Puumala sits on a narrow strait in the middle of Lake Saimaa, the biggest lake in Finland, and the whole village is arranged around the point where road and water meet. Saimaa is less a single lake than an endless puzzle of channels, bays and islands, thousands of them, and the road here crosses the water on a bridge over the Puumalansalmi strait, with the glittering lake on either side and a light shimmering off the surface in summer. The endangered Saimaa ringed seal, which lives nowhere else in the world, swims in these waters, though you will be very lucky to catch a glimpse of one.
There is a small curiosity in the name. Puumala gave its name to a virus, the Puumala hantavirus, first identified in bank voles in this area, and an odd bit of scientific fame for a village of about twenty-seven hundred people. Mostly it is a place for summer cottages, boating and fishing, with a harbour, a few shops and a church. Savonlinna and Mikkeli are the larger towns around the lake, each an hour or so away, with Savonlinna's medieval castle of Olavinlinna, built in the fifteenth century, being the best known.
The riding is the reward. The Saimaa Road 62 follows lake shores and crosses straits through forests of pine and birch, with gentle curves, fast stretches and long views, and the traffic is light. Speed limits are strict and fines in Finland are linked to income, so keep within them. The real hazards are elk and deer at dawn and dusk, and the occasional gravel at junctions. Summer evenings are long and light, and in June it hardly gets dark. September gives crisp air and colours.
Practicalities are easy enough. A village of this size has at least a petrol station and a supermarket, though hours can be short on Sundays, and the café culture is better than you might expect, with coffee and a cinnamon bun, korvapuusti, on almost every counter. Look for fresh vendace, a small lake fish, fried in butter, a Saimaa classic, usually served at harbour kiosks in summer. Take a swim off a jetty if the weather allows, since the water is clean and soft and surprisingly bearable in late July.