Testing the elements

Time to put our hard pants back on for some serious weather. We decided to head to Finland to check out some Scandinavian delights; snow, er .. snow, and World Cup ski jumping.

First up was 2 days' skiing in a small resort called Messila near the ski-jumping venue at Lahti - 100km north of Helsinki. Given the generally low-lying hills in Finland this suited me fine as a bit of a beginner - with pretensions of intermediate on a good day. Shaun managed to find some boots to fit him (and some reindeer with mashed potatoes for dinner) and we were good to go.
On the Saturday night we bundled up and headed across to the ski-jumping international teams event. After a close battle between some of the world's best, the Finnish team narrowly lost out to some high-flying Austrians. Fantastic.

Apart from the jumping, crowd highlights were the ready availability of hot sausages wrapped in paper with mustard for snacks and - the cheerleaders (?) I am also happy to report on the faithful observance of a time-honoured sporting ritual - yes, even a World Cup ski-jumping event in sub-zero temperatures attracts streakers .. (see below).

Overall a great event and highly recommended. On Monday morning we headed to Helsinki to be met by unrelenting snow. The city seems like a good place to explore but, given the weather, we decided to go on a relaxing cruise out on the harbour.

Our destination was Suomenlinna - a sprawling military fortress built on six linked islands in the Helsinki harbour and (now that we have been to the audiovisual display on the island (nice and warm)) we can report that the fortress - built by Sweden in 1748 to contain the Russian expansion - was essentially the reason the city of Helsinki was born. Its an interesting place full of history - and a lot of snow.

M

Knights, schoolboys and Jane Austen ...

...all in a day's work at Winchester.

Getting tired of the city we decided to do one of the day trips that SouthWest Trains advertises so alluringly on its website - no car required. So, off to Winchester - home of a very large cathedral (or possibly 'minster' - there is some English distinction which still escapes me), the oldest boys' school in the country and a dubious Round Table.

The cathedral itself is impressive - featuring the longest nave in Europe, some very angelic choristers and the resting place of Jane Austen. Presumably they did know she was a writer, although there's no mention of it on her memorial stone. A very short walk away is the house where she very conveniently died - requiring all of a 200m walk to the cathedral where she's buried.

Just around the corner is Winchester College - the oldest boys school in England with some very impressive playing fields and buildings. As the scheduled tour guide didn't show up we got a tour from the head of security who gave us some official and unoffcial stories that the college's publicity people may or may not have been keen on. Oddly they don't play rugby at all, but a hybrid historical game called "winkies" - dating from the 1400s. As no-one else in the world plays winkies the college is forced to play only internal winkies tournaments.

Across town is what is reputedly The Round Table (of King Arthur and the .. fame). Historians are suspicious, however, as although it is undeniably round, wooden and apparently old enough, with the names of the knights painted on it, there are odd features like a Tudor Rose and a painting of King Arthur who looks suspiciously like Henry VIII. Still, worth a look and we now have a further kitschy fridge magnet to add to our growing collection.

On the outskirts of Winchester is a bit of a highlight - a National Trust old water-powered mill, rebuilt in the mid-1700s, recently restored to full working order and grinding its own stoneground flour for sale. Staffed by some universally pensionable and very friendly volunteers, they started the mill up and gave us a full tour.

Time for an arty shot of the millrace and waterwheel ... and the local wildlife outside.

Finally after an exhausting day we ended up at the Wykeham Arms for cider and - in a stroke of luck - in time for the pub's daily "sausages for 50p" deal - a sausage on a plate with mustard to go with your beer. All in all an excellent Sunday antidote to the rigours of London. Thanks SouthWest Trains.

M