back to article Plucky Finn attempts to drive length of Finland in small digger

Occasionally, like Alexander the Great, adventurous souls living today's degenerate modern life weep because there are no more worlds to conquer. Everest has been climbed, then parachuted; the English Channel has not just been swum, but crossed by flying jetpack also; hardy golfers have played "the most remote and climatically …

COMMENTS

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  1. SteIMG
    Thumb Up

    Brilliant

    Lewis - That is brilliant. One of the most hilarious things I have read in ages.

  2. Anonymous John

    Playmobil reconstruction

    Or it isn't happening.

  3. Cazzo Enorme

    Dig it.

    OK, so it's really just a none too subtle marketing ploy.

  4. Thorsten

    The whole length?

    Not quite, more two-thirds of it. Though petrol stations may be too few to make it much further north in the digger.

    Also, "Mr Mutanen normally works with Sunward's Finnish distributor, and the two firms have generously supported his record-breaking attempt by providing the digger and maintenance support during the trip". Isn't he a "excavator repairman" himself? Does "maintenance support" refer to himself, or is that too cynical?

    Finally, I expect any follow-up story to be labelled "RotM", seeing that the digger is manufactured by Hunan Sunward *Intelligent Machinery* Company. I was going to Finland for the summer, but maybe I should cancel the trip...

    1. some vaguely opinionated bloke
      Welcome

      as icon

      I, for one, welcome our new Chinese intelligent excavating machines, safe in the knowledge that, at a push, I could outwalk the unarmed ones.

  5. Code Monkey

    Awesome

    I love the live webcam. Looks like today's average speed has just taken a tumble after chatting to a smart lass.

    Fantastic stuff!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    ouch!

    autoplay video FTL

  7. Gideon 1

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    It's boring enough driving my Yanmar B08-3 more than quarter of a mile, watching a video stream of someone else going hundreds of miles, uh? Also, the miles per gallon of these machines is atrocious, they're really meant for digging and getting around on rough terrain.

  8. Jason Togneri
    FAIL

    Pointless

    I live in Finland and saw this on local news - the thing is, he's doing it for utterly no purpose. The sponsorship and dedication of his fans is to no end purpose, except in and of itself. He isn't doing it to raise money for charity or anything. He's just... doing it. Now, I'm a huge fan of doing things for the sake of doing things, but this goes above and beyond - if you're going to reap yourself sponsorships and media attention, why not do something worthwhile with it?

    1. Marvin the Martian
      Pint

      Attitude difference: "pointless"

      The british/american attitude is that all has to be done for charity; the rest of the world disagrees. You challenge nature and/or yourself just "because it's there".

      I find it hard to explain that for example people climb Mt Everest "for charity" making something like 50k profit (while spending another 100k at the least --- so 2 out of 3 charitable donations are burned). It's just punters paying your dream holiday, "for charity".

      I've integrated well here, though --- I refuse to come out of bed now, unless it's for charity.

      1. MeRp

        Interesting...

        "Because it is there" used to practically be the British motto, and Americans were not far off either. I wonder what caused the shift in attitudes. I wonder if it is for the better or worse, too.

        1. Number6

          Money Talks

          It's easier to raise the finance if you can tack a charity label on the venture. That's why the attitudes have changed. Cynical but probably true.

      2. Steve Evans

        Re: Attitude difference: "pointless"

        Are you sure about that, I'm English and see no problem with doing things just because it hasn't been done before.

        And I don't believe Everest was conquered in the 1950s by one of the Queen's subjects wearing "Sponsored by Britvic" either.

  9. Scott Broukell
    Coat

    How wil they know ...

    when he's Finnished !!

    1. Tim #3

      Oh dear

      With all the marshy ground over there, isn't there a risk he'll sink in?

  10. LesC
    Coat

    Brilliant...

    'VatorJack, 'VatorJack, is it true what Mummy said,

    you won't come back. oh no, no.

    Mines is the one with Excerpts from a Teenage Opera in the pocket.

  11. An ominous cow heard
    Go

    David Lynch?

    D'ya think he's a David Lynch fan and has seen the Straight Story ? Not yer average David Lynch movie, this beautiful work is the true story of Alvin Straight, who drove across two US States on a ride-on lawnmower for a reconciliation with his brother.

    If you haven't watched it, you need to.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is usually the point

    Where someone points out that Finland isn't in Scandinavia and Finns were never Vikings.

    Ah that'd be me.

    1. Lewis Page 1 (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: This is usually the point

      Dammit Richards! This is getting to be a regular thing now

      "Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe that includes Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Finland is often considered a Scandinavian country in common English usage"

      From "Export To Scandinavia" http://www.exporttoscandinavia.com - presumably they know what they're on about

      Common English is what we do here at the Reg, as we don't live in Norway. And I never SAID Finns were vikings, did I? The caption makes sense if Finland is part of Scandinavia.

      Away with you

      1. Sweep

        pedant alert

        I think Export to Scandinavia got their definition from Wikipedia (and presumably prefer the name "Export to Scandinavia" to "Export to Scandinavia and Finland").

        Finland isn't part of Scandinavia but it is one of the Nordic countries along with Norway, Sweden etc.

        And the Moomin books were written in Swedish. This is a useful fact if you ever need to really annoy a Finnish person.

        And I dread to think what El Reg would be like if it was actually written in Common English. A bit like The Sun I guess......

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      But they are!

      This project clearly demonstrates that they are just as mad as the rest of us. Maybe a tad better at it, at that. It's those long dark winter nights, I recon - "Wouldn't it be fun to ride a digger across the country?" "Sure, great idea! Pass the vodka and pour some water on the stones." Mad as hatters, the lot...

      1. Steve Evans

        They're even madder than that!

