Jeff: We made it to FInland

The next morning we got up and went to the supermarket to pick up some basic essentials as today we are leaving Norway and heading to Finland! We then headed off towards the boarder which was an easy crossing and parked up in a national park car park and headed off for an 11km walk. While we were preparing for the walk I looked out of the van and there was a small group of reindeer just wandering around and then they decided to head into the woods where we were due to walk so we had to follow them and they were interested in us but also scared. As we continued the walk we saw several sets of reindeer, including an all white one which was very pretty, all dotted about around the hills and one even followed us for a short while without us noticing. The walk wasn’t too hilly but it was long and while around 60% was nice pathways the rest was slightly more tricky terrain and included a couple of river crossings but it was by no means a hard walk like the Norwegian walks we have been doing. After 11km we got to Kolmen valtakunnan rajapyykki which means Three Countries Cairn. This large yellow cairn is on a lake and is the boarder of Norway, Sweden and Finland and as you walk around it you enter each one of the countries (and as Finland is on a slightly different time zone you can time travel as you move around it). We had a good walk around it before having some lunch and getting ready for the long walk back.

We managed the long walk back, spotting several more sets of deers and eventually made it back to Jeff where we decided to go towards the next town and find somewhere to relax for the evening.

The next day was deservedly a rest day for us and we started off by getting up late (well 8am as we have lost an hour and haven’t gotten used to that yet) and did some research so we could look at our options and plan our overall route for the next bit of the trip (not that we ever fully plan or stick to a route). After all the planned we decided to try our luck in the local supermarket as our fridge is very empty as we have heard that Finland is better for vegan food. I don’t think our luck was fully in at the supermarket but we did manage to pick up some essentials to keep us ticking over but nothing substantial. We then decided to head off on our kind of route to get near a national park that we may hike in. As we were driving down the only road around here we had to be on watch all the time as reindeer stroll across the road or hang around next to the road thinking about crossing at any point. The road was also having some major work to resurface it so it would be nice and flat in sections and then the next section would be compacted dirt and gravel meaning we couldn’t go anywhere fast. We made it to a town where we stopped to grab some water for the van, although we don’t really need it service points seem to be further apart here so it’s a case of when you see it you should get it. We then carried on and got to a bigger town we stumbled on a larger supermarket and went a bit crazy in there and bought lots of food so we are all set for a good few days now! Then we went to a nearby lake where we plan to spend the night and managed to book a nice private sauna on the lake for a treat in the morning.

So the owner of the sauna sent their grandfather down to help us light the sauna and set it all up. He didn’t speak any English and we could only say hi and thank you in Finnish so there was a lot of hand gestures and pointing to things. The log burner in the sauna was soon roaring and we worked out the gist of it all. These saunas out in the remote areas are set up slightly differently as they often have no running water there it an urn over the log burner which is filled up with some water, probably from the lake outside, to make it nice and hot and when you mix it with some of the colder water that is in the sauna in buckets you have water in order to wash yourself. There is also, usually and there was in this case, a lake (or body of water, outside so you can cool down before going back in the sauna. We had booked the sauna for 2 hours so interspersed swims in the lake with time in the sauna, despite the constant rain that had reached the area today.

We decided that given the weather we might as well drive as much as we can today so we set off on the drive with a few stops along the way, mostly to have some lunch or service the van where possible and eventually we made it to our stop for the evening, where it was still raining and relaxed for the evening. We are parked near an amethyst mine and near a skiing area so we plan to explore it a little more in the morning, if the rain has finally stopped.

The next morning, while it looked really grey we thought we would have a short run to some stairs where we could then climb to a view point and then we could run back. Pretty much as soon as we were out of the van it started to spit but we continued anyway and managed to run to the stairs which we then climbed. The climb was about 200 meters (over 600 stairs) but given how grey it was we didn’t have great views but we could see the local area. We then climbed back down and ran the short distance back, showered and had some breakfast while deciding what to do.

As it didn’t look like it was going to brighten up like we hoped we headed towards Rovaniemi which is the capital of Lapland. On the way there we had to stop at Santa Claus’s village where we wandered around (with a surprising number of adults – without children). There were opportunities to meet either of the two Santa Claus’s, see the clock that slows time so he can make all his deliveries, see elves at work and the arctic circle line. It was all very tacky but I loved it. Next up we headed to a shopping centre to get a load of washing done as the weather was still a bit crap and we picked up some bits while we were waiting for it to finish. Afterwards we headed to the nearby forest to park the van and as it had finally stopped raining we headed on the bikes into the centre for a look around. Given it’s the capital of Lapland I did expect a fairly large town but we had walked all around it in less than 10 minutes so we decided to go and get some burgers, chips and a beer each and relax. After dinner we (and by we I mean me!) decided we should see the Barbie movie as it was on at the local cinema and was in English. We got into the 8pm showing and thoroughly enjoyed it and then got on the bikes to ride back. It was about 10.30pm by the time we were riding back and for the first time in a very long time it was actually getting dark! We haven’t seen darkness for so long it was surprising to see and while this means the end of summer is looming it also means the van will actually be fully dark, even if we have the windows open at night.

The next morning we got up and had seen on komoot a nice run in the forest so we decided to follow it but instead of taking all the nice smooth paths in the forest this one made us run over the ones where roots or rocks rose up in the small footpaths meaning we had to watch where we were putting our feet the whole time and the route twisted and turned constantly meaning we would have to try and stop to look at the map on our watches before continuing (mostly up the right paths but not always). Finally we managed to get back to the van after a nice final section of the run over a boardwalk for the last km. We then headed to the nearby hotel where we planned to use their swimming pool, sauna and shower but unfortunately there was an aqua aerobics class on (which they did say we could join but we declined) so we couldn’t swim but we still had a sauna and a shower (and as everyone was either in the aqua class or staying away from the pool we had the saunas to ourselves).

After that we jumped in the van and headed to Auttikongas which has a 3.5km nature trail around a small (16 meter) waterfall created by a damn which has next to it a channel which logs used to be sent down the falls on. The walk was easy, especially compared to some of the walks we have been doing and covered both forests and a canyon and we managed to do some foraging for blueberries and see the views from the bird tower before getting back to the van and driving on to a lake for the evening.

The next morning we got up and drove to the next hike which was a 12km hike (and supposedly one of the most scenic short hikes in Finland) called Pieni Karhunkierros circle trail (translates to small bear circle trail). This trail took us through forests to some rapids and then round various lakes and rivers before looping back. There were three suspension bridges to cross and several huts where you could light fires to cook on or stay in the huts. Pretty much every fire pit was lit when we got there by people cooking their breakfast or heating water so it appears these are all well used. The walk took around three hours to complete and then we headed back to the van for some lunch and drove on to the next largish town called Kuusamo. Here we went straight to the tourist office as we want to organise a trip on the coming days but we wanted to get some opinions and more details on what is available. Armed with a little more information we headed out to a lake where we plan to spend the night and do a little more research and while there for the evening a group/herd of reindeer came down to forage around the lake as it got dark (well as dark as it ever gets here).