A lazy day in lovely Ruovesi

Another lovely day here, with the temperature reaching 25C this afternoon. And the lake temperature has also reached its highest point of our whole holiday, with 25C being recorded both here at the cottage, in Lake Kankijarvi and also down in Ruovesi itself, where we spent much of the afternoon! Looking at the forecast for the next week, it will certainly get warmer yet, though unfortunately, we will be back home by then.

It has been a week for spotting lots of wildlife here. We have seen red squirrels, hundreds of frogs, jays, cranes, many dragonflies, lizards, and ravens as well as the more usual swallows, swifts and magpies. We have also been aware of something else here in this lake. Possibly it has been a muskrat, or an otter, we are not sure. It has been shy, but we have heard it splashing around from time to time. Finland in general is alive with wildlife in the summer, but here in particular this week we have been aware of the silence- but not the silence, as if you listen carefully, it's possible to hear lots of different animals and insects buzzing or flying around. And of course, there have been the fish too- everywhere, in each and every lake.

Tomorrow will be our last full day this year in Finland. And we will spend it both here and in Tampere itself. We have decided to leave here after lunch and drive down to Tampere, so we will be closer to the airport (and civilisation!) for our flight back home on Sunday morning. It'll allow us all to have look around the city of Tampere, which we are looking forward to, even though it'll just be in the evening.

We'll be sad to leave, as always. Finland in July is always rather special. And although the weather has been slightly cooler than the last couple of years, it has not stopped us enjoying all the things we really love about this really unique place. Olivia in particular has improved her swimming tremendously- she has now got real confidence in everything she does in the water, after swimming endlessly each day for the last three weeks. The change in her confidence has been remarkable!