        I have some Finnish friends, and they are bonkers.

        They're also totally addicted to mobile phones. Not fruit flavoured toy ones either. You go out for a drink and they will constantly have a beer in one hand, a vodka shot in another hand and a mobile phone is another hand! It's no accident that a very large proportion of mobile devices originate from that area of the world.

        The long winter nights just give them time to dream up crazy ways to enjoy the summer!

        Good luck to Mr Trundle.

    3. Blue eyed boy
      Boffin

      I'd agree on Finns not being Vikings

      and their language is something else again, unrelated to the other Scandinavian languages (indeed unrelated to nearly all other European languages except Estonian and Hungarian. (Minä puhun suomen kieltä vähän.).

      But certainly Finland is generally reckoned as Scandinavia and certainly their flag is a colour-variant of the other Scandinavian national flags.

  13. Winkypop Silver badge
    Alert

    Forget the world cup

    Here's something much more interesting.

    Yes really.

    Dig it.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    I'd like to buy that man a pint

    That is all.

  15. A B 3
    Coat

    Now watch a German...

    Now watch a German... Drive across europe in a Panzer. Oh they already did that...

  16. ravenviz Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Shame

    Pity no-one in China will be able to read about it on Google News

  17. The old man from scene 24

    Enough of this insanity

    What will these buffoons do next? Release a paper aeroplane from space?

  18. John Dougald McCallum
    Flame

    Enough

    this all sounds to me like he lost a bet or somthing probibly whilst smashed on Finnish Vodka

    as has already been said its those long winter nights.Flames cos you don't have a Ring on/of Fire.

  19. ZeeZee

    The REASON for this whole thing!!

    What, wasn't included to this report, is the REAL reason for this trip. These days the Facebook is just full of those "If so and so many ppl joins I'll do this and that" -groups. Jukka Mutanen decided to make this group as a joke (maybe rolling his eyes for it a little), and was stunned when masses of people started to join to it.

    Because of the nature of a Finnish man who'll never eat his words, he had no choice but have a laugh and start to make preparations. I believe they have called to none of the sponsors, but the sponsors have contacted to them. This journey has been epic already, the people along the way have been helping him in any way they can, filling up the tank, bringing him snacks, something to drink etc. He has never asked anyone to do this, that's why people want to help and cheer him along the way.. AND they have offered to make a use to the publicity and take a part of any charity event they asked for... If no organisation is clever enough to use this then its really their shame..

    And btw. Culturally we have the most in common to the scandinavian culture because the tight bond with the neighbourland Sweden, which is like our big brother.. Finland's second official language is swedish. So even though Finland is not geographicly a part of Scandinavia, it is still concidered It to be a cultural part of Scandinavia..

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

    I actually switched on his website as 4am TV in Australia is filled with religious nutters and adds for American super carving knife sets and exercisers....

    And LO - Behold here he is on a BUSY 2 lane highway... rolling along with heaps of traffic passing him and no way to stay out of the trafic.....

    I mean 2 or 3 K an hour.....

    I'd like to see him cross Australia from east to west or north to south doing that speed on that machine, he'd be like 300 years old by the time he finished it.

    Hmmmmmm it's nice but I think I have better things to do with my time that sit on my arse for 2 months.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Finland isent part of Scandinavia........

    as title

  22. Grant Alexander
    Thumb Down

    I am so unimpressed....

    He's on a sealed public road. If he had plotted a straight line between the start and finish and then driven exactly down that line then I might be impressed.

  23. John Tserkezis

    Pfft. Who cares.

    A friend went from Sydney, to far north Queensland, australia (cape York) in an early model Holden Camira. The one that blows smoke.

    He didn't have GPS covering his trip, he didn't have backup, he didn't have sponsorship, he didn't have a cheap photoshop image of him standing in front of the car with a fake background. And he didn't advertise his choice of vehicle to world+dog.

    You want to approach that, then you might impress me.

    1. foo_bar_baz
      Badgers

      WTF?

      I don't think the point of the story was so much to impress as to laugh at/with a guy making a two week journey at 2 1/2 mph.

  24. Number6

    Going the distance

    He'll probably go further than England's World Cup campaign.

  25. Jason Togneri
    WTF?

    @ Sarah Bee / Scandinavia

    Actually, I think you'll find that Scandinavia is so-named for the Scandinavian Mountains, which divide Sweden and Norway and then dive underground towards Denmark. Being on a different part of the landmass (physically Asia, as opposed to the penninsula of Sweden and Norway), Finland is only linked culturally and historically to those other nations, and is therefore Nordic (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland) rather than Scandinavian (geographically Sweden, Norway, Denmark). It's rather like distinguishing Scots, English, Irish and Welsh, but at the same time keeping a seperate distinction of British vs European.

  26. Robert E A Harvey
    Coat

    Magnus

    "I've started, so I'll Finnish"

    I'll get my knitted sweater with the reindeer pattern on the back

  27. Pirate Dave Silver badge
    Pirate

    gotta wonder

    after this guy finishes (Finnishes?) his epic quest, what's he going to do with the rest of his life?

    Cheers to him for doing it, though.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Is that really a live feed?

    I've checked on three consecutive days, and the road is remarkably similar.

    Is it on the same set as the Apollo landings?

  29. John H Woods Silver badge

    is he just doing ...

    ... one Lapp?

  30. Jason Togneri

    @ AC / Is that really a live feed?

    It probably does look very similar, Finland is an extremely dull and repetitive country (at least as far as road travel is concerned). Watch out and see if there's a change of weather this weekend - it's set to rain heavily.

    http://www.fmi.fi/weather/local.html

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Hmmm

    "a small one-man imported Chinese digger"

    So how many men does it usually take to import a Chinese digger?

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