On Lake Tuusula

We live by Lake Tuusula, famous for having been a favorite place for a collective of artists in the beginning of the previous century. Some of our great writers, painters and composers used to live here, on the other side of the lake from us.

Some neighbours live closer to the lake than we do, and some of them don't make it too easy for others to reach the shore, but there are some paths that you can use to approach the lake without conflicts. Besides, conflicts like that are not difficult for me to deal with.

Lake Tuusula is weirdly a lake I seldom swim in (I always swim everywhere), but I have sailed on it altogether for years and kayaked on it a lot. In the wintertime skiing and ice-skating are also great options. The non-swimming relationship was established in my childhood, when the water in the lake was polluted and swimming there was not good for you.

The poles help a lot when going against the wind. 

The weather-people on TV have already for weeks warned that there is practically no secure ice in southern Finland, but our lake seems still to be going strong in that area. I have several times skated 40-50 km on the lake and it is a blast to do it! The Ice has lately been even better than earlier in the winter and the kinds of skates we have, long blades attached to your normal x-c ski-boots, allow you to glide quickly in long strides.

These were the conditions Friday, March 7th

Skating is one of those sports you can do when you don't want to run too much. I suspect my joints (both the knees and hips) have worn out from hiking a lot in the French mountains while pregnant and carrying bigger children on my back.

When skating is no more possible in the spring I switch to biking and rollerblades. Again I can use the lake, there's a nice 20 km track around it.