Astuvansalmi ja Toijola

11.0 km, 3.7 h of paddling: the stage gets shorter after two long days. And it starts strong — 700 m away is ASTUVANSALMI, the largest rock-art site in Finland, with a jetty 11 m from the line. Then you cross the Toijola peninsula THROUGH THE INSIDE, via the two channels blasted out in 1874-77: there is no open water there, it is 5-15 km/h and making wash is forbidden. It is the most legally protected section of the crossing.

Largest Nordic rock-painting site: 65-80 figures in red ochre — elk, humans, boats, an archer — on a vertical wall of ~15 m, 4,500-6,000 years old. Seen in profile the rock resembles a face (“woman's head”), a place of offerings. The old notebook rightly considered it impossible: from the former corridor it was 18-19 km there and back, a whole day. This route passes RIGHT BY IT: JETTY AND LATRINE (field observation from 2026). DO NOT TOUCH THE WALL. Archaeologically protected site: you look, you photograph and you don't camp.

700 m W of the paintings, a small sandy beach with NUOTIOKIVET (fire ring) and a good landing: it is the place for the day's long stop. The field record warns that next to the rock-art panel there is no room to rest — the space is here. The only recorded landing in the 13 km of Yövesi.

KIRKKOTAIPALE (km 43.2): 200 m, 7.1 m wide, 1.7 draught. VARKAANTAIPALE (km 46.0), the big one: 416 m, 8.9 m AT THE BOTTOM, 1.9 draught, blasted through the rock, no lock, and a road bridge with 8 m clearance. Both are VENEVÄYLÄ — official marked fairway, 5 km/h zone — and the RIB Saimaa THREE-CHANNEL CRUISE passes through both, still in season in September: a FAST boat in a seven-metre cut. Look before entering, keep right, go through in one go and don't dawdle. Stopping for a moment IS allowed (782/2019, if you are not in the way), but NOT under the bridge or tying up to anything in the channel, and swimming is prohibited. IN YOUR FAVOUR: the whole passage is at 5-15 km/h and on 3.3 of its 3.9 km MAKING WASH IS PROHIBITED — the most legally protected section of the crossing. At the north mouth of the big one, on the left, the MUSEUM SWING BRIDGE with its panel (Saimaa Geopark): land among the reeds on the shore of the old station. The restaurant in the old petrol station CLOSED ON 29-AUG.

Harbour between the two channels, 102 m from the line. ⚠ CLOSED: its website says so twice and with the year written, «AVAAMME JÄLLEEN KESÄLLÄ 2027». No restaurant, no sauna, no fuel — and NO WC EITHER, because it opens “according to our hours”. It is no longer the hot shower this notebook promised. The JETTY remains: you can tie up and land, and Toijola village is 1.3 km away. There is nobody here to ask for help, and it is one of the day's two exits: from S5 and S6 no bus leaves within 6 km.

Between Kirkkotaipale and Varkaantaipale, in the most protected water of the 80.5 km: if the day's wind is impossible, you stop here and nothing happens. Shore derived on real coastline, with land to the south. From here it is 500 m to Varkaantaipale and 4.8 km to the end of the stage.

Leaving the channel you enter Louhivesi and the continuous shelter of the last two days ends. The islet at the mouth is a 1,400 m² rock with rental cabins 140 m away: it is good for nothing but orientation. From here on, island-hopping tactics.

DERIVED point on real shoreline: land to the south, nearest house 277 m away and 277 m of detour from the line. Already past the north mouth of Varkaantaipale, i.e. outside the channel's shelter: choose a cove, not a point, since here the S wind already has room to run. In September, ROCK OR AN OPEN POINT RATHER THAN A REEDY COVE. Fire only with a stove.

11.0 km, and 50.2 of 80.5. Today you have seen Astuvansalmi and crossed Toijola through the inside, which is the shortcut that takes a whole day off the 2018 route. Tomorrow is the shortest stage of the trip, 9.2 km: if the morning forecast is bad, THIS is the day that can be sacrificed without touching the train home.