epic jaunt (trigger warning: might make you tired if you're empathic)

OK so first of all I just want to say I am aware that there is a font disfunction in the previous post. There is apparently nothing I can do about it (I have already highlighted the whole thing and changed the font, but that doesn't send the right signal apparently). 

Today I went full walkabout on Tampere's ass, walking around the lake known as 

Pyhäjärvi as far as the bridge known as E12 (I don't really know what it's actually called, but the far left on the map below) then back to Tampere. It was more than the 25km on the map, because I did a lot of twisting and turning on the lakeshore, rather than take the recommended (stupid) route of walking on huge main roads, apart from where it was unavoidable. 

OK remember last Wednesday when I found a railway line on a bridge? Well, a little bit further east of that bridge was another bridge, and I scaled the embankment to find it was not a railway line but this:  

So what I hear you say. That's a bit rude of you but the point is taken. But you won't say 'so what' to this, a pile of broken bathtubs!

Guess what this says:

Yeah, I thought it would be something funny too, but actually it just says there's a dog in the yard so close the gate. Here's something else you can come up with a caption for if you wanna:

Look what is it with the Finns and their friggin' open-air rug cleaning? Along with facial piercings, excessive tattooing, t-shirts with big bold English sayings on them, and smoking it's a national obsession. In this case, look at the view and look at what this scenic spot has been reserved for!?

There were a few of these. Air raid shelters or something?

Reading between the lines (there was no point in reading the lines themselves) I gathered that this was an area that had been formative in the development of Finnish aviation, perhaps aviation altogether. It's now in the process of being developed as a big bunch of apartments, but this aeroplane has been put here as commemoration, as has the sculpture below, which I think is intended to memorialise a particular engineer, not a boy per se. Now I am close to finishing David Kirby's Concise History of Finland I feel like I know more, yet have more questions, about the exact nature of Finland's role/status/behaviour in WW2, but it strikes me that in any case this is dicey territory. I guess it's being dealt with. In a way.

I was really pleased to see this cafe as I was dying for a coffee. Only problem is it's not a cafe it's a secondhand shop (or similar). I didn't feel like going in, I wanted a coffee.

So you'd assume I'd jump at the chance to hop aboard Daddy's Diner, right? I really didn't feel like being forced into some sweet pastry blah blah. I think my desire for coffee was working against me (making me too grumpy). Oh well, no Daddy today. 

I passed over this. I don't have a clue what it was but it stank. Or stunk, whatever the word is.

Good luck building this guys unless the idea is to make these homes vertical.

These animals had no interest in me. They had learnt to eat grass, just that morning if their gusto is any gauge.

This was when I took the turn north. I was so glad the key destination (which I wasn't going to pass through, because it was in the wrong direction on the other side of the bridge) was Nokia. It made things so easy to remember.

On the bridge

I got coffee, at this place. It was a nice place but the coffee was awful. I put sugar in it before I even tried it. I don't know why such a civilised place as Finland can't do coffee properly (except as a double espresso).

OK so that was all bridge stuff, who cares. This is where things got really scenic, hundreds and hundreds of little rowboats and shoreline nooks and benches, and hundreds of middle-aged cycling couples too.

Above is one of the various under-highway walkways I took, the lakeside path was often petering out so I'd return to the north side of the highway, then come back as soon as I could. Below is - I don't know what below is, but what it makes me think of is those big fake islands the Chinese are making to reiterate their claim to waters in the South China Sea. You know, an artificial structure bigger than an island.

Selfie

You have my permission to write an inspirational message in some cursive script on this picture:

Old bus thing:

Guess what: another fucking rug washing place. WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT

'Pesupaikka' means washing place; you're not allowed to wash your car here though. Boo!

Google translate says this means 'Do not drive on... first graders'. I'm just pleased to see Alex Stitt is still getting work.

This delightful soul barked and barked and barked at me.

And barked

And barked.

I suppose there should be some triumphal arrival picture for the end of this walk but my sherpas had deserted by that stage. My sore feet let me know it all happened, though.