Heinola sits on a narrow strip of land between two lakes in southern Finland, about fifty kilometres north-east of Lahti, and it is one of those towns that has quietly reinvented itself more than once. It is a lakeland place through and through, with water on both sides, and the big lake system of Päijänne and the Kymijoki watershed lies close by. The Jyrängönkoski rapids, a short walk from the centre, give the town a pleasant spot to watch the current while you drink coffee.
Finland's roads reward a calm approach. The surfaces are generally excellent, the corners gentle and rolling through spruce and birch forest, and the country is thinly populated enough that you can ride for an hour without seeing much traffic. Speed limits are strictly enforced, with cameras and fines scaled to income, so keep to the posted limits, usually eighty or a hundred kilometres per hour on the open road and lower through villages. The greater danger is wildlife: elk, which Finns call moose, wander across roads at dawn and dusk, particularly in late summer, and hitting one on a bike would be disastrous. Slow down at twilight.
Summer is the season, from late May to August, when the light barely fades and the lakes steam in the early morning. The countryside is dotted with lakeside cottages, many with a sauna on the shore, and the habit of jumping from a hot sauna into cold water is deeply ingrained. Autumn brings colour and quiet, though temperatures drop fast. Finnish law gives everyone the right to roam, and to camp for a night in most woodland as long as you leave no trace, which makes a long ride in the lakelands unusually easy to stretch into an overnight.
Heinola is a good practical stop. With a population of about twenty thousand it has fuel, supermarkets, cafés and a pleasant harbour area, and summer cafés open along the shore. Try a Finnish pastry such as a korvapuusti, the cinnamon bun, with your coffee, or a lunch of vendace or perch if you can find it. Lahti, a larger city, lies down the road to the south-west, and the lakes to the north offer a hundred places to pause.