The morning I spent not riding for a change but planning the non-cycling part of my return trip whilst hanging out on the couch of this obscenely large apartment I spent the night in. The goal is of course to avoid flying if possible which leaves ferries, railways and buses as possible means of transport. Looks like I'm going to use all three of them to get home. There's still some uncertainty due to the fact that some ferry operators make it unnecessarily hard to book a bicycle spot -- seriously, one of those booking websites states that "bicycles may be added for children up to 17 years old", which may be the most ignorant thing I've read all week.
The rear tire is now completely worn and urgently needs replacing. After going through that booking hassle I looked up bike shops in Tampere, my destination for the day, and it seemed like there's plenty of them in the city center. There's a catch though: most of these stores seem to close at 4 p.m. with only some exceptions operating until 6. Since it was almost noon already I suddenly had to rush to make it to Tampere in time for at least one of these shops to still be open.
Given the state of that rear tire I was worried a bit that it might not survive the day. Unfortunately Finland is sparsely populated so it wasn't a surprise that there were no other bicycle stores along my route. That route took me through Pirkanmaa region down along lake Näsijärvi on the east side. Not much boreal forest in these parts, as most of the land in this region is subject to agriculture. There were some spots where I could see reindeer moss (though no actual reindeer) again though mostly on the strip at the roadside that is periodically cleared.
And I did make it in time. I entered Tampere suburbia around 5 p. m. and then picked one of the bike shops close to the center that seemed conveniently reachable. I arrived at the shop's location with ten minutes left, plenty of time to shop for a tire and tubes. Looking around there area though I couldn't spot a bike shop anywhere. Another stale entry on OSM? A local on a touring bike who passed by that moment confirmed it: the shop that used to be at that corner closed down years ago. Tough luck. Looks like I'm going to have wait till tomorrow before I can get that new tire.
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