Kalevala is the town that renamed itself after a poem. It used to be Uhtua, a Finnish-speaking Karelian village on the shore of Lake Ukhta, in the borderland where Finns and Russians had mingled for centuries, and in 1963 it took the name of the national epic, in honour of what had been collected here. The story goes that in the 1830s, the Finnish doctor Elias Lönnrot walked through the villages of Russian Karelia, listening to the old rune singers who recited the ancient songs, and from what he gathered, he assembled the Kalevala, the epic of Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and the magic Sampo. It was published in 1835 and enlarged in 1849, and it became the foundation of Finnish national identity, and later inspired Sibelius and Tolkien.
The town today has about five thousand people, scattered around a lake in dense forest, with wooden houses, a few Soviet blocks, and a small museum devoted to the epic. It is close to the Finnish border, and the Finnish influence is still visible in the place names and the landscape. The air smells of resin and wet moss, and the lakes are dark and clear.
The ride through here, from Kostomuksha, follows quiet forest roads through some of the most remote country in European Russia. The taiga is spruce and pine, with bogs, ridges and countless lakes, and in the long summer light it can feel endless. Road quality varies, so be ready for patches, frost heave and the occasional gravel stretch, and keep your speed down, because elk, reindeer and even bears can cross the road. Mosquitoes are bad from June to August. The best months are late May, June, and September, when the forest turns gold.
Fuel and food are available in town, which has a petrol station and shops, but beyond it supplies are thin, so fill up here. There is little traffic, so a breakdown can mean a long wait, and it is wise to carry water, a repair kit and some food. The border zone is nearby, and you should carry your documents, and check whether permits are needed for areas close to the frontier.
Walk to the lake, listen to the loons, and think of a doctor with a notebook, a century and a half ago.