Karkali nature reserve

Karkali nature reserve, Lohja 30/6/2014

Karkalinniemi is located in southern Finland, some 60 kilometres west from Helsinki. We visited Karkali nature reserve in the end of June. You are supposed to walk only on marked trails there. We chose the longest, 6 kilometre trail.

The remainders of an old croft are still visible in the nature. We found an old well. It is over a hundred years since the last inhabitants left the area.

It was very fresh and green in the woods. The nature is rich in Karkali: for example common hazel grows in the area.

We found some interesting looking fungi. In a nature reserve the trees are supposed to decompose without any interference from humans.

The duckboards were very slippery in places. It was more like skiing on the boards, not walking. I'm happy none in our family of five got injured. The rainy June was kind to us: it started raining only after we had started driving back home.

Lemmenlaakso nature trail

Lemmenlaakso, Järvenpää 29/6/2014

On a rainy Sunday we headed to Lemmenlaakso (Love valley) nature trail in Järvenpää. We hadn't been there before but a guide book I recently bought told the place was a good destination for a day walk.

The first part of the trail was easy to walk but the nearer we came river Keravanjoki the clayier the soil got. The rain had turned the path into a slippery slide and we had hard time not slipping. Sorry - no pics of that part of the trail!

The water in the river was clayey, too: we had tap water in our bottles but I guess it would have been quite troublesome to filter this water into drinking water.

The banks of the river are subject to erosion and many trees had fallen into the water. It is easy to see on the map how the river meanders.

 

We got a little muddy but had enjoyed the day out.