Days 58-60: Weather!

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Clunegapyears

58 – Monday: A grey day with a splash of red

We slept in the national park car park with the empty cars owned by the intrepid serious overnight camper / hikers. When we went to bed there were 6 empty cars. When we eventually woke just two remaining …. the poor damp people had gradually come off the the hills due to the heavy driving rain. The final remaining car belonged to two women who obviously meant business and were going to do the full 80km trek, come hell or high water (which it will be given the rain), judging by their over already over weighted rucksacks, then crammed with food. We were just thankful that we had such good weather for our walk yesterday. If it must rain, let it be a travelling day – or two as it turned out.

James braved the weather and ran. K decided she is a fair weather Norker and went back to sleep. A long drive and slow going, given the rain and mist. Enlivened occasionally by reindeer and their young grazing along the roadside.

I guess the highlight of the day was the Santa Caus village and standing on the Arctic Circle line, whilst trying to not gawp at the souvenir shop prices! I am sure it is buzzing on a snowy Winter day, but in June with the rain, it was a bit of a damp sqibb. We followed the red path to Santa, had a chat. He knew Wembley was in London, so we guess he is a footie supporter! Asked where we would be come Christmas, so he knew where to find us. Wonder what he’ll bring? But we refused to pay the EUR20 for a pic with him and no private pics allowed to be taken … so we can’t show you the real Santa 😦 . We then wandered into another building: J had had enough, but K followed this path to another Santa. There are two!?! Not wanting to be pressed to buy a pic, she skipped over a cord and escaped. But she did get to see the clock that stills time so Santa can get around the world. Cool! No reindeer, despite the sign, a deserted teepee and lots of signs for snow mobile rides (no snow currently – just rain!).

We continued to south of Ivalo and parked up in a lay-by with a FIN motorhome.

59 – Tuesday: Another grey and MISTY day to Nordkapp

During each evening-end preparations, K usually fills the water bottles for the night time water drinks… I climbed into bed – reached for my water bottle and took a hearty swig – it was pure gin!!! Is this woman trying to murder me? The explanation is all to do with colour coded bottle tops – well, she is/was a teacher….. I slept rather well…zzzzzzzzz

We knew today was going to be a long drive .. lengthened by the rain and wind. Road conditions were better than expected, but still narrower and more bouncy roads than further south. After J’s run …. in the tearing rain, we set off on our 10 hour drive.

We broke the journey at the Inari Sami centre. Car park full of motorhomes, all heading in the same direction as us. A really good museum explaining the lifestyle and changes of the Sami and about life for flora and fauna in the Arctic Circle. Bears hibernate for 6 months. Their heart rates drop from 44 hbps to a mere 8. They do not wake to eat, drink or defacate – before they go comatose they eat something like an ant hill and the resin in this basically forms an anal plug! Girls, check this. The truly amazing bit is that in this near death like state, females give birth. They don’t even wake. The babies crawl up the body to the breasts to feed and then they all wake in the Spring … pronto – a ready made family. We thought of Sarah and her recent mamouth labour! We struggled to get our heads around this and checked it with two of the centre staff.

Small Sami storage – off the ground from predators

larger Sami storage – floor logs under walls to prevent predators lifting them

C18. carvings by prisoners in the Sami courthouse

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Long drive up to Nordkapp. We had planned to do a longer route via the pretty salmon river road to Nuorgam, but did not see the point given the weather. Actually, the scenery changed and opened out more almost as soon as we crossed the border into Norway. New country number 4 for James. K is at 3 new countries since setting off. The scenery along the coast is really special. We got really excited about the possibility of being able to take some evening pix of the Nordkapp cliffs, as the sun came out at about 5.00 p.m., but as we approached Nordkapp, the fog set in – a real pea souper. Handing over an arm and a leg in Krone, we entered the motorhome carpark … hundreds of misty white forms (motorhomes) … we were not alone. As the evening progressed … 10.00 now, the mist is just clearing and we can see the outline of cliffs. Fingers crossed for the weather tomorrow.

60 – Wednesday: Nordkapp

I discovered during the night that we had parked broadside to the gale force wind – we rocked and rolled in Nordkapp ! Morning didn’t dawn because Dawn is a 24 hour girl in the Arctic Circle – but in the AM mist and wind, we realised that our Jakes was full! Dilemma and Debacles ensued – K needed a release…. we won’t bore our reader with too much detail, or we risk losing him/her. Suffice to say, a previously empty water bottle provided some specimens that the doctor would have rushed to the lab – to test for sanity ! Much weelief all round…

Thus weeleased from pressure, we leaned into the force 17.5 gale and headed into the Visitor Centre – pretty good panoramic film about the Nordkapp and Aurora Borealus (boreallus ?). Pricey gift shop, history notes and history notes – oops repetition… Out into the wind again, we viewed various sculptures – and dashed for the van (we had cleverly moved it head on to the wind by now) – and coffee! Out of Nordkapp and back down the mountain (its really a very special place and well worth the trip – even with the minor bladderisation technicality).

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Headed for Alta – with fabulous scenery on the way.

