An outing for a sunset

Until very recently, our autumn has been exceptional with less rain and considerably milder temperatures than normally. In fact, last week the highest temperatures ever measured in Finland in November since records began in the 19th century reached slightly above 14 degrees centigrade!

A few days ago was one of those wonderful sunny afternoons we’ve had so many in recent weeks but because of the kitchen project haven’t been able to enjoy as much as we would have wanted to. So we finally packed some sandwiches and coffee in hubby’s backpack and drove about 10km south to the Vaarniemi nature reserve by the sea in Kaarina, one of the Turku suburbs.

First we took a walk by the glittering strait.

Then we headed to the path leading to the top of the Vaarniemi hill. You see, the plan was to admire the sunset from the observation tower there.

This time of the year, the sun sets here at about 4 pm. Our timing was perfect for both the coffee and a stroll on the rocky hilltop. Seeing the last horizontal rays of sunlight casting their golden glow on the rocks and pine trees would have been reason enough to climb the 50m.

Nevertheless, while on the spot we did climb to the top of the observation tower, too, even though we knew the sunset would not be all that spectacular with hardly any clouds in sight.

I stayed on top of the tower all through the glow until it was almost too dark to climb down the hill. You’ve just got to take it to the last ray whenever you can these days.