12th February 2021
Ice road made on the frozen sea from Oulu to Hailuoto
This is the longest ice road in Finland, around 6-7 kilometres long. It is made nearly every winter on the ice between the city of Oulu and the municipality of Hailuoto, the same name as the island has.
The road is an official road with many traffic signs. No stopping, no passing-by, only smiling allowed, as the maintenance firm said on their FB-post.
This is an official road with traffic codes
Speed limit 50km per hour, 50 meters between vehicles, one road to the island and one road back. The weight information seems to change between 2000-3000. You have to check it on the official pages of Hailuoto!
We passed by a car at the beginning of the road and later this car passed by us maybe a bit annoyed at us.
The maintenance track was ploughing snow field and the driver did not wave at us at all, but maybe he smiled!
Now or never come and feel the ice road under your car!
On the road back there were rather many cars from Hailuoto to Oulu. Some people think it would be a unique experience to try driving from Oulu to Hailuoto. There might not come the next time and that has to be considered due to the warming climate and calimate change.
This winter is cold but we cannot predict the then winter ice conditions.
At the same time there are two ferries for trucks and buses and for those who dare not to drive on a floating surface of ice. I was not afraid this winter even if there are a lot of faults in the ice. They are called ”railo” in Finnish.
Visit to Huikku fishing harbor to refresh Summer memories
We got to Hailuoto with my elf, and decided to visit the fishing harbor of Huikku just to remember how many hours non-residents had to wait for the ferry from the island. Hundreds of cars by the road.
People are annoyed at waiting for hours with their families on warm summer evenings back from Hailuoto. Ice road gives us a helping hand for some weeks.
Only a few families are willing to move to Hailuoto because their live is dependent of the time tables of the ferry and there is no work either.
That is why many people wait for the bridge with connect Hailuoto to the mainland after decades of frustration. Ferries use a lot of oil and are expensive to maintain.
If you move to Hailuoto or visit it, do not say your opinion about the bridge. That is a very delicate subject. Nature lovers, as I am, are decvded into two groups, for the bridge or against it.
This time I made a long film for viewers who cannot experience driving on the ice road. You can watch the video without voice and put it faster!
One more thing, the island is sometimes “dangerous”, there are ticks in the Nature. Put proper clothes on when you come to film the birds at Spring. This time there was only one black bird by the ice road.
Jump virtually into the film of ice road on the floating surface!
