Mikkeli – Feb 24
Feb 28th, 2020 by rallyadmin
There’s not much to say. The trip is winding down and the drive south is leaving the snow and cold of the north. Of course, that means we renew our acquaintance with the speed cameras.
The speed limit on Finland’s 2 lane highways is a maximum of 80 kilometers per hour or lower if the there is any need of extra caution for things like pedestrian crosswalks or traffic interchanges. The problem with the metric system for drives used to the imperial system where speed is measured in miler per hour is that though the number looks high the speed is actually a visible speed that is much lower.
For example, at 80 kph the imperial speed is about 50 mph. For the math nerds out the 1 kph x .624 = mph or 80 kph x .624 = 49.92 mph. The result is that it is very easy to get substantially over the spped limit if you don’t pay attention to the speed. And the speed cameras are set up to catch you when you go over the speed limit.
Fortunately, the car we rented from Hertz is a Volvo XC60 station wagon (everyone in Finland seems to be driving a station wagon whether it be Volvo or Mercedes or Audi), the GPS system has a warning for upcoming speed cameras on the display and on the dash cluster that tells you that there is a speed camera up to 300 meters ahead.
And the highway department has thoughtfully put up signs warning that the speed cameas are in use every few kilometers though the GPS misses some of the cameras. The cameras aren’t hidden and are very easy to spot, a silver cube with 2 round circles (one circl is the camera, the other is a strobe light) facing oncoming traffic. If you get caught by one it really is your own fault.
It was actually a relief driving in Lapland without the speed cameras. They didn’t need them. Because of the low population density (at least in the winter) there’s not as much danger for pedestrians. There are many roads so there aren’t many intersections. And the fact that they don’t use salt, sand or gravel on the roads up there, the speed is rather self-limiting. You need a good reason and, as David Hobbes likes to say, very large attachments to seriously exceed the speed limit which tends to be 100 kph on the open roads.
But we’re back out of Lapland and we need to keep an eye on the speed. I refuse to get a speeding ticket after working this hard to stay within shouting distance of the speed limit. Well, most of the time.Plus I brought my own speed limiter with me in the right hand seat.
The drive is singularly forgettable. The country side is mostly farm land again and is probably quite lovely in the summer. But it’s pretty drab after the unbelievable beauty of the snow-bound north.
We make it to our stop for the night, Mikkeli, by about 4PM and check into our hotel. We’re both pretty tired and, if the trip was going to last much longer would probably need to take a break from driving. Plus there’s not much to see in this area that’s actually open in the winter.
We catch up on pictures and blog posts. Drop some texts to the folks back home. Down to the restaurant hotel for a singularly forgettable dinner and back to the room for an early night.
Tomorrow, the last drive back into Helsinki.
Obi-wan
