Nature trails - Nuuksio and Pihlajasaari

Sajal Choudhary -

Hello from my home in Matinkylä! This is NordLetter #18, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Previous editions can be found here.

/Nuuksio National Park

There are 41 national parks in Finland. When I had first come here back in 2021, I had made a list of them, and decided this would be my bucket list. The places I wanted to visit in Finland. All of them.

I visited Sipoonkorpi in June, 2021.

I visited Nuuksio this past Saturday (July, 2024).

I do hope the remaining thirty nine come at a faster pace. 😆

We were looking for a beginner friendly trail in Nuuksio. The following three seemed promising enough:

  1. Punarinnankierros Trail, 2.7 km circle trail
  2. Punarinnankierros Trail, 2 km circle trail
  3. Maahisenkierros Trail, 2km circle trail

Just a note, but the directions page goes in great detail over the bus routes one can take. We decided eventually to go to Haltia which also has the Finnish Nature Centre. We took 530 from home and then 245A from Espoo centre. It took around 50 minutes to get there.

The sparkling Lake Pitkäjärvi comes up on the left as the bus rolls through the beautiful scenery. Then hides behind the tree cover, before finally showing up again next to the Finnish Nature Centre, Haltia. Which is also where the bus stops, just before the nature centre, near the parking areas.

The Nature Centre has a shop, an exhibition and some restaurants. We had gone there a bit late, so the only place we could see was the shop.

We left the centre, and made our way across the road to the start of the trail. The Maahisenkierros trail (marked in blue) is a circular 2km trail. The trail is wheelchair/pram friendly. If we had known that in advance, we would have carried Savya in the pram. There is also the 1.4 km Paivattarenpolku trail (marked in pink) which starts at the parking.

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What we ended up doing was combining the two. We started in the middle of the pink trail. It went and merged with the blue trail. We continued and completed the blue trail and then after returning, as it merged back with the pink trail we continued on that.

Anyway, here's some pictures from the trail. Nuuksio was beautiful. The air is different in places like these. It refreshes the mind, the body and the soul. The Finns really do love nature. The parks are well preserved and everything is clean and well-kept.

/Pihlajasaari Island

On Sunday, post lunch we decided on an impromptu trip to Pihlajasaari island. We took the M1 to Ruoholahti and then the water bus to the island. The water bus takes around 15 mins to get to the island.

Pihlajasaari is a former villa island. It has beaches, villas, rocks, trees and a sandy trail that goes through it all. There are plenty of benches around the island, where one could sit and eat. We were hungry when we got there, so ate at the first bench we could find. Which was not a great decision in hindsight. There are just so many benches at so many beautiful locations.

We walked around the island and eventually settled at the beach. Lying down in the sand for a good hour and a half. Finally, taking the last water bus off the island.

/techStuff

Apple is rumoured to be working on a foldable. It is supposed to be a flip phone. What I want is something that transforms into a mini iPad. That would be a great device to read on.

MKBHD reviewed the Galaxy ring. I was minded to like it. But as Marques said, for a lot of exercises you might have to remove the ring. And then what’s the purpose.

Open AI announced its Google competitor. Search as we know it might be ending, because the internet is filled with SEO crap.

Also, Meta announced the release of its latest model. All these competing models seem similar in functionality and there is nothing unique. So it makes sense to open source it I guess.

/reading

3 Tactics to Beat Procrastination Without Overhauling Your Life - Sunsama Blog

  1. Break a large task into smaller chunks. Or when you don’t feel like doing something, tell yourself I will do it for 5 minutes.
  2. Align the task with your long term goal.
  3. Practice good-procrastination. Basically prioritise stuff. What is important. You don’t have to tackle every small task. Create time blocks to take care of things that matter (training/spending time with family, etc.)

Timeshielding: How to Do the Things you Actually Want to Do
Interesting read. The idea is be a little fluid with how you manage team. Make space for things that matter: creativity, rest, sleep, attention.

A few interesting reads from Seth.

This last one talks to the importance of systems. Having systems makes it easier to do things without thinking too much about it. Helps to beat procrastination.

Until next week.