either I or my travel partner are very sports inclined. We play badminton in the living-room (150 is our top score), so the idea of getting into a double kayak, stuffed with a tent, sleeping bag, and food and paddling off in the lake, was daunting.

The kayak company asks if you have prior experience, of course, you lie and say ‘Sure!’ – and then ‘well, a bit’ – it soon becomes clear to everyone when you don’t know how to load the kayak or even sit in it or use the pedals to guide it that you have no experience what so ever.

1. Things to see

We had taken a bus from central Helsinki out to the kayak center. It looked close on the map but was a few miles away from the bus stop. At least there was a grocery store, so we loaded up on far too many supplies for a single night. We had multiple dinners, bags of chips, snacks – enough for 3 days, but we were over-excited about our first camping trip.

Once loaded down with our overnight bags, AND many kilos of water, drinks, and the food we now had to find our way to the kayak center. They weren’t answering their phone, and we couldn’t find anyone to help us call a taxi – so we just had to make the long walk.

The introduction, and realization that we had no knowledge of kayaks strangely didn’t put the kayaker instructor off at all, they gamely showed us all the ropes, how to steer the kayak, how to make it watertight, and gave a scary lesson about what to do if it tips over (essentially – forget the maneuver to tip you back upright and concentrate on just getting the hell out of the boat and save your life).

Within an hour of first seeing a kayak up close they were pushing us off into the sea, and that was it. We were doing this. They gave us a laminated map that showed about 30+ uninhabited islands and we could camp and make a fire on, and then some private islands (with houses) where you probably wouldn’t be so welcome. 😉

We started paddling, grateful we had chosen a double kayak instead of a single so we could share the work. Some parts of the lake were so shallow we would either almost get stuck and have to make a wide berth around. In the open and deeper section, the wind and waves were more significant. We tried to stick as close to land as we made our way around for a few hours of paddling before deciding on a smallish lopsided island that was mostly rocks and trees but had one small beach.

Unfortunately, our training didn’t include anything about the tent, I guess this is expected knowledge in Finland, however, I haven’t had much use for setting up tents in the Philippines. Once we got it all set up with expanding tent poles, zippers and sleeping bags we realized (in the night) how important it is to have level ground. Our tent was perched at an angle so we kept sliding down the tent all night and then gamely trying to push ourselves back up.

It was an uncomfortable night with no bathroom facilities, where we did our best to cook our curry over a gas flame and then wash the pan in the freezing lake water. Then zipped ourselves uptight in the tent and hoped nothing would eat us. Most disconcerting was being out in the middle of no-where, where no-one knew where you were – after tens of thousands of television hours about serial killers and very bad things happening to people in just our position we ready to jump at every noise.

The ride back in the morning was much more peaceful, we had survived the night, nothing bothered us, the sound of water lapping against the shore was peaceful, and we had our morning snacks. Packing a kayak is more difficult than you think. Even with the compression bags, it takes a long time and a lot of hard work as you can’t leave anything behind on the islands. You need to pack everything you brought in – back out.

The weather was a little rougher so we made quick time back to the center, along the way seeing where at least one house had a pontoon plane that landed on the water a few dozen meters from us and then pulled into his water garage. Very cool.

Anyone coming to Helsinki – I would strongly encourage a night or two paddling around the lakes and camping, especially if you’ve never done it before.

Our water staying chilled in the lake

Our small island

There and back again …

A pretty good job setting up the tent, besides it’s not level

Island with fishing house

In the tent

The lake

Dinner!

A small adventure for some, but like going to Mars for us.