Parked overnight in the Museum car park – next to a motorhome where the folk have made a banjax of getting on their chocks – technical term for levelling the van – we just get friendly… we are happy to roll onto each other at night!

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Day 57: Bears, Rapids, Lakes and a significant walk

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Clunegapyears

57: A wildlife kind’a day

J ran in the am early-ish and then we visited the bear et al establishment at Euro10 each – well worth it as it happened. We saw the brown bears at 1 metre distance (behind fences) – the big ones weigh 500 kgs! 7 times as much as your average adults… they can run at 60 km per hour over short distances – James can only dream of 15 km per hour – but he weighs 70 kgs and is not very brown…yet. Or hairy, thankfully! We also saw wolves, red rox, lynxes and – guess what? Rheindeer with babies… K had already seen three yesterday grazing along the road. The owner of the rescue centre had been involved in some kind of research and then when it ended kept the orphan bears and raised them. They see him as ‘Father’ and he takes them for walks in the woods. And one, apparently, goes with him in his fishing boat. I asked the tour guide – you don’t wander round on your own (a guide bribes the animals to come close with fruit and honey) about going in the pen with the wolves. Oh no! Unless , you are the owner – he can. He really must be some animal magician / whisperer. This was really special. It is not a zoo, wedded to scientific inter-zoo breeding programs and conservation. This is a small holding where the rescue animals are cared for and loved. The centre is not glossy or gimmicky – it is just about the animals.

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Wolf

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As well as fruit, they love ice cream. Well who wouldn’t! I asked about dental hygiene … apparently the frozen reindeer meat on the bone takes care of it.

Coming on for a kiss

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Red fox: apparently loads in the wild, so the centre refuse to take more

Lynx

About 30% wolf and 70% dog (not sure if wild dog). I asked if they were able to be trained, but got a definitely NO reply

Reindeer. They loose their antler at the end of winter

Aah … little baby with an itch!

Thence to the Oulanka National Park, specifically Juuma, for a truly memorable hike over 12 km known as the Little Bear Ring, via rope bridges, rapids and gorges. Indiana Jones and Mrs Jones. But no swinging … on ropes of otherwise! Guide book described it as one of the most scenic Finnish walks. Both of us agreed that this is one of, if not THE, most interesting and scenic walks we have ever done. Pix can speak for themselves – sorry there are so many, but it was truly lovely. Had taken only the little Canon instamatic, but still pleased with the quality. Do check out the water reflections – superb.

Most of Scandinavia encourages ‘get back to nature’ with well supplied campsites in National Parks. J rekindled one of last night’s fires. I think he hoped the smoke would deter the mossies!

Using Maddy’s instant pic camera, we explored the settings and found Fish Eye!

Another Fish Eye setting

At one point we tromped up 256 steps. The sign told us that this was the equivalent to a 13 story building and we did it in one go!

9 metre drop. You can boat hire and ride the rapids here

And Maddy sent me pix of our pottery painting efforts that have now been glazed and fired – look surprisingly OK for a couple of non arty types.

What a fabulous couple of days! And the sun came out for us whenever we stopped to look at anything!

Day 56: Moving Monuments

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Clunegapyears

56: Saturday … Moving and moving monuments

Last night we thought we had found another lovely waterside pitch. Just look at these pix of our pitch and the third photo of the setting sun on the water at after 100 p.m. Gorgeous.

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However, one tramp rummaging through our rubbish, several boy racers on screaming mopeds either side of Chardonnay and what looked like a drug deal … and we decided to go with our instincts and vacate. It was 11.00 but this time, but thankfully it was one of K’s dry nights so she could drive. We moved to the Bomba House not far away … next door to the Spanish we had seen several times yesterday. Not stalking them, honest!

In the morning, after our exercise regime, we wandered around the Bomba House restaurant. it is a large structure made of logs, a reconstruction of a house that was made after the owner had to vacate the russian part of Karelia and made in Karelian style. K’s Nork along the lake had been more interesting as it was through the complex of Karelian style houses and a lot of summer houses. Have you ever come across public carpet washing facilities? Well, in Finland they exist and are readily available. Thanks to reading some of Matti’s blog, I knew what this was.

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Modern Karelian architectural interpretation

Carpet washing facilities

Can’t quite remember why J was stuck here, but took a pic anyway!

We drove then to the museum and memorial to the Winter War 1939-40. The Spanish motorhome was there also! This was another Matti suggestion. Understandably, when taught history at school, one is taught about how WWII affects Britain, but this was really interesting and moving. Stalin and Hilter met up, carved up Europe deciding who should have what and agreeing not to fight each other. Russia was to have Finland and unannounced bombed Helsinki. They mobilised massive battalions of troops and attacked northern Finland. No country supported Finland, not even other Scandinavian countries. The Finns were outnumbered 100 to 1 – they fought a guerrilla war – attacking on skis with only light weaponry – after 105 days, the Russians retreated leaving thousands of their troops dead in the snow. The museum and monument are at the end of the Raate road which saw some of the heaviest fighting. The Finns captured a lot of armaments including 43 tanks. However, in the subsequent Treaty of Moscow, they were forced to concede 10% of their territory. They just did not have the man power for sustained conflict. During the War of Continuation, they had to get the Germans out of their territory, who had troops positioned in case of a Russian affront. At the end of the war, Finland lost some of its land in Karelia to Russia … only 70 years ago … and had to pay massive war reparations to Russia as they had attacked first – Not!

