2008-08-11
By Emmanuel TresmontantFinland in summer, with its flowers, berries, lakes and mossy birch trees, is an extravaganza of colour and fragrance. Up to the month of October, canoeing, swimming, mountain biking and trout fishing are on offer. Discover them with Sigi Schwartz in Puolanka, his incredible dominion in the heart of Finland’s oldest forest.
Why Finland?Because it is one of the rare places on Earth still spared mass tourism. As soon as you arrive at Helsinki airport, the change of scenery will take you aback: forest and lakes as far as the eye can see! Forests indeed cover 70% of the territory, making Finland the most forested country in Europe. As for its lakes, remnants of the glacial period, there are some 188,000, interconnected like an immense water labyrinth.  © Nature Point PaljakkaFather natureAt a time when there seem to be fewer and fewer truly exceptional individuals, it is always fascinating to cross paths with a man who, by dint of pluck and a healthy survival instinct, has been able to break away from the ‘global village’ melting pot. Joining the rat race has certainly never been an option for Sigi Schwartz, one of the most extraordinary fellows I’ve had the fortune of meeting these past few years.* To encounter this ‘Last of the Mohicans’, all you need to do is travel to Puolanka in Finland’s oldest forest, near the polar circle and the immense stretches of Lapland, 620 km (385 mi) north of the Finnish capital, Helsinki. Puolanka is where Sigi settled with his wife and two sons some ten years ago, after leaving his Austrian homeland. Erstwhile trainer of Austria’s all-mountain skiing team, Sigi had methodically prepared his new life as a woodsman. He was absolutely convinced that more and more people would be drawn to holidays promising tranquillity and authenticity - and he was right! Today, travellers come from all over Europe (and even from Japan) to leave modern life and its anxieties far behind and spend time in his B&B lost in the forest. Using logs of entire tree trunks (quite the physical challenge in itself), Sigi has built a magnificent sauna, set, as tradition dictates, on the edge of a lake. Lumberjack, carpenter, joiner... Sigi is a perfect jack of all trades. He raises huskies, protects wolves (his totem animal), fishes for trout and cooks like a maestro. And he does it all with elegance and discretion, as if it were only to be expected. With Sigi as your guide, the Finnish forest and its bears, swans, beavers and reindeer will hold no secrets. He’ll show you where to gather berries by the marshes, and take you upstream in a canoe. Sigi is living proof that there are still Jack Londons to be found in this world! The sauna, a Finnish institution 'First build your sauna, then your house' says the proverb. You should bear in mind that the sauna was the central element in a house in the past, a corner of warmth in these frozen expanses. You washed yourself here and you came into the world here. Fish was also smoked here! The equivalent of the tea ceremony in Japan, the sauna is today a lifestyle element; all Finns have one of these little wooden houses in the country near a lake. Their interior is composed of several rooms: an entrance, a sitting room for drinking tea in winter, a changing room and the sauna strictly speaking. This is fitted with tiered wooden benches and a stove on which large round stones are heated white hot. The temperature rises to 75°C. Silver birch leaves soaked in water give a pleasant fragrance to the place. From the outset you are told to beat yourself gently with branches of birch to activate the blood circulation. Water is thrown onto the stones to humidify the atmosphere... It's sweltering. More information To reach Puolanka from Helsinki, take one of Finnish airline Finnair’s several daily flights to Kajaani, a modern city on the banks of the great Oulujärvi Lake, and a stopover on the way to Lapland. Sigi Schwartz will collect you at the airport in his 4x4. Prices begin at €650 for one week. Seasons: Spring begins in May in Finland. It is followed by a short but intense summer, luminous and hot (sometimes more than 30°C/ 86°F). As August comes to an end, the temperature drops, a harbinger of the region’s fabulous autumn during which the forest dons magnificent reds, yellows, greens, oranges and greys. In the north, the first snow falls in October. Winters are cold (-20°C/ -4°F) and dry. |
