20 June - Pello to Jyvaskyla. 366 miles

What didn't happen today? Just about everything.

It is 06.30 and the locals are already on the gambling machines at the charming motel that I was crass enough to book for last night. There are six machines and five are occupied.

The route, like yesterday's was straight down the main road south. We planned to stop at Jyvaskyla, which I felt was at the limit of our stamina for the day. I suppose we could have pushed it the final 160-odd miles to Helsinki, but old men wear out fast.

What a boring drive. In Norway, it was visual treats at every turn. Finland may have its wonders, but not along the E75. Just trees, trees, trees. An occasional field, almost always uncultivated (we have not seen any sign of agriculture thus far). No Reindeer. Actually, we did not see a living thing. Even stopping for roadworks brought on a frisson.

Three lakes. Here is one of them. Brace yourselves.

What else? Oh yes - they like simple, pithy place names here.

Even the good as gold Toad slipped up, an indicator pod coming loose. They really are flimsy.

Bugger - didn't bring any gaffer tape

So we had to do what we all do on long journeys. Play mind games: divide up the mileage into chunks of six or eight; focus on the distance to the next garage or speed camera; aim for a point on the horizon. Anyway, it's done.

On the plus side, Finnish roads are that bit wider than Norway's and the limit is 10 mph higher. The E75 is virtually straight, so we could enjoy the pleasure of driving The Toad at speed all morning and ensuring that no motorhome or caravan was left unpassed.

I saw a post on TM about bearable driving distances in different Morgans. I had thought the tasks we set for this trip would be arduous, with several 300+ mile days, but starting early we have usually made it by early afternoon and one might now think that consistent 400 mile days on fast roads or 330 on back roads would not be out of the question. Yes, the back and bum hurt at times, but it's a lot better than crawling along on the clutch on a gridlocked M25. 

We are not spoilt for attention. Everywhere we go - parked, at traffic lights, even on the move - people want to photograph and ask me about it. One woman asked me to get out because I was spoiling her shot! 

Tonight's hotel is a whole lot better than yesterday's; but it could not be worse. It has that continental rarity, a bath. And there is a playroom down the corridor. Jyvaskyla is much larger than I had thought. It is a city, at almost 140,000 a little larger than Grimsby and nothing like as ghastly, although mostly modern and lacking in character. I did find a little gem, though - the Finnish Air Force Museum. Lots of photos, but try these.

One last thing. Since arriving in Norway ten days ago, I have not seen a single sports car. Can anyone put their finger on that?

Easy going tomorrow, with time to look round Helsinki before a 29 hour boat trip. Because of the exorbitant wi fi charge on board, there will be no blog, but we hope normal service will resume when we land in Germany on Saturday night.