Day Sixty Four Wednesday 21st September

A peaceful night! and a dull and chilly morning. The winter clothes bag has come out from where it has been hidden for 9 weeks and scarf and gloves extracted.

This morning gave a better chance to see the site properly. Although the smallish area for caravans and campervans is fairly nondescript, it is totally adequate, and has a very nice view across the water. The harbour and small marina, with the facilities to which we had access, are really quite smart and interesting., with some old buildings dating back to Russian times, and a little boat moored here which has its own fascinating history through wartime and later as a tug and an ice-breaker, and is now licensed for pleasure trips.

The town of Hamina itself was a real discovery, only made because the Camperstop book had taken us there. It was built as a garrison town in the 18th century, based on 16th century fortress principles, like an eight pointed star. As with so many of the fortifications we have seen, the fortress was built in fear of attacks. that didn't happen, fell into disrepair, and has been restored relatively recently. A part of it is now used as an event arena, and holds a Military Tattoo annually, and other spectacular sounding shows. Very impressive. The centre of town has many interesting old buildings, dotted around the streets which radiate out from the Town Hall in the centre in an octagonal spider's webb pattern. We enjoyed a visit to the little town museum. Money had been spent on it, but it didn't seem to get many visitors, sadly. The Russian influence shows in everything in this part of the world, not surprisingly, as we get closer to the border. It is a shock every time to see St Petersburg on the road signs!

We took the back road close to the coast to reach our campsite destination for the night , between Virolahti and Vaalimaa. Our camping places have all been so different, and the variety is part of the fun. We never know quite what to expect. Last night's proved to be much nicer than anticipated. Tonight's, an 'open all year site', we have read described as a 'straightforward little site'. My immediate reaction was that was being kind to it! It has all the necessary things, including the mandatory sauna, and is in a lovely location, looking out over the Gulf of Finland, but feels uncared for.

I decided not to brave the showers - in an unheated little hut with corrugated plastic roof - and regretted our decision to skip showers last night. Instead, while Geoff went for a walk in the surrounding woods, I put the heater on in the camper, closed the shutters, boiled a kettle of water and had a nice wash in the warm!
But we are thankful to find a campsite open, the position is great, and we are a mere 5 miles from the Russian border.