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The field of stones represents the dead and affected by the Winter War. The impressive sculpture of 105 bells refers to the 105 days of the war …..‘the absurdity of war’. Have we learned ? Think Ukraine today…..

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A Nearby church – modern as all the local villages had been raised to the ground. Unusual bell tower and war graves.

Back on the main road, we stopped off at the Silent People art installation. It was so fitting after the War memorial. 1000 figures standing erect and facing the some way. Heads made of peat and grass clods. Clothes change biannually through donations. Silent, except for the occasional passing car. Quite erie walking amongst these semi human forms.

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Spot the imposter!

ff to south of Kussamo to park overnight in the car park of the Predator House – bears, etc in the wild – for the morning. Watched two Finish girls (age 5 and 10) play horsey and gallop around, feeding their horses. Lovely.

Day 55: NEW Valamo Monastery and Koti National Park

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Clunegapyears

55. Friday

Thank you Matti from Mikkeli in the Lakeland area for the monastery suggestion. Indeed, many thanks for all your suggestions – they are a large part of our route planning.

We overnighted last night at one of the Valamo Monastery car parks. As usual adjacent to water, but unusually, we had company. A Finnish van and a Spanish one – even further from home than us.

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After our now regular feature of run and Nork (J up to 3 miles :), we visited the Monastery. We were not quite sure what to expect as last night we googled a bit about it … lots of intrigue: sackings of head Priest and Financial Director, then reinstatement of both, then sacking again … financial short falls … expanding into whisky making (ready in 2018). However, is was interesting and the female volunteers really helpful. It is Finland’s only orthodox monastery and was originally in part of Karelia in Russia and the monks had to flee during the Winter War of 1939 and settled the monastery here – hence now called the NEW Valamo Monastery. The original church was constructed out of two sheds and the new one was completed in 1977. In both there are lots of gilded icons, which contrast with the wooden rustic walls of the old church or the white of the new.

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The plan was then to do a decent walk around Koli National Park – we even splashed out EUR2 on a walking map. Both feeling lazy, so parked up (next to our Spanish neighbours of last night), caught the free funicular to the hotel complex at the top of Ukkko-Koli (the tallest mountain in the Park) and then all of 300 metres (up stairs!) to the summit.

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Seriously LARGE ant hill made from pine needles!

All the lakes feature islands

Not cross … squinting!

Now parked up (by water) at Nurmes as will visit the Bomba House here tomorrow (another Matti suggestion :))

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Day 54: Largest Timber Church and more exercise, even logging!

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Clunegapyears

54: Thursday

We started with another up and at ‘em exercise for us both: James a run and K day 2 of Norking. Since we were parked by it, we went looking for the underground caverns that housed an art gallery and a concert hall …. a local sadly advised that it had gone bankrupt and was now closed. Shame for the area as there was a water park, holiday hostels, other art galleries etc and the caverns must have been quite a tourist pull.

A short drive to one of the best churches we have ever seen. It is the largest wooden church in the world. The Reverend felt that nearly half the 12,000 residents should be able to attend church at the same time. So it was built to accommodate 5,000 people in 1847. Perched on top of a rise, it dominates the town, but the inside is really quite spectacular – the nave is 27 metres high and there are two tiers of balconies. Even the organ is made largely of wood. Although heaters were installed, they were insufficient to heat the church as well as being a fire risk, so a smaller church was built at the rear. This main church is used in summer and at Christmas, when it is lit by candle light (fire risk?! But must look wonderful).

One of the 8 heaters

Wooden organ … no comments, thanks!

High nave

Lovely view as J climbs the step and irregular steps

Lovely view as J climbs the steep and irregular steps

The newer, smaller and warmer church extension – hidden at the back

One lot exercise being insufficient we headed up to Kolovesi National Park and did a 3.3 km walking trail. Not far, I hear you cry, but actually this was the only trail on offer. To get around most of the National Parks around here you need a boat, and neither of us fancies the expense of hiring, let alone the rowing effort. The walk was not as arduous as in the Swedish High Coast, but still involved a little clambering. Yet again, we were taken with the colours of the lichens, leaves and tree bark. A few information boards along the route explained how cutting down any of the trees would have changed the ecology as the plant and animal species need dead and rotting wood and damp. DAMP should have been a warning to us …. our first encounter with mosquitoes. James 4 and Katherine 0 bites … K so thankful J is so much tastier!

A real bonus was coming upon a small woodpecker pecking away surprising low down on the tree trunk, only about 3 metres from us. Real shame the woodpecker was lost in the pics with the standard lens.

There was a perfect campsite beside the lake: fire pit, free logs and earth toilet. But J would not be persuaded to carry tent etc … why should he when he has perfectly comfy mattress in Chardonnay? He did compensate by doing some serious log splitting … do scroll down to the pics of ma man being manly!