Well, we never dreamed we would actually get to Finland! Let alone right across to the Russian border in the East, but we did!

It felt like a rather liminal place - not Scandi, quite, not close to Russia, not mainland Europe. An identity of its own - mainly based in trees and water. The language foxed us - impenetrably written and like a combination of Swedish and Russian but with a slight Italian accent. Fortunately, their English is impeccable and it made travelling very easy.

The other wonderful thing was the wild camping - areas in the forest, especially by lakes, have small clearings with fire pit cabins, endless wood, compost toilets and often a jetty to swim off. It made it very easy to be surrounded by nature, with cold water swims for us each day and walks on the 'doorstep' for Nala.

And the light … big skies of almost luminous blue, with the odd fluffy cloud. So clear, so blue, so wide it almost felt like the Truman Show.

The other thing we have to be very thankful for are two very helpful Archie fixes - one for a leaking fuel filter housing, fixed near Turku, and the other, for new front tyres bought, balanced, and fitted near Lappeenranta.

We cycled around leafy paths past Chekhovian villas on Ruissalo; visited the thick walled, medieval towered castle at Olavinlinna - emerging out of the rock in fast flowing waters; walked the cobbled streets of colourful houses of Rauma and wooden wharfs of Porvoo; had a wood fired sauna with a dunk in a cold lake afterwards; dodged World Ice Hockey championship fans in Tampere; and what felt like a real privilege of being in the home of Jean Sibelius - a warm family home with all the artwork, books and music left by the family and finally had a cold beer by the public sauna and Baltic water swimming pools in Helsinki.

And today we crossed by ferry to Estonia. It's striking how countries feel so different, in an impossible to define way, and yet we are finding recurring themes, styles, histories. It is fascinating to progress - but we can't believe we are halfway through our trip.