What a great weekend outdoors! I was taking it easy last week after catching a tiny cold (perhaps something to do with last weekend’s paddle in the rain, and was eager to get out on the weekend, catching up on all the missed opportunities. Luckily the weather was simply great, with the Friday night storm and all.
One of the outings I did during the weekend was a bikerafting trip to Kirkkonummi on Saturday, a roundtrip which originally aimed to visit Pentala (and to view windsurfers racing around the island on the way), but starting late I had to change a plan a bit on the fly to make it back home in time for family duties.
(View Medvastö Bikerafting route in a larger map)
I kicked off from Saunalahti in the early afternoon, cycling through Sarfvik golf course, and aiming towards Långviken. Fields next to the quiet (closed) forest roads where spotted with grazing cows and horses, and sightings of deer (roes and white-tailed deer are plentiful in the area) were common - almost ran over one, jumping from the bushes on the road just in front of me.
Medvastö-Stormossen area with its groves and wetlands belongs to Natura 2000 ecological network of protected areas. Most of Medvastö’s shoreline outside Natura is privately owned and hence closed, but I was able to locate an open pier from where to paddle out. While discussing about packrafts and fatbikes with an older couple who was spending time on a rental cottage (owned by police actually) nearby, I stacked the bike on the bow, and headed out. Realizing the late start and hearing no windsurfers had been seen so far, decided to skip Pentala this time (there’s a small lake on the island, with another island in it - something I would like to visit in a better time), and with a brisk wind behind my back took a bearing towards Ljusskär.
Weather was nothing like the night before, but paddling was fun with tailwind, and waves stirred up by large boats passing by - sunshine did not make it any harder either. On the Björköfjärden inlet there’s a nice small surf a distance from the shore, due to a small area of shallow sea bed. I stopped on an islet populated by barnacle geese, and got a sighting of crane on a pier nearby.
Southwest wind was picking up, now working against me when I headed past Ljusskär to Björkö - large coastguard boat cruised past while I fought the wind and whitecapped waves pushing the boat from the side. After Björkö I headed more or less downwind towards Småholmarna, and continued past Laurinlahti to Kivenlahti, where I went ashore, packed up, and cycled home.
In addition to Pentala, southwest from Medvastö there’s a plethora of tiny islands and islets which would be good spots for an overnighter, similar to what I’ve thought of doing in Porkkala, possibly still this autumn.