After a strong winter, we were ready to restart our Northern adventure again. The temperature was still cold but the roads were mostly free of snow. The nights were cold but survivable with our winter equipment at the beginning of spring. We were prepared. Camping in the snow was not so difficult. The most difficult thing was that when you were not moving. It could still be minus 10 degrees so after cooking and eating we went straight to our tent. Unless we had a fire to keep us warm (at one of the Laavu’s).
What are Laavu’s?
Laavu’s are Finnish shelters. They are spread all over Finland in forests, lakes, mountains, and other places in nature. They are free to use and they often contain a fire pit, a shelter, firewood, and a toilet. You cannot make a reservation for them. You just go and if there are other people you can join them. Since Spring is not a popular season to travel in Finland we didn’t see a lot of other people when we stayed at a shelter. For us, they were a pure luxury! Especially the fires kept us warm in the evening so we didn’t need to jump directly in our tent after every cycling day. It was a nice change from wild camping in the snow. There is a map with all laavu’s in Finland which you can find here.