A stretch of river with rapids to negotiate, packrafts, good company and few hours to spare. Sunshine, rain, autumn colors, downpour, hail - what else you need for a fun Sunday excursion?

Last weekend I had an opportunity to join Karsten, Mikko and Matti on a weekend’s paddle in Kymijoki, a river that I’ve not visited before. Starting off on friday evening, for a night outdoors, we headed to Kuovinkallio lean-to, which provided a good starting point for next days' paddle. Firewood was almost gone, but luckily there were few damp logs left, of which we had enough wood for food and good vibes, rounded up with a few beers and dram of whisky. This lean-to had no proper platform for sleeping, but benches around were sufficiently wide to sleep on, while Mikko chose to bivvy on the river shore, stargazing.

What do you know, another possibility for a quick getaway came up again this week (coincidentally on the exact same weekday). So off I went again on Tuesday, after work, for an overnighter in the beautiful Espoo archipelago.