Verla Groundwood and Board Mill and SVARTVIRA Mustaviiri

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

   A mill in the middle of a forest is a strange thing to find in Finland, until you remember that the forest was the point. The Verla Groundwood and Board Mill, in Kymenlaakso in south-eastern Finland, was built in the 1870s beside a waterfall, where the river provided power and the surrounding woods provided the raw material. It made groundwood pulp and cardboard until it closed in 1964, and what remains is one of the best-preserved examples of a small wood-processing village in the world, which is why UNESCO listed it in 1996.

   Read the complete Verla Groundwood and Board Mill write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Verla Groundwood and Board Mill is where the day begins. Next is PORLOM II Tornikallio.

2. 2. PORLOM II Tornikallio

   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.

   Read the complete PORLOM II Tornikallio write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   PORLOM II Tornikallio comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sunila Housing Area.

3. 3. Sunila Housing Area

   Alvar Aalto designed this place before the Second World War, and you can still read the plan on the ground. Sunila is a pulp mill on a rocky island near Kotka, on the Gulf of Finland, and Aalto designed both the mill buildings and the housing for the workers, in the late 1930s. The houses step down the slope in terraces among the pines, with an eye for views and shared space, which was unusual for an industrial settlement then. The mill still runs, with smoke rising over the pines on cold mornings, so the place is a working one, not a museum, and the housing area is lived in by residents who deserve some quiet.

   Read the complete Sunila Housing Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 175 km into the recorded legs you reach Sunila Housing Area. Next is SVARTVIRA Mustaviiri.

4. 4. back through Sunila Housing Area

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sunila Housing Area write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Sunila Housing Area sits at 253 km, about halfway. Next is back through PORLOM II Tornikallio.

5. 5. back through PORLOM II Tornikallio

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete PORLOM II Tornikallio write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through PORLOM II Tornikallio comes up about 269 km into the recorded legs. Next is Verla Groundwood and Board Mill.

6. 6. Verla Groundwood and Board Mill

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Verla Groundwood and Board Mill write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Verla Groundwood and Board Mill closes the day.