5 ferries and a bicycle sprint to ferry #6 and the island of Korppoo

Today began with an easy, late start, and a delicious breakfast.  The breads and pastries in Finland are super yum.  Another post-holiday goal for me is to learn, once home, how to make the cinnamon rolls.  They are so good.  Tasted an extremely fine example during a stop at the village of Norby (sp?) this morning.

Most of today's six ferries were very small, cable ferries, covering just a few hundred metres between islands, but two were larger affairs, with timetables and, in one case, a need for speed.  We're all following the tour instruction sheets like a wee bible, so when it said you will have plenty of time to catch the 3.45 ferry from Inio we all believed it.  Well, jumping off the small ferry at 3.05, with an 11 1/2 km ride ahead we started to wonder.  Boy, we flew.  Well, as fast as you can fly on the heaviest bikes you can imagine, with no fitness, and sore bums.  So, yep, we were bloody flying, mate.  And we made it, with an easy 3 minutes to spare.  I've never been so happy to see the sign of the car falling into the water...

Other than that, the day involved easy, very short rides, across a mix of pasture, forest and thru tiny villages, with occasional courteous drivers (cars from the ferries) whizzing past.  Then it was just us and the country roads, taking us home to hotel Nestor - well, for the next 2 nights anyway.

From the ferries, we saw islands of all shapes and sizes, from a couple of metres square, to islands sufficient to hold one or two holiday homes, through to the big ones, like Houtskari and Korppoo.

Everywhere is blue - sea and sky.  And through the countryside it's all greens of the forest and yellow wheat fields.  We're off into the town for dinner tonight and tomorrow is our free day for suiting ourselves.  It will start with a sleep in - in our room, with its own shower (bliss) and named after one of the Hotel's cows.  Can't wait.

Aussie Geoff and Kiwi Geoff chat about life, the universe, etc while we wait for the boat. 

Church from the cemetery (Norby)

The last of our Estonian bread and cheese. Boat picnic. Well deserved. 

Overview. Turku Archipelago. We are here. Just to the left of my thumb.