FF2: Filling in the Suburbs

[krigl]

Today we make one last trip through SW Finland and then head north into PM territory again, almost reaching Jyvaskyla.


Still a bit of fog around when we started out in the morning.


Soon cleared up in time for us to enjoy a beautiful drive from Turku diagonally NE to Tampere.


Awesome.








Whoa, stuck behind a tractor. Should I risk overtaking on this narrow road?


Okay, I'll go for it... oh. Typical.


A very colourful rural area, this.


We're about done with the larger half of south Finland now.


It's been okay, not really disappointing as my expectations weren't high, and sometimes very nice.








Tampere, once again.


Vowel overload!
After I'd been delivering in the region for many months in various trucks with the same livery, the company bought a new cab, and I got to drive it for a bit. I think I've read that the dimensions on this SCS Volvo model are wrong - it's too short and wide. Can't say whether that's true or not, but I like the way it looks, and this skin just looks amazing on it, especially with the various gubbins from the tuning pack.


We're heading into ProMods land again now, looking forward to it.


Picked up this nice concrete centring, or whatever it's called.


The border with ProMods.


Driving north to Jyvaskyla through idyllic PM scenery.


Listening to epic tracks from Finntroll and Moonsorrow on the stereo.


This is the life.








Close to Jyvaskyla now. Next time.
Anni

[krigl]

Today we visit ProMods’ Jyvaskyla and then head south towards Lahti. So, all ProMods today, yay!


Arriving in Jyvaskyla.






Somewhere, someone is badly in need of a concrete centring. Let’s find them.


Definitely getting a garage in Jyvaskyla, it's an awesome town.


This place has a station, I like it.




Because the airports in SCS’s Finland are not functional, this light turboprop buzzing overhead is one of the only times you’ll see some life in the skies in this part of the world. I don’t think there are any circling groups of exactly 4 birds all across SCS’s Finland either, and if I’m not mistaken they first appeared in Going East. Well, enjoy the buzzing plane in Jyvaskyla, at least.


Ah, Hieronymous wants it.


Spent a few hours in a Jyvaskyla café and then picked up a giant loading bucket also at Bosch, which sadly is the only jobsite in town. Shame, that, because it’s a really cool place otherwise.


Leaving town.


The shadows are starting to grow long. Love that long-legged UFO on the horizon.






We have plenty of time to deliver it to Lahti, and it’s getting dark, so I’m going to hole up at a petrol station for the night.


Needed to turn around before pulling in there.


Enjoyed the sunset from the petrol station car park.


Next day, we set off south for Lahti through ProMods territory.


It’s a pleasant ride.














Yup, typical Finland. Lahti will be next time.
Anni

[krigl]

The saga continues...


Pulling into Lahti with my bucket.







Right, now we're back in oh-so-pivotal Tampere for the last time, with a smart new owned dumper filled with wood shavings.


This time we're driving across the north of SCS's SW Finland, or, if you like, the SCS side of the border between SCS and ProMods in that area. We'll visit the PM area one more time before leaving the country for now, but not today.


This time we're heading to Kouvola, via Lahti again. Right now we've stopped to send the drone up to check out a side road near Tampere.


Interesting, a real local advert, it seems.


Another bus stop, this time with graffiti.


Under way once more, we pass yet another pleasant lake. Finland does have an awful lot of them.


A rare hill.




The road east from Tampere to Lahti has its charms.


In the distance is the village of Hauho.


Okay, passing through Lahti again, this time from west to east instead of north to south.




Something to see here, at least.




Driving from Lahti to Kouvola.


Hydroelectric plant? Maybe.


Arrival in Kouvola.






Coming to the end of the Finland tour now. Next time we'll head south via Inkeroinen to Kotka.
Anni

[krigl]

This session we drove south from Kouvola via Inkeroinen to Kotka on the south coast.


Heading out of Kouvola.


We’re going to make a ‘drone stop’ between these bridges and check out the right-hand side road.


Great, plenty of space to park here
.



