Day 33 – at Äkäslompolo, Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park

The morning was a good time to catch up on some admin..

In theory, the dog needs a worming treatment before going to Norway. I expect I’ll be there sometime next week. My plan is to be in and out, between Sweden and Norway on the way back south, so I’m not really sure how that will work. There seems no provision for such journeys with travelling dogs. Though, hardly any of the road borders in the north are manned, so I cannot see how it is enforced. Or after having had one treatment, whether others are really necessary.

Anyway, I tried to make an arrangement with the only vet anywhere near the border. I’ve left a message and will wait to hear back.

Also, my plastic Swedish visa card has eventually arrived with Martin in Ranea, so I tried to make an arrangement for where to receive it. Initially I called a campsite just over the border to Sweden from here. They were very helpful, but explained that they are so remote, that they only get one mail delivery a week.

My second option was to ask Martin to mail it to Finland, and I have arranged the Tourist Information in Inari to receive it.

He will take images though of the card and the letter, and these days, for many, that is enough.

It’s usually good to meet up occasionally with other campervans on the road at park-up time. The Dutch couple with the green van were a good example, but in practice, it’s not so easy for it to happen, especially now when in the Arctic Circle and there’s so few other vehicles on the road.

There are quite a few motorhomes and campervans around this area, but the large majority are rented from Rovaniemi, with the customers flying in and out. I’ve met several people like this, today a French couple with their young son, the same age as Roja.. But for them this was a 2 week holiday from Nantes; plane from Paris to Rovaniemi and rental van from there. It’s clearly not going to be common that someone drives their van 4,000 km to the Arctic Circle as the season ends, but I’d be keen to find them, and if it so happened we were in the same vicinity, meet up.

There was that website (actually still is) CrazyGuyOnABike.com that travelling cyclists put their blogs on, and that led, for me at least, to meeting a lot of other similar travellers when in the same remote areas, as well as getting tips on travel matters. Unfortunately the website owner has gone crazy in a more mental way himself, so that option in more restricted even for cyclists.

I’m in several campervan forums on Facebook, or rather the dog is, because it’s his page, but they all deal with upkeep, maintenance and self-build, rather than people actually on the road. Many of the people it seems, only leave their driveways occasionally, and then only for weekends. I guess they’ve got to work to afford their vans, most of them are not spared any expense.

This morning we set off on a loop I had found, around Kesänki mountain, which has both north and south peaks, and added on scaling the south peak. The north was in the plan as well, but the path, on boulders, goes only over the pass between the two, and getting to either peak is a precarious arrangement. The ascent is up something called The Devil’s Ravine, it’s in a photograph below, along with details on the very last image.

It was a spectacular hike, with scenery better than yesterday, as we didn’t have to look at the ski-damaged areas to the west too much. The ascent was even tricky in places, the last 200 metres of ascent up a stone shoot reminiscent of Skye.. two paces forward one pace back sort of thing. Unless you’ve four legs of course..

Though camped only a couple of kilometres away, I hadn’t been into Äkäslompolo town until this afternoon. There’s a supermarket, which I’ll stock up in tomorrow, and a few restaurants and bars. Being Friday, and that old habits die hard, I thought a beer at the ‘Public House’ would be sensible. There was a fair few sat outside, and several dogs around, so we fitted in well. Craft beers also, with a Blonde, an IPA, and a Trappiste on keg. Here in Finland though, nothing above 5.5% is allowed by law over the bar, which brings me memories of Utah. I had one each of the Blonde and IPA, and both went well, and chatted with a few people, most of whom had come over to introduce themselves to Roja, me, as rather a casual bystander.

Just a quick addendum on Finnish literature, for the many that I know will be interested..

With a population of just above 5 million the country certainly pulls its weight in quality fiction.

I included Roy Jacobsen’s The Burnt Out Town of Miracles in the list I wrote a couple of days ago.

When his village is evacuated by the Finnish army in 1939, Timo Vatanen, a sort of village idiot who makes his living as a woodcutter, refuses to leave. This is what can happen in war, as we are currently observing in the Ukraine now. The Russians set up camp in the village. Timo remains and plays up to his ‘fool’ reputation, secretly acting as caretaker to the village homes and saviour to an odd assortment of Russian men pressed into service by the Russian army.

Rosa Liksom’s Compartment Number 6, which has recently been adapted as a film.

Set in the 1980s in the last days of the Soviet Union this takes place on a train heading on it’s week long journey from Moscow to Ulan Bator, with just two characters, a young woman, and an apparently rude and abusive male Russian officer.

The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna – Set in 1951 in Finnish Lapland Paasilinna’s novel reads like a fable, telling of Gunnar Huttunen and his relocation to a backwoods village and his strange ways. Huttunen sets up a successful sawmill, but his impersonations of animals and neighbours, and his howling at night make the locals suspicious of him.

I’ve other recommendations also; Antti Tuomainen, Virve Sammalkorpi, Sofi Oksanen.. to mention a few. Reviews, as ever, over at Goodreads.