Last stop for today is the Wolf Cave or Susiluola, the largest cave in Finland. it has an interesting story, in the 1990s they wanted to turn it into a tourist attraction but they found prehistoric tools which led to multiple excavations and we are not sure if the cave is open or not now. But at least it is well marked and after taking the Prius on the dirt road to the parking lot soon we are on the way through the beautiful forest, unfortunately it is uphill and uphill.
The forest is really a temperate rainforest or so it seems. There are mosses and greenery everywhere and a bonus for us lots and lots of blueberries near the trail. After getting a fill of blueberries we notice that some of them seem to be already harvested and then we notice another person further uphill actually collecting blueberries using a comb like tool. But there are enough of them and it really doesn’t impact us.
We arrive at the cave and unfortunately it is closed, due to the archaeological finds as we suspected. We peer inside as much as we can and then it is time to start back towards the car.
We start slowly but then we are almost running in the end as the mosquitoes are following us down the trail. Safely inside the car we move to the nearby Lapväärtti Church opened in 1852. The church is believed to be the second largest rural church in Finland and quite impressive. We admire it for a bit and find a nearby cache before moving on.
The last stop is the neoclassical wooden church in Karijoki designed by a famous church builder Salomon Köykkä and completed in 1812. The church is called Helena’s Church because a girl named Helena saved the church from burning during the Finnish War. We walk around the church and visit the nearby cemetery before moving on.
Late during the day we arrive in Jakobstad where we are staying at a downtown hotel in a pedestrian only zone so it takes a bit just to move all our luggage to the hotel from the parking spot outside the pedestrian zone. After a hotel room dinner from our provisions we finally go to bed even though outside it is still sunny at around 11:30 pm.
