Safe Return Doubtful

7 months exactly after his birth Rua lifted his leg to take a piss. A landmark day. Raja took about twice that, at least a month after he was a year old. With his new found skill he has started marking his territory rather than just squatting to release his bladder. 

I left the coast and headed inland on a rainy Sunday stopping halfway to my destination at a campsite on the Heposevanto river. I had looked around for a stopover for a while, but the options were poor. In the evening the rain cleared, and with the clear skies came a cold night. There wasn’t many places to walk with Rua, but neighbouring the campsite was horse stables, and they had plenty of exercise space for their horses. I wasn’t sure though whether this was private, so asked a guy at the stables. He was part of the family that owned the ranch, and was more than happy for us to walk around, in fact proud to show off their impressive premises. They bred race horses. I met the guy again the following morning, and after he had finished a ride with one of his charges, he offered coffee, and we chatted about van life and dogs. 

This week I’ve been in Syöte National Park, which is not quite in the Arctic but nonetheless refers to itself as Lapland. Lapland isn’t defined geographically, rather as a a cultural and historical region tied to the indigenous Sámi people.

Syöte is in the indefinite region. The park is a chain of ancient forests, part of which is high altitude forest. One fourth of the area of the park is covered by mires and wetlands of different types. It is one of the oldest National Parks in Finland, founded in 1910. Though a quarter of the land is bog and mire, the wild wooded hills provide a range of outdoor activities; ski-trekking, snowshoeing, hiking and fine mountain-biking routes. 

For two days I based myself at the Park’s headquarters, at the visitor centre car park. There were other people around, but it is a quiet time of the year. 

We met a few interesting people, which was good, because that hasn’t happened so much in recent weeks. 

Two women came to meet Rua with their male Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. They were teachers in residential special care of 15 year olds, and the dog worked with the young people, as a calming presence. They rest their head or body on a student to apply gentle, grounding weight that slows the heart rate. They encourage communication, empathy, and positive engagement among autistic children who struggle with traditional social cues. The ladies were about to join the internet queue for Oasis tickets, as they had failed to get them last year, they were keen for Slane Castle, though would bid for Amsterdam as well, and Manchester after I encouraged them. We spoke briefly about teaching. They had a week of holiday, and later in the term will go to Reunion island on exchange. 

Another guy came over, also to meet Rua. He was headed out to hike late, to photograph in the sunlight just before sunset. His dog had recently died, and was saying he wasn’t sure when he would be ready to take on a new one. When I mentioned that home, such as it is these days, was Cumbria, it materialised he was an avid reader. After his hike, and after dark, we chatted more about books over a cup of tea. 

I got two great days of weather, clear skies with a high of about 12C, and cool nights down to minus 5C; good autumn weather. Yesterday afternoon rain moved in though, and became heavy just as we headed out for our late afternoon wander at Kellarilampi Lake, where I had moved to in the south of the National Park, just a half an hour drive away. This morning we took on a circuit of a couple of hours in drizzly rain that may also have been heavy mist. 

This afternoon I drove back to the coast and am based at the marina at Alaranta.