Topic: @-ers naar Finland!!

[member]

Africa Twin meetings are still alive!
You mentioned that AT meetings are no more held due to lack of the
participants and so on. Well, in Finland AT is still quite popular bike
because it is ideal bike for Finnish conditions; lot of gravel roads
everywhere but especially in distant rural areas.

Enduro and touring overall are somewhat popular hobby in Finland and there
is quite active discussion forum around this topic. Two years ago one AT
driver suggested if there would be interest on some kind of AT meeting.
After some discussion the place was decided and about 20 AT drivers got
together.

Our camp was old cottage originally meant for forest worker's accomodation.
You can see some picture of it on the link:
http://www.villipohjola.fi/item.asp?Section=12&Item=2041&Browser=ie&BrowserVer=6&img=1
There are beds for about 22 persons, so nobody was camping in the tent,
though it is of course possible if somebody prefers it. You can find the
location also at:
http://kansalaisen.karttapaikka.fi/linkki?scale=8000&text=Africa+Twin+summit+2009&y=7080243&x=4459854&lang=FI

From the link below you will find some pictures af the past meetings.
http://picasaweb.google.fi/HiekkaHeikki/AT07

We had AT rally also in this summer (the last weekend of May) and we are
planning to arrange the meeting also on the next summer (2009) and it is
going to be held in this same place I mentioned, since the place in located
in the nice place by the small lake. There is a sauna for washing. Actually
the place has been already reserved and the date would be 22-24.5.2009

We have got together on Friday evening and we have had a sauna for those who
would like to have it. For Saturday we have planned a nice route through
small gravel roads nearby Russian border. The lenght of the route has been
only about 300 km, but driving takes almost the whole day (about 10 hours),
because the average speed cannot be too high and also several breaks are
held.

We would like to inform all AT riders about this happening and wish them all
welcome to Finland. Based on the experience we gathered from two last
meetings, we dare to invite all AT enthusiasts to this meeting. I would
think, driving in the area chosen with absolutely great company (even Finns
can be great sometimes), would be somewhat interesting experience for those
who have not visited to Finland ever before. So, we would like to ask, would
it be possible to send this invitation throughout ATIC's mailing list? I
think that would be appropriate and basically only choice for sending this
message out.

Some kind of enrollment in advance would be good to have especially in case
that accomodation in a cottage can be reserved. If the participant decides
to camp in the tent, the enrollment is not necessarily required, though it
would be nice to know if there would be somebody from abroad. And of course
we can ask for the hotel lodging if that is preferred.

Also we would like to help drivers coming from far away for example if new
tyres are needed and so on. So you can finish your old tyres on the way to
Finland and change new tyres here and enjoy all the gravel roads you'll find.

We are expecting to have at least 20 drivers from Finland alone, so the
happening will take place, no doubts, even without any foreign guests.

We hope we will see many drivers from around the world (most likely from
Europe) in the 2009 summit.

Do not hesitate to contact to me if you have something to ask or comment. My
email adress is juha.keisala@nic.fi You can also call me at +358 50 3342619


Best regards,
Juha Keisala

p.s.
there are no mosquitos in Finland at this time of the year

Dus als je nog niets te doen hebt, en de gastvrijheid van de Finnen eens mee wil maken is dit een uitgelezen kans.