Local motel, I guess. The village/town here is not on the map, but seems to be called Inkeroinen.






Mmm, scenic.




Well, Inkeroinen was more of a main course than a side dish. Well, anyhow, on our way south now.










We’ve arrived in Kotka, the last unvisited proper Finnish city in the DLC. It’s pretty nice, unexpectedly.


The trains that run through it are a great feature.


Dropped off the trailer and went out to soak up the evening atmosphere.


Not only does Kotka have things to see, it also has plenty of job sites. Another good location for a garage.




Another train rattles overhead.


Continuing along the road to another part of Kotka, I found myself driving alongside the same train.


The sun’s gone definitively down. I guess I should try to get some sleep.








A free garage you say? I’ll take it!

2 more sets from Finland to go… next time it will be a coastal drive west from Kotka to Loviisa and then to the airport at Vantaa.
Anni

[Bernhard_]

Very nice. Many Thanks!

[krigl]

Thanks, Bernhard!

Time for another set set in Finland.

Morning in Kotka.



At the lumber yard.


Today we’re hauling a Volvo excavator to Loviisa Nuclear Plant. Just found out that Olkiluoto, where we were about a week ago, is also nuclear. For some reason I thought Finland didn’t have such things. Well, okay.


Heading out of Kotka.


Onto the westward motorway that leads to the Helsinki ring road. The Volvo DLC has some great models.


Making a ‘drone stop’ to check out a side road we don’t plan to take.


Nice.




Heading west again. It’s a short hop, but there are a few things to see on the way.







Left the main road, and heading south to Loviisa.






They said to just leave it here.


Off we go again. Brief glimpse of the sea.


These buildings look quite like the real thing, but unlike Olkiluoto, which was modelled based on reality, these seem to be a reskinned version of the last French nuclear plant I visited.


Back on the main road and heading for Vantaa, where Helsinki’s airport lies.




A final bit of ring road driving is required.


Nice AI truck on the way.


Arrival in Vantaa.


The airport is non-functional, but we can pick up a cargo here to take to the final destination in this tour, back in the ProMods region – Mikkeli. Next time.
Anni

[krigl]

Today’s our last trip in SCS + ProMods’ south Finland.


Leaving Vantaa with a cargo we picked up at the ‘airport’.


Driving north to Lahti.


Somewhere near Lahti. We won’t be visiting today.


Heading into ProMods territory. We’ve travelled much of the road to Mikkeli already in a previous set.






Arriving in Mikkeli. It’s pretty old school, and I don’t think PM have upgraded it since the Baltic DLC came out.




Well, there you go – our last town in this set.


Back to Jyvaskyla now for the final journey, which we’ll be making in a new truck. I dedicate this set to Bernhard, as he seems to like polar bears. : )

Leaving Jyvaskyla to take a route through PM scenery past Mikkele to Kouvola.








Mikkele roundabout was choked with heavy traffic.


Onwards to Kouvola.












We’ve reached Kouvola, time to dump our trailer.


Now to pick up a trailer full of, apparently, maple syrup, to take to Vyborg in Russia for the pancakes of its sweet-toothed denizens.


Just imagine, those silos are filled with sweet sticky syrup!


My stomach is rumbling just thinking about pancakes.


Ready to join the road that will take us to Russia… next time.
Anni

[krigl]

Today we leave the territory of Finland and cross the border into Russia, visiting the city of Vyborg.
I made this trip over 3 years ago before installing the Baltic DLC, through ancient ProMods scenery and part of the RusMap. If you’d like to see what the area looked like back in November 2018 you can check it out here: https://www.promods.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26492
It’s about 40% of the way down the page. There are actually two sets – one is the trip to St Petersburg, and a previous one covers the old ProMods scenery – some of the first they ever made for ETS2. It’s interesting to see the contrast with the DLC. Well, I find it interesting anyway.
Enough waffle, let’s get going.


As we approach the border, the motorway peters out.


The border lies ahead.


No man’s land.


And we’re in Russia.


