Il Dolce Far Niente: Recovering from flu; a walk in nature

October 2011

Persistent flu had hit me some weeks ago. First tried to recover using ordinary methods, lots of liquid all the time and ibuprofen every now and then. As those didn't help, went to see a doctor and got antibiotics. Feeling's now a bit better but far from normal. Have stayed indoors all the time. Been really frustrating time since during this period weather's been wonderful, for kayaking as well as for hiking. Nature's shown its best and I've missed it, grrr ...

Despite of not being fully recovered, couldn't resist to go outdoors for a walk. Another motivation was to test new outdoor shoes, Haglöfs Vertigo GT, which I bought from Terrific.de. Yet one more motivation was to shoot some photos, just to record a bit of autumn colours.

Went to the most northern part of Central Park of Helsinki (to me this is a forest, not really a 'Park'). Pitkakoski is a famous place for people to step into the Central Park. Vantaanjoki river splits nature there (and acts a border between cities of Helsinki and Vantaa). It has some rapids, but usually there's not enough water for kayaking. Usually you see there fishermen, birdwatchers and nature wanderers. At winter time fields are full of cross country skiers.

Terrain was quite wet everywhere. Quite many trees had lost their leaves. People here and there looking for mushrooms.

There was an area in the forest where restoring of nature to its more original form had been started. Small brooks were closed to artificially raise water level. Raised water level in turn will bring back certain type of plants and animals. It will take time.

Felt really great to be back in nature. Sensed that heart beat was higher than normal, still recovering though. However, I took an easy walk, stopping often to take some photos. Although everything started to look naked in a forest, there was still something on-going all the time, one just had to view scenery in different way. Water drops, captured by sunlight, tried to hang on in needles until they gave up and dropped, great show set up by nature.

My first reactions of Vertigo GT shoes? Stiff and water resistant. Good for walking on nature paths. A bit heavy and too slippery on wet (e.g. on roots, stones, rocks etc.).

Here's my today's walking route, 10 km altogether (View Larger Map):