today the both of us did not feel so good. we were still very tired, most likely a delayed effect from the bear night. so we packed our stuff, checked out, and drove to savonlinna. also we had to reel off some more kilometres to get on further southwards. after about six hours and 500 kilometres later we arrived at the hotel, checked in, and took a little nap to get some extra rest. this little break helped, we felt better again. and so we got up, jumped into the car, and drove to the nearby kerimäen kirrko in kerimäki[03-12], the largest wooden church in the world. it has 3000 seats, and can hold up to 5000 people at a time. unfortunately it was just closed as we arrived - we saw people leave the church, but when we got to the gates, they were already closed. too bad, we missed it by only a few minutes. so no look inside, instead, we circled also this church, like so many before that were closed. then we drove to the punkaharju ridge[13-26], an esker ridge that was formed at the end of the ice age as the glaciers in this region withdrew towards the bothnian sea and left stratified sand and gravel behind, forming an meandering mound. this 10.000 year old landscape formation became a bridge right between the two huge lakes, lake puruvesi in the north and lake pihlajavesi in the south, that was used by animals and humans alike. punkaharju esker nature reserve is said to be one of the world's oldest reserves. the pines along the road are among the largest ones in finland, and there is even an entire area where the forest was left to its own since the beginning of the 19th century. there are two hiking trails around and through this spot, but it was already getting late and dark, so sadly we could not do this hike. soon the sun was gone, so we drove back to savonlinna[29-31], went to the harbour and had delicious fish and chips[27] for me, and deep fried sprats[28] for nina - nomnomnom. while doing our after-dinner walk we came by the olavinlinna castle [32-37], which was beautifully lit. it felt like being in scotland, except that here the bridge to the entrance was closed. then it was time to get back to the hotel, the best western spahotel casino - yes, that really was the official name of the hotel, to finish this sunny day, with temperatures around 25°C. track for day 15.