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Published: October 30th 2007
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Santa's little friend
Spotting a white Reindeer is supposed to be very lucky We are now officially not weeks behind in our blog but months. The life of a hectic traveller with no time too catch-up. Aaaaa! What a hard life I hear you say! Well no more excuses so here goes the start of it.
So having been to the northern most point in Europe it was time to head back south through Finland.
Our first stop was at a little village called Inari, in the Sami heartland (the local indigenous people). We camped next to a beautiful lake and ventured into the woods on our mountain bikes for a mountain trail of approximately 30km. The earlier part was mostly uphill and we took allot of strain(too much of the good life), however what goes up must come down! So we ended up tearing down very bumpy gravel roads as tall monster trees whizzed by, now that’s what mountain biking is all about.
From here our plan was to drive to Rovaniemi so we headed off on a bright sunny morning and by early afternoon it was not so bright......we broke down it the middle of nowhere.
The problem was that we had lost power and could only drive a
Ravenous!
All this cycling in the forest makes one very hungry. few km per hour. So no problem, put up the warning triangle and thank goodness for breakdown cover.... well we thought! First of a few calls to the UK the caller asked for a landmark, sure I said as for the past two hours the road was aligned with trees....., however satnav gave us some indication. We were then informed that someone will be with us in 2 hours. Then another call said sorry the local service does not cover this area; however a breakdown truck can tow you to the nearest town, Rovaniemi, only 250km away but the problem was that they were not sure if the UK would cover the cost of almost 700 euros and of course they would still then have to drive to us.
We were well expecting to spend the night at the side of the road. So on waiting for confirmation an elderly gentleman dressed in overalls came out of nowhere from an adjacent farm house nearby, ready to help. Only one small detail, he did not speak a word of English and our Finnish....no chance there then. We had identified the problem earlier as a bracket had broken and a pipe was
Broken Van - Act 1
Every drivers worst nightmare! hanging on the ground. I indicated to him the problem and eventually he motioned me to follow him so I wearily did. Eventually to the back of his farmyard he pointed to two railway sleepers that made up a ramp and he again motioned to me that I should drive the van up. So I headed back and trundled the van slowly along and eventually up the ramp. He then fetched his tool box of tricks, climbed under the van and well Rob then became his skivvy, hand me this and take that...all in sign language. Every now and again he would run off and come back with another tool, so we aptly named him McGyver (remember him?). Eventually a plan was made to temporarily fix the bracket and we could be on our way. So before we set off we handed him 20 euros and that was a smile on his face but it beamed when we also handed him a bottle of wine. It surely does restore your faith in mankind when something like this happens; however man is not always as kind as we were soon to discover later in our journey, but that’s a story for
Broken Van - Act 2
Rob the skivvy assisting the master mechanic! another day.
So in the end we did not need the tow truck as Mcgyver made a plan and we eventually made it to Rovaniemi, where by the way it cost 15 euros from the local Fiat dealer to replace the part......all that for a measly 15euros and 20 mins of labour. Ha!
Once that palaver was out the way we were really excited about what we did next, visit Santa Claus’ village “Joulupukin Pajakyla” which runs across the Artic Circle and to see Santa himself, see he is real! This is really a magical place and must be the real reason why people have kids, so that they can visit Lapland. So after visiting his workshop, his official post office, bought a few decorations for our van (only for Christmas of course) we then had our picture taken with the man himself (Santa) and he had great joy when Wendy sat on his lap.
The next highlight was a visit to the medieval castle, Olavinlinna in Savonlinna. With its massive granite walls, ramparts and shooting galleries topped by three great towers has everything one might expect from a medieval castle.
Finland is famous for its
Broken Van - Act 3
Smiles all around, McGyger fixed the van! saunas so although we had a few we still had to try it Finnish style. So one cold morning at one of the campsites we headed for the warmth of the steam of the sauna. Once we had had enough we moved onto stage two: cooling off. So we bolted outside and plunged into the adjacent cold lake. Goodness me it certainly woke us up however we did find the whole thing stimulating. Imagine trying this in winter, we will have to wait for the ski slopes then.
A visit to Finland is not complete without a visit to the capital, Helsinki. It’s an intriguing mix of Finnish and Russian (see pic of wendy) influences and we took great delight in exploring the cathedrals, markets, granite buildings and sampling the local cuisine.
Finland’s most important medieval structure is Turku’s Cathedral, Tuomiokirkko. It was consecrated in 1300. Again it is very lovely inside and huge from the outside, very impressive.
From here it’s another ferry, this time from Nantaali to Kapelskarr in Sweden.
So long for now!
The travelling Willberries
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Lisa Tooth
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Wow!
You guys are amazing...my life looks so boring now!! Might have to revert back to the sex drugs and rock and roll !! I think you ought to jack in the day job for good and become an after dinner speaker....so many stories !!! Safe trails x