Moving people and goods from one place to another has caused problems everywhere.  Nevertheless, in Finland these problems have been historically extraordinary. Finland is one of the world’s most northern and geographically remote countries and is subject to a severe climate. In a sparsely populated country, the road network was built nationwide only in the 19^th and 20^th century. At the time the terrain was difficult because thick woodlands blanketed nearly three fourths of the landed area, making it the most densely forested country in Europe. Deep forests, 188,000 lakes and even more numerous marshes hindered moving with vehicles. That was not enough.  The Baltic Sea was frozen about four months a year, and for that period the country was cut off from western Europe and before the 18^th century landborne traffic to the neighbouring country, Russia was poor and the major Russian cities were situated very far. As a result, one could claim that in wintertime Finland was one of the most isolated and inaccessible regions in Europe, and therefore the Finns have learnt to value the means of transport highly.