A Husky Picnic in Lempäälä, Finland! (February 2015)

In the winter of 2015, we decided to try out several interesting outdoor activities - after all, we live in the Winter Wonderland that is Finland, and there are many things you can do here if you're willing to brave the cold weather. Many Finns and also people from quite far away tend to travel to Lapland in the winter to experience things like reindeer, the Northern Lights and husky rides and do downhill skiing. I've never been one of these people - I went to Lapland once when I was 10 and then again with Julcsi in 2013, that's it. I've gone downhill skiing twice in my life - I was 12 and yes, I fell off the lift that takes you up to the top of the hill. I used to be quite good at cross-country skiing and my dad has actually been a skiing instructor (is there anything he cannot do?!?) so we used to go skiing quite a lot, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of winter.

That being said, Finland does have a lot to offer in the winter, and we figured we'd want to give some things a go. Lapland is too far away, though, so we started looking into things to do here in the south and bumped right into Gegwen Getaways in Lempäälä, right next to Tampere! The place is owned by Erkki O. Mäkelä and he organises husky rides in the wintertime. Brilliant! My sister has twins who were four years old at the time, so we decided it might be fun to go with them as well as with my sister and her partner. Not long after, we had everything booked for a wintery Sunday with some huskies! Gegwen Getaways organise 2 km husky rides, mini husky safaris as well as so called husky picnics, which we opted for. A husky picnic includes a 1 km husky ride, time spent with the dogs, and pancakes in a teepee by the fire and for all this, you pay 25€/adult and 10€/child under the age of 12. They are organised every Sunday at 4 pm in the winter and take 2 to 3 hours. It was so, so lovely! It was a mega cold day when we went so no Lapland needed :D! We ended up being a group of approximately 12 and it took four rides to be ready with everyone's husky experience. Oh, and the husky place itself is in a pretty remote location so to get there, you will need a car. There is no public transport that would take you even close.

The dogs were so excited about going running! When they saw the owner start preparing the sleighs, they went wild and started barking, desperate to be the first ones to go!


You get a blanket for the ride because it can be quite nippy, and you also sit on a reindeer skin so your butt won't freeze off (well, it still might so be sure to wear enough clothes!). The owner made sure we were sitting comfortably in the sleigh and then off we went! He was also the musher, or the driver of the dog sled, so you don't need to worry about anything and can simply enjoy the experience. Once we set off, the dogs really went for it, which was so nice! They were truly excited and it felt like pulling our sledge was the best thing that ever happened to them :). Pulling things is clearly something they love doing! The 1 km ride felt a bit short so I wish we could've done more. The twins were also saying that they wanted to do it again, which obviously wasn't an option, so after our rides, we moved on to the teepee for some pancakes and tea/coffee/hot juice. I really enjoyed everything about this experience, and I have to say that it's really nice that something like this is available in the southern part of the country, too. I think these things should be advertised a lot more, though, because Tampere gets quite a few tourists these days and I'm sure they'd be into trying something as exotic as this, too.



Meeting some husky puppies :)!










Teepee time!


So yes, if you ever come to the Tampere area in the winter and want a Lappish experience, remember Gegwen Getaways!

My next post will be about Winter Magic at Moomin World in Naantali - definitely worth a read if anything :)!

Comments

  1. Wow, olipa kiva kun kavit visiitilla blogissani, tulin vastavisiitille ja jaan seuraamaan :) Onko sulla sattumoisin FB-sivuja, joiden kautta seurata? Itse loin ihan vastikaan FB-sivun blogia varten, voit kayda tykkaamassa jos haluat saada pysya ajantasalla https://www.facebook.com/Sill%C3%A4-V%C3%A4lin-Maailmalla-1499726060053040/

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    1. Moi ja jee :)! Tervetuloa lukemaan :)! Mun FB-sivu blogille on https://www.facebook.com/emiliaontheroad/. Mun vaimoni kyselee, että mistäpäin Unkaria sun vaimo on kotoisin? Julcsi on Gyulasta, mutta tosiaan kesäisin oleillaan Szegedissä, missä meillä on asunto vuokralla.

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    2. Sori hitaasta vastauksesta! Vaimo on kotoisin Miskolcista, toisin sanoen Unkarin Tampereelta :D

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