Espoo's outdoor islands: Bylandet

Welcome to Bylandet, a recreational island managed by the city of Espoo. Bylandet is located on the Kirkkonummi side, in Porkkalanniemi. As an enticement, I will start with a photo that tells the island's history as a Soviet guard post. But now, on to the story of Bylandet...

The pier is on the windward side. Unfortunately, you can't reach this island by archipelago boats. When we landed on the island by kayak, fate rewarded us with a heavy downpour. So this is both a story of how I circled the island with a camera and a story of how the sun started to shine, and it got more beautiful and beautiful.

The facilities are quite good. There is, for instance, an outhouse.

The island, which is just under 10 hectares in size, has plenty of space to wander. There are also rocks and dense forests.

Bylandet is part of the Stora Mickelskären island group.

These photos might suggest that they were taken in the fall. But they weren't. Probably the coldest July (2015) in human history was half a day away from being over. I was on an archipelago tour with a friend, and at this point, we were still in the early stages of the trip.

A sailing route passes nearby, so there was a constant buzz on the mainland side.

I was quite happy that after the initial downpour, the sky cleared up, and the sun started to peek through. And those clouds are pretty dramatic.

In addition to several smaller grilling spots, there is Espoo's standard large grill hut with two enclosed sides. This is a functional solution, as you can warm up by the fire if necessary. For example, if you got wet during a downpour when landing by kayak.

The shoreline on the open sea side is quite different from the sheltered side. But it is impressive.

The island is owned by the city of Espoo. However, there is also a radar station operated by the Finnish Defence Forces.

This is not an artillery mount, but I believe there was a dome-shaped cover on top of this.

For example, this kind of setup was found in the forest.

We managed to circle the entire island without encountering any structures from the time of the Porkkala occupation. But we did find some eventually. Here is a collapsed building, which may have served as crew quarters.

There are also a couple of bunkers here. We even managed to walk on top of one in the heavy rain without noticing it at first. If Finland ever goes to war again, we would not make a very good reconnaissance unit.

Then there were some surprising twists. The former commandant's building now serves as a very unique grill hut. I repeat: a grill hut. Whoever at the city of Espoo came up with this idea deserves congratulations for a brilliant insight. There's no point in letting the building deteriorate if it can be put to use.