We had a slow start to the morning. Neither of us wanted to get out of bed too early, as we didn’t have a diesel heater to warm us up!
Today we drove through more beautiful pine trees, and sometimes even birch trees! And another thing Finland has going for it, is it has great supermarkets. We struggled to get decent fresh food in Norway, but here in Finland there is a great selection of stuff. So I had a smoked salmon salad for lunch and Mike had a smoked salmon roll.
We hunted around for a new pump for our diesel heater, but nowhere stocked it. So it will probably have to wait until we’re back in England. We’re hoping it won’t matter as the sun was shining today, and when the temperature reached 14 degrees we stripped down to shorts and t-shirts.
Today we crossed the Arctic circle line again. On the border was the Santa Claus Village, so of course we had to stop and have a look. There were only two tour buses there so it wasn’t too busy. We wandered into the Santa Claus Village, used their toilets, then left. It was sad to be leaving the arctic, it has probably been my most favourite part of the trip, especially in the far north.
The rest of the day was spent driving through forests. It was relentless… I mean beautiful. The other thing Finland has going for it, is restaurants that are open. I’d been yearning to eat out in Norway, to try the local cuisine, but we didn’t find a restaurant open for the entire trip, apart from the reindeer stew we had at the arctic circle centre. So when we stumbled on a restaurant in the middle of nowhere at dinner time, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for some local Finnish cuisine. I had a burger and Mike had a steak. It was yummy.
Then came the time to hunt for a camping spot. The first spot I had lined up was beside a lake. As we drove down the rutted dirt road, ahead looked like somewhere we might get stuck. So I got out to check and as I was walking down, I was swarmed by mosquitoes. And ants! I ran back to the car, and a pile of mozzies and an ant had followed me in. I caught the ant biting me on the ankle, so I swiftly put an end to him.
We aborted that camping spot, and continued. We eventually settled on a spot overlooking a lake. It’s off the road and is very peaceful at the moment. There are a few mozzies around, but I think that is to be expected this time of year. I can hear a dirt bike in the distance. At least I think it’s a dirt bike and not a really angry mosquito.