Overnighter with the kids

The kids wanted to go to Mathildedal for an overnighter again, which suited me fine. I didn't want to go with them in the worst bug season and it then took this long to find a suitable weekend. Mathildedal is about one hour from Turku by car, unnecessarily much in my opinion, but the area is great. Compared to the areas north of Turku, there are a lot more lakes, which I happen to like.

The weather forecast promised good weather and one of the warmest nights of the summer. We packed the backpacks, got in the car and started walking about 18:30 in the evening.



The preferred camping spot was not much over two kilometers from the car, but when going out with the kids the distance is secondary. And the progress is far from linear...








There are obviously not enough stones in the lake.














The wild rosemary is starting to get some color.


The bog bilberries were unusually sweet and tasty. Usually they just have a diluted blueberry taste, but this time they tasted great.




Nearing the tent spot. I had actually planned to seek out a place north of Matildanjärvi, since I assumed that the best spot at Puolakanjärvi would be occupied, but we met a couple of day hikers who told us nobody was there.




We had some fishing gear with us, but since the kids do not yet handle the gear independently we did not do much fishing. I had my hands full with putting up the tent, doing some photography and preparing the food.




It was a beautiful evening.






Pancakes, a most noble outdoor food.




After the sunset a surprisingly large number of mosquitoes appeared. It was a lot worse than in Lapland three weeks earlier. The kids went into the tent while I took some more pictures, testing my new camera.






We went to sleep sometime between ten and eleven in the evening and slept until seven in the morning. The night was warm and I just had a thin silk liner instead of a sleeping bag. The kids slept well in their fleece blankets.






The morning wasn't entirely bad.


I don't see much enthusiasm over the porridge.


Exploring the surroundings unnecessarily close to the water while I took down the tent and packed the backpack.




Heading back.


Taking pictures of cranberries.






More berries.




A short break with müsli bars.


White Waterlily (Nymphaea alba).


It is still at least a month until the cranberries are ripe, even though some have a nice color already.


The fall is coming.


A small island in Matildanjärvi.


Almost there.


We arrived at the car just as it started to rain. The outing was great and the kids have been asking (numerous times) when we will go again.