In Finnish there is an expression "heittää talviturkki" or "throw one's winter fur coat". It means the first time swimming in outdoor waters that year. For me it was as late as mid-May in 2023. Oh, and then there were some needles in my bath whisk...
Time to get to summer mode, then. Bathe hot lake, in the warm glow of evening Venus shining from the sky:
And pull the (toy) boat onto the lake:
The place was our summer cottage, a wonderful, beautiful place near the nature. But also a bit of a challenging environment to keep the buildings in shape, mice away, and continue to clean up the lot that had stored way too many things while my parents were maintaining it. Every time we go there we come back via the dumping grounds... and I don't have a trailer to take stuff away.
But, on to the main topic: how about a vihta, vasta, or a bath whisk? But the birch branches are not in full leaf state yet... spruce to the rescue!
If you think this is too many needles, that's not the case. I did not feel the needles at all. Until I went to the lake. And my skin had needle marks for couple of days. So ... fun but I can't recommend it for others, unless you like this sort of thing :-)
But, being by the lake was again incredibly pretty:
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.
"Mongolia is kind of close, right? Story about an attempt to ski everywhere in the world where there's snow. And in some places where there isn't. On and off-piste skiing on all continents, skiing into craters of live volcanoes, climbing, photography, and travel." The Planetskier blog focuses on skiing, caving, climbing, biking, flying, sauna, and swimming adventures around the world. See the other Planetskier blog articles about skiing, caving, urban exploration, climbing, cycling, flying, swimming, and saunas.