Tuesday 21st July 2015
I had a restless night. The hours of darkness are getting shorter the further north we go. When I did manage to get to sleep, I soon woke again due to being cold. I got up around 1am and retrieved my Thermatex blanket* from my pannier. This thing is a revelation when it comes to camping comfort.
Wrapped up in my blanket, I drifted back off to sleep. But, only for a few hours. At 4:30am the sun was already high in the sky, and I woke up again due to being too hot. I lie there for a bit until I hear Finn rustling in his tent. I get up and go for a shower.
By 7am Finn and I are packed and getting ready to leave. It is scorching already. Finn and I have another long, 600kms ride, on straight empty roads ahead of us. Greg won't be coming with us though.
Greg has been ill over the last 18 months or so, suffering with Lyme Disease. He has been feeling better lately, but the long days in the saddle are taking their toll on his body. He has promised his wife that he will go no further and start to make his way south again. He is going to visit some friends on his way. We are also hoping to meet up again with him in about a week, as I and a few others make our way back down the west coast. It is sad to wave goodbye to Greg. It has been good chatting and spending time with him over the last few days.
The first quest for Finn and I is to find a fuel station, so that he can fill up. He follows his satnav to the nearest one to find an unmanned fuel station right in the middle of a Mercedes car dealers forecourt! Throughout this trip I will end up finding fuel stations in the strangest of places. They just seem to put them in a convenient place, irrespective of what is there already. He fills up and we set off to join the E04 north.
As we join the E04 I look at my satnav. When it says 173kms to the next junction, and 262kms to my next turn off I can tell it is going to be another one of those days. The road is more of the same. A straight, empty, fast, well surfaced three lane carriageway with those horrible wire rope crash barriers that slice motorcyclists to pieces. The centre lane alternates between the two outer lanes, turning each lane into dual carriageway every 10kms or so. We are making good progress until we hit several stretches of road works.
These road works involve following a convoy vehicle at 40kph for the duration of the 5km stretches where they are resurfacing the road. Finn signals for a coffee stop after the third set of road works. I am ready to stop too.
Finn spots a sign at the side of the road for a café. I follow him as he darts off up a forest gravel road. This requires quite a bit of concentration on a fully laden adventure bike fitted with road biased tyres. I was having a ball. The Dunlop Trailsmarts I had fitted for the trip are working really well.
The road led us to a holiday park set out to look like a frontier town from a spaghetti western. We found the café, but the owner didn't start serving until 11. It was just after 10. We chose to ride on, rather that wait. Ten minutes up the road we found a Shell service station. A very attractive lady in her early forties served us some pastries and we helped ourselves to coffee. I was beginning to notice a trend, that Shell stations were staffed by the more attractive female staff when compared to the other brands of fuel. Whoever is running their recruitment campaign gets a big thumbs up from me!
Finn and I sit and talk about the ride ahead of us today. I am getting excited as we will soon pass into the Artic Circle and then into Finland. Our final destination for today is a campsite in Muonio. Here we have planned to meet Mark, Stuart and Alison who are making their way up from the International Aprilia Caponord meeting in Greece.
With our coffee cravings satisfied for the time being, it was back to the bikes for a few more kilometres. I spot a curious looking moped trike, and Finn tries it for size. I think the trip to the Nordkapp might take a while longer if he swaps the trike for his Caponord!
We turn off the E04 onto the 398 and 99 just before Tornio. These smaller roads are empty. There is still nothing to see but trees either side, but at least there are a few corners every now and then.
After another couple of hours riding, we stop for lunch at a roadside diner. Even here in the middle of nowhere the women serving were young, blond and beautiful.
There is a varied menu. Finn suggests the "meal of the day" option. This is a buffet style lunch consisting of a huge pot of beef casserole, a choice of vegetables and accompaniments, and a drink. For £6. It was amazing. This type of home cooked meal is hugely popular at Scandinavian cafes and diners. This one was particularly busy with lots of different types of people all tucking in to some great food. There were lots of truck drivers too. If the truckers stop here, you know the food must be good.
With leathers buckling under the strain from full bellies, we rode on towards Pello where we would cross the river into Finland. Just before a small town called Svanstein we see the sign to indicate we are at the Polar Circle.
We take some photos and the obligatory selfies, and I add one of my stickers to the collection already there. If you are ever travelling in Scandinavia look out for my stickers. They are all over the place!
At Pello we cross the Finnish border and join the E8 to Muonio. Just as we are leaving Pello, I spot a couple of bikes parked outside a café. Finn has spotted them too. It is Mark, Stuart and Alison who we were hoping to meet up with. So, with a quick " Englishman abroad" U-turn involving a few horn blasts and two fingered salutes from other drivers I make it across the road to join Finn and the others.
We are now a group of four bikes. Me on my Triumph Tiger 800XC, Finn and Mark on Aprilia ETV1000 Caponords', and Stuart and Alison on a Aprilia Caponord 1200.
We ride the rest of the way to Muonio together. Well Finn, Mark and I do. Stuart and Alison have roared off into the distance somewhere. The throttle on Stuart's bike only appears to have two positions, closed and wide open!
We get to our stop for the night at Harriniva Camping. Mark has a 4 berth hytte booked. He insists that Finn and I share as we do not have anything booked. Stuart and Alison have booked a hytte of their own.
Harriniva is a hotel and camping complex that runs various outdoor activities throughout the winter. Dog sledging, snowmobile safaris and Nordic skiing are just some of the things they offer. During the summer they open as a campsite for travelers like us.
The temperature display on the outside of the reception building said it was 13 degrees. I think the decimal point was missing, as it felt more like 1.3. Mark signed in and we made our way to the hytte. It was great. And warm! It even had a sauna.
The hytte's were situated down by the river. This was the border between Sweden on the far side, and Finland where we were. Being next to the river also meant there were quite a few mosquitoes about.
We spent the evening catching up, and talking about each others journeys so far. It was a nice evening chilling out with a few beers and eating microwave meals from the local supermarket. Tomorrow we travel to the Nordkapp.
Here is the next vlog:
* The Thermatex bedding blanket has become an essential part of my camping kit. It packs down really small ( about the same size as an A5 notepad ), and yet provides a suprising amount of warmth. It is a very thin heat reflective, foil backed fabric blanket that works by reflecting back radiated body heat. It is also breathable to stop you getting sweaty. And, it is made in the UK using British fabric.
I was amazed at how effective it was. Within a few minutes of adding it as an extra layer over my sleeping bag I felt warm and snug. It is not the most comforting feeling blanket, feeling a bit like tent material, but it certainly works.
Here is a link to the manufacturers website:
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