106 wanderlust.co.uk April 2020
the Siberian jay whistled tunefully
as though beckoning me to follow
him as he flitted through the tree
branches of the boreal forest. With
camera clutched firmly in hand,
I left the well-defined lines of the
footpath and obeyed, ducking and
weaving through the prickled
branches of the Scots pines.
Being guided by a bird can be
particularly hazardous when you are
in the wilds of Finland and – perhaps
more importantly – just metres from
the Russian border. However, any
worries I had about inadvertently
stumbling into the former USSR
without a valid visa were soon
waylaid when, minutes later
I reached a huge red-and-white
striped metal barrier, flanked either
side by yellow signs with the word
‘STOP’ emblazoned across them.
The jay tweeted happily and flew
over the man-made border; however
for me this was as far as I could go.
But I couldn’t complain. For this
was the first time on this entire
week-long visit that I had seemingly
faced an insurmountable barrier
between my world and someone, or
rather something, else’s.Wheelie big adventure
It had started back in Helsinki
when, as soon as I’d arrived, I was
introduced to my transport for the
next three days – an eBike.
“There’s eco mode for when you’re
on the flat. Then, if you approach hill,
you can crank it up to turbo for
a boost,” Matti from Happy eBikers
explained as I tried to simultaneously
work out how I would fit everything
I needed for two nights into my
panniers while wolfing down a munkki
(Finnish cardamom doughnut).‘I woke up to find reindeer licking
the window at the foot of my bed –
I fed them lichen out of my window’