

It was a sunny day, and being out walking was great. But 1 1/2 hours of walking was enough, I'm not quite back to normal yet.

(Posting title is from the poem "The Sleeping Gypsy" by Michele Wolf.)