Yesterday

It was a good day. We had a proper breakfast at the hotel and set off. Within a few miles we took off from the main road and started cycling north along a gravel road towards the national parks and the city of Inari beyond.

I was excited about seeing more of Finnish wildlife and had my camera at the ready. I started by taking some action shots of Geir cycling and my own bike. That's also where I stopped. The gravel road was wet from recent rain and challenging to cycle on and very soon I had to focus completely on pedalling. Geir likened it to cycling in syrup, and I agree.

I did see on sketchy reindeer statue advertising rooms with sauna but I didn't have my wits about me to stop and take a photo.

After we were a little less than halfway to Inari we stopped at a roadside café in the middle of nowhere. It was run by a little old lady who didn't speak a word of either English or Swedish. That didn't seem to deter her, though, and she went on at length in Finnish about God knows what.

We ended up buying two ice creams and a cabin for the night. There was no running water and we had to use and outdoor toilet that turned out to be a bucket with a black rubbish bag under a plank with a hole in it. The outdoor toilet had carpeted floors, though, so don't make the mistake of thinking this wasn't a classy place.

There was no mobile signal and it was quite early in the day, so we had a nice lunch and went for a long walk. As a true Englishman at heart, we had to observe tea-time, even miles from civilisation.

I read a book while Geir had a nap, the I made us freeze dried wolf-fish stew for dinner. I can't say we were suffering at all. The mattresses were quite hard, though.

Deeper into the finnish woods

We've had a glorious breakfast this morning and are just about packed up and ready to go. I think last night marks the highlight of our trip. Finland is really showing itself from the best possible side. We woke up today to a brilliant sun and had waffles for breakfast. I didn't bring my phone so I don't have any pictures of said waffles, but here's a picture of the last hotel we stayed, an inn in the town of Åsele. It was such a classy place they served milk in whisky tumblers.

Also, here's a russian MIG.

Today we're cycling straight north to the city of Inari, close to the Norwegian border. We're going off the beaten track and onto a gravel road that cuts between two giant national parks, Lemmenjaen Kansallispuisto and Hammastunturin erämaa. What a mouthful. I expect today we'll see some of the prettiest greenery on the trip, so I'll try to keep my camera ready. Hopefully I have something to upload when we get to Inari.

It's eighteen miles.from here to there, so we might be able to make it in one day, but we're going to take it easy and pace ourselves. My knee is still fine. I had no problems with it during our eight mile leg yesterday, so I'm optimistic that I haven't permanently damaged anything.

If this is my last ever post, that means we were lost in the finnish woods, never to be heard from again.

Old man signing out again.

Old man has been silent for some days. There has been a lot to take care of, a lot of arrangements to make and I have been too tiered in the evenings.
Yesterday's 110 km bus ride was absolutely necessary. After the knee locking episode, Adrian could hardly walk, and cycling more than to the nearest bus station would have been irresponsible. He is a young and strong creature, so he heals super fast. This morning he passed the 20 km test ride, so we decided to continue according to the plan.
For now, we have slowed down about 5 kph, and temporarily (?) do about 15 km per hour as average. That seems to work well, at least as long as the weather is good. For some reason it seems the knees are more vulnerable when we are wet and cold. The forecast says good weather tomorrow and Friday. Then there will be wet weather and 9 degrees for some days...

Hopefully we will be in Kirkenes late Saturday night, or in the early hours of Sunday. If so, we can check in to a good, warm hotel after the wet Saturday. But that means riding more than 150 km each of the two last days. Will our  knees hold? Time will show.

We are now in Sirkantähti hotel in Sirkka, a small town in the Levi area. Very clean and nice. Sauna in the bathrooms and extremely tasty dinner, at least after eating in Pizza bars and Kebab shops for many days. We are both ready for a looong night in proper beds. A long breakfast and a late start tomorrow! This is pure luxury!!

The finnish woods

When we first started on our journey, Geir said that we would take the opportunity to sleep in camping sites, hostels and similar accommodation through Sweden, because once we got to Finland towns would be few and far between, and we would most likely have to sleep in the woods every night.

So this is where we're sleeping tonight. There is a sauna in our bathroom, and yes, that is a piece of candy on the pillow.

First impression of Finland vs. Sweden:

Sweden is a run-down hillbilly country with lots of wrecked volvos, closed shops and loppis.

Finland is newly refurbished, sleek, flat and with tame reindeer.

I'm not sure if Geir treated us to this because of my knee, or because he's sick of mosquitoes. He really hates those things.

And for the record, finnish mosquitoes are larger and meaner than swedish mosquitoes. Also, they have red eyes and eat baby dolphins.

Postcard from Finland

In Finland, you have to share the beaches with reindeer. True story.

Suomi at last

There are loppis in Finland as well! Great news.

We've crossed the border, which went right in the middle of a river. My knee doesn't hurt yet, so we may as well continue. 48 miles left to Kirkenes.

Goodbye Sweden

I will miss your hundreds of signs for various types of "loppis."

In Pajala there's a loppis café, and at the camping site where we're staying there's a kiosk selling soft ice cream with a small loppis in the corner. Just down the road towards the city someone has turned their garage into a rather well organized loppis.

For the uninitiated, a loppis is a flea market, and swedes love it! Tomorrow we will see what Finland has to offer. Geir is hoping for bears.