Back at the start of June I took a trip to the north-west of England to take a ride on some trains, do some plane spotting and generally have a couple of days exploring. One of the things I had added to my to-do list was to visit the newest station on the Merseyrail network which had in fact been open for almost nine months by the time of my visit. That station is Headbolt Lane and this blog will have gone live to coincide with the station’s first anniversary.
With my AvGeek posts such as ‘Heathrow – Spotting at Myrtle Avenue’ and ‘Luton – Spotting Around the Airport’ performing weirdly well on the blog, the end of June saw me heading out on a two-day trip planned around doing some spotting and writing some more of that type of post. But as well as some AvGeeking, I’d made the most out of this trip, fitting in plenty of rail journeys, starting with this one from Peterborough to York with Grand Central.
Just under 48 hours after arriving in Finland, and after two great days exploring Tampere and Helsinki as well as trying out the Finnish rail network, it was time to head back to the UK and reality. I still had one more adventure ahead of me though, another flight with Finnair in Business Class, this time onboard one of their more usual Airbus A321s.
Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and part of Finland’s only metropolitan area, Helsinki is the capital of Finland and the most northerly capital city of the European Union. Both city and country have an interesting history, having previously been part of both the Swedish and Russian empires, and this history has made an impact on the architecture, culture and spirit of Helsinki. Helsinki was my base for my two-night stay in Finland and whilst I took a trip north to explore Tampere, I had plenty of time to explore the Finnish capital and fall in love with it.
With the morning spent exploring Tampere and a wonderful lunch at Ravintola Tampella, I had headed back to the station a bit earlier than necessary ready to catch my VR service back to the Finnish capital. I’d be once again travelling in Ekstra (1st) class but this journey would be a little bit difference to my journey to Tampere earlier in the day as I’d be travelling on one of VR’s Pendolinos.
With my first full day in Helsinki having started quite early to allow me to make the 0720 VR service from Helsinki to Tampere, it was just before 0900 when I arrived into Finland’s second city. Just as the city was starting to open up and come alive, I was able to enjoy a short walk (less than 10 minutes) along one of the main streets to the river Tammerkoski and main square.
Flights & Times 