Vuosisadan tie (road of the century) or Punkaharjun Harjutie is a road built on a narrow ridge between two lakes, Puruvesi and Pihlajavesi. The road runs for several kilometers and at times the ridge is barely wider than the road. The views and the nature around the road are very beautiful, pictures of this road and ridge some of the classic Finnish tourist pictures.
It is indeed a recommended destination. And along the road, there's one place where one can easily stop and swim in not one but both of the lakes. They are not marked, but are not hard to find, and both are reachable with few tens of meters or at most few hundreds meters walk. They are located by the small parking lots belonging to the small kiosk on the ridge. The beaches are:
A lot of fun in the clear waters, sunshine and late-August pleasant but cooling waters!
More information about the ridge can be found here in Wikipedia (English) or here in Finnish. The two lakes on the sides of the ridge are Puruvesi and Pihlajavesi. The article about selecting the road as the "road of the century" can be found here. Other swimming experiences from the same trip include the Hospitz beach in Savonlinna, read about it here.
Vuosisadan tien uimaranta pictures:
Kuikonniemen uimaranta pictures:
For more sauna and swimming stories, check out planetswimmer.com and saunablogger.cool websites! And of course the Planetcaver, and
This article was originally published in the Planetskier Blogspot article series.
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