Week 1, Day 6

Our day trip to Hameenlinna to wander around the town's castle and have lunch finnished early so we drove back to Torvoila to collect our board shorts and head off for a swim.

There are hundreds and thousands of lakes in Finland, so finding a place to dip a toe in wasn't difficult. Most of the 'beaches' are deserted, so imagine my surprise when after a 20 minute drive further into the wilderness and a further 10 minute walk to a secluded lake, that I should run into a bikini clad woman who informs me that she is my cousin.

I shouldn't have been so surprised - it seemed that everyone we had met over the past few days were related to us in some way! There aren't that many people in Finland afterall.