Helsinki - Porvoo

Trails, roads and a little hike-a-bike adventure

By Erik Plankton

June 19^th, 2016

THE LEGEND - THE MYTH

The legends have said that some of the chosen few true old school mtb gods have figured out a route that connects trails from Helsinki to Porvoo. What is normally a pleasant 50km road ride turns into a 100km all day epic with overgrown trails and bushwhacking. Quite a few people think this is a great idea and there has been an active thread on Fillarifoorumi (in Finnish), where local knowledge has been shared and the puzzle has been finally put together. Mathias was keen to tackle this challenge so we took the VIP line to Porvoo.

Here is our version of the route: https://www.strava.com/activities/598309266

Probably not the optimal and lacks some trails, but great fun and a honest map reading screw up loop near Kulloo.

We started riding through the city and checked out the new bridge from Kalasatama to Mustikkamaa, where we found the first trail of the day.

MARJANIEMI beach

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VUOSAARI - Sotunki

We rode gravel paths for the most part past Vuosaari and then hit the trails at Kasakallio area. Quite a lot of trails in that area and we kind of got lost when we stumbled upon an archery field in the forest which we didn’t want to cross for obvious reasons. Eventually we found a nice trail with good flow that led to a tarmac section that took us to Susiraja, where the next trail started. We met a co-worker on a road ride along the way and had a chat.

POWERLINE TO LANDBO

After going through the underpass of the highway you come up to the powerline trail that takes you first to Landbo and then all the way to Immersby. About 10km of pretty nice single track.

good flow and little detours

It had been raining quite a bit for a few days before our ride so we had to find alternatives to the most muddiest places. Sometimes you find the route, but in Soviet Sipoo the route finds you.

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Lunch at immersby

At 3h 30min and 43km into the ride we had lunch at the new cafe Sikurisydän in Immersby. Nice pies and friendly service. A good place to fill up water too.

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Söderkulla & Hangelbyträsk

The area near Pilvijärvi has some decent trails and nice hills. The loop around Hangelbyträsk (before Salpar on the map below) is highly recommended. Fast trails on rock.

Träskberga

We had to look a bit for the trailhead after Träskberga but eventually found it.

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HIKE A BIKE

In some parts the trails are so hidden that they are almost impossible to spot without a gps track or local knowledge. After crossing the Spjutsund road we came upon a hunting cabin complex. There the trail pretty much ended. We couldn’t find a suitable trail to Telegrafberget so we ended up pushing through the forest for about 1,5 kilometers. It was totally ok, since the terrain is not very difficult.

Kilpilahti oil refinery

After crossing the road and railroad tracks in the oil refinert area there was some nice trail and a bit of gravel riding towards Kulloo, where we made a little map reading mistake and ended up doing a perfect loop that brought us back to exact same spot we had been in a half hour earlier. After crossing the river at Åminsby there was some really nice trails that take you to Tolkkinen.

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Almost there

We ran out of water and food a bit before the end. Stopped at Hamari harbour SEO for a nice salmon soup. From there it was and easy 5km ride into town.