Day 27 - A Proper Geocaching Adventure

With it being A Level results day in the UK, I spent a bit of time at my computer this morning checking in, whilst trying not to be a backseat driver! Very proud of the kiddos on what is such a stressful day for them.

Whilst at the geocaching event yesterday, Finland’s oldest cache (and, indeed, one of the world’s top 50 oldest caches) was mentioned to me as being about 20 miles north of the city and very doable by public transport. I had various options for activities today, but liked the sound of this as it would also mean I could go on a Finnish train, when I otherwise would not have used my interrail pass here.

I had a fairly good idea of how I would get to the cache - a simple train and bus combo that would take me about an hour, and then a 15-20 minute walk to the cache. Reader, that did not happen! My first mistake was going a stop too far on the train, having got confused with the Swedish and Finnish naming of the stations, and my second mistake was going on a bus that claimed to be going to the nearest town, but actually stopped a couple of kilometres away from where I thought.

Not deterred though, I decided to enjoy the lovely weather and walk through the Finnish woodland. It was pretty - this picture does not do it justice, but at least does show you that I was very much not in the city anymore!

Pleasingly, there were some other caches on the way, the absolute highlight being this one:

Eventually, I made my way to the old cache - first placed in September 2000 (a month later than Sweden’s oldest cache… but the Swedish cache was disabled for a while….). I was quite hot, getting hungry, and getting a little despondent that I could not find the cache for a while. Then I heard people! I hadn’t seen other people around for a while, and lo and behold, it was the four Slovakian women that I had befriended at the event yesterday. With their help, we soon found the cache, and I was able to walk back to a (much closer!) bus-stop.

I was able to get a well-earned DC near the station and had a much more straight-forward trip back into the city. I did feel that I had earned a bit of a rest when I got back.

This evening, I went to the pub/restaurant near to where I am staying, and decided to mark my final night in Finland with a moose burger. It was pretty nice, although I think I will stick to beef in future!

All being well, tomorrow’s update will be coming to you from Tallinn.

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