Tornikallio means tower rock in Finnish, and it is a common name for a rocky hill with a view. Artjärvi and Myrskylä lie in the rolling farmland where Uusimaa meets Kymenlaakso, a landscape of small lakes, red barns, rye and oat fields and patches of spruce forest, drained by the Porvoonjoki river on its way to the Gulf of Finland. It is gentler than the lake district farther north, and it has a well-worn look, with old wooden farmhouses and village churches painted white or ochre.
Verla Groundwood and Board Mill, named in one of the ride titles, lies some distance to the east, near Kouvola, and is a UNESCO site since 1996. It is a small, almost perfectly preserved nineteenth-century factory village, where wood was ground into pulp and pressed into cardboard, and the red brick buildings stand around a rapid in the river. It is a good reason to ride this corner of the country, and the mill closed in the 1960s, leaving the machines in place.
The roads here are quiet and fast, with long, well-surfaced straights and a few easy bends, and traffic is light even in summer. Elk are a real danger at dawn and dusk, and the speed limits drop in villages. Gravel side roads are common and usually well graded. The best time is June to August, when the light is long and the fields are green, though September brings clear air and the first autumn colours.
The nearest places are small. Artjärvi has about fifteen hundred people, Myrskylä two thousand, and Lapinjärvi three thousand, so fuel and food are limited. Orimattila, nineteen kilometres away, is the nearest town with a full range of services. Fill the tank there. Look for a village shop with a coffee machine, a cinnamon bun and a bench outside, which is as good as most restaurants. The northern light and a lake on the horizon do the rest.