Decided to install one mod for this occasion – Jazzycat’s Russian traffic pack. It instantly adds a lot of local colour to the roads.


Looks like we could be in Finland. In general though, Russia has a different feel, though that isn’t so clear from today’s set.






“Cake” (picture of biscuits).


“Van crossing aqueduct”.


The journey to Vyborg is not nearly as interesting as the old RusMap version, though probably more realistic.





Entering Vyborg.




Vyborg is also MUCH less interesting than RusMap Vyborg, which was a truly bizarre mishmash of scenery that was a pleasure to visit. But, again, probably more true to life.


That’s not to say that Vyborg is bad, in any case. There’s plenty to see.






Well, let’s get this trailer dropped off.






Headed out to a jobsite nearby to pick something up to take to Saint Petersburg.


When there’s so much info that you need TW0 road signs…


Came here for this cargo, saw it was getting dark, decided to advance time using the console, and awoke to find it gone and no cargo available… lol. Next time Saint Petersburg awaits. Do svidania!
Anni

[krigl]

After my cargo vanished I headed to a different jobsite to pick up a nice dumper trailer.


Here we are leaving Vyborg for Saint Petersburg.


About to enter that road with the cool curved lampposts. Oh wow. That's weird. I've been living away from the UK for so long that certain British words just strike me as strange. Lamppost is one of them. I thought it must be lampost or perhaps lamp post or lamp-post but apparently not. Looks almost Finnish to me.


They have a somewhat oppressive feel about them in the way they arch over you, but otherwise they're cool.


There's a tollgate to use Saint Petersburg's main roads.


Very nicely made. Saint Petersburg is the jewel in the Baltic Sea DLC. With its ring road, central highway, multiple jobsites, neighbouring villages and the nearby towns of Vyborg, Luga and Narva (Estonia), all modelled very nicely, it makes up a massive and impressive urban area. The only comparable place I've visited in either of SCS's truck games is ProMods' excellent version of London, though I suppose SCS's Paris (with Grimes' addon) and some other cities come close. But there are a lot of places I haven't visited yet.


Today we're taking the southeastern route. The northern section is perhaps the least interesting, so doing that first.


Wide open spaces, tower blocks on the horizon, seems pretty authentic.










Time to come off and make the delivery.




The drop-off point is near the small town of Staraya.




This must be the town centre.






Okay, we'll dump the dumper here.




Headed out to explore a little. Near Staraya is Sheglovo, with some more industry.


Finnish Tyres have a local branch. The companies in the DLC are all spread across the region, and why not.


Back near Staraya, here's the local Ikea.


Took a brief dip into the centre of town.




And that's it for today.

I toured the ProMods area of the 3 Baltic states + a RusMap region of the area round Saint Petersburg back in November 2018. If you'd like to see what the region used to be like before SCS got there - take a trip down memory lane or whatever - take a look (It starts at the bottom of the page (page 1) and continues on page 2.):

https://www.promods.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=26492

The ProMods/RusMap region was very nicely made, I still like going through the old images from there now and again.
Anni

[krigl]

I've got some free time today and zillions of shots unposted, so here's a second set from Saint Petersburg for today.


I said that Saint Petersburg is the jewel of the Baltic DLC. Well, it's pretty much true, but what it does lack is a proper centre. This is basically it.


Well, never mind. We've got work to do.




Today we're checking out the lower half of the eastern part of the ring road. Plenty to see this time.


This cargo is destined for Narva, Estonia, so we'll see a bit of countryside today too.


Another windswept meadow with tower blocks.












This is where the road with curved lampposts that cuts through the middle of the ring road from north to south comes out south of the city. That made a lot of sense, no doubt.


Past the airport. Is it functional? No.




If Saint Petersburg's ring road was a clock, this exit would be at 7 o'clock.


Heading out of the city through the suburbs.


Oooh, nice.






Into the countryside.






The village of Opol'ye has another great-looking church.






The sun begins to set as we strike out for the border.
Have a good week, everyone.
Anni