If you believe in national stereotypes, then Finns shun small talk in favour of getting straight down to deep philosophical matters. I was sat in a sauna with two Finns, Païvi and Tuomas, and we weren’t discussing the weather. Instead we were comparing how we had given up well-paid jobs so we could live beyond the 9 to 5 grind of office life and pursue our love of swimming. Perhaps I was a Finn in another life.
Finns are also masters of understatement. Finland is known as Land of a Thousand Lakes, although actually there are nearer 200,000 of them. We were staying the night in Villa Takila on the shore of one of them, Lake Päijänne, indulging in a last taste of luxury before an island swimming adventure, wild camping on Kelvenne Island.