11.07.2018
Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park (Finland) – Björkliden (Sweden) 415 km
This morning around 07:00 I woke up, because I heard the bells of the resident reindeer. When I looked out they were all lounging around in the sun just outside our window and seemed very content.
We took our time this morning and went for breakfast at 08:30. It was an excellent breakfast, very Finish, I suppose. Scandinavians apparently love their various blueberries from the forests. You could say, it is the berry of the Scandinavian nations, because it grows everywhere in the forests. Finns love their mustikkakeitto in the morning. It translates to blueberry soup, but is not really a soup, it seemed more like cold soup or smoothie or juice or such. Here – as well as in the hotel in Tromsø, where we also had it, loved it, but did not know what it was – it was served in a glass to be downed on the spot at breakfast. It’s smooth, but it’s not really a smoothie. It tasted very good, but it was not too sweet. I had to get a second and third helping of it.
At the breakfast buffet there was also a lot of reindeer – reindeer salami, reindeer liver pate etc. We had a great breakfast. At approx. 09:15 Finish time we checked out and got on the road again.
Today we were headed west to Sweden and again the journey is the destination, as Confucius said. The guide book stated the road through the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park was very beautiful, so we decided to drive the 24 km to the small village of Raattama. The drive through the park was indeed very enjoyable. The nature with forests, mountains and lakes was beautiful. And of course at the end of the road in Raattana was a secret box hidden which needed to be found. Naturally I did locate it quickly.
We swang around and drove back towards Särkijärvi, where we turned again onto # 79 westward towards the Swedish border. It was only a hop to Muonio, the border town. We had again opted to follow smaller roads – listening to Confucius – and not the big highway.
In Muonio we attempted to find a couple of secret boxes, but we were not successful … Some days I just do not have my geocaching eyes on. In that case the box might be very visible and I still do not see it.
Since Finland is Euro country, we found a supermarket to buy some more water. In the small border town there were 2 super markets. In the first one they had run out of 1.5 l bottles of water with no gas. The small ones were just too expensive. At least somebody understood English and checked for us, but no more big bottles in storage. But we found cans of North Arctic Beer. Hmmm … even better! You know already I am a sucker for local beers and the labels … I had to buy it. We then went to the second super market. We found water bottles which looked like no gas, asked a person who stocked the shelves – Is this no gas? No bubbles? – Yes yes, no gas! …. At the checkout we asked again, because I still was not sure and at the Finnish price plus € 0.40 deposit per plastic bottle, the water was expensive. – Yes yes, no gas! ….. Fast forward …. We opened the bottles that evening and sure enough … it was water with gas! The joys of travelling … in hindsight I should have reacted to the color of the label – It usually is blue with gas and pink without gas in most countries …. Those bottle had blue labels …. but 2 people told us – No gas!
The general suggestion to reach our next destination Björkliden in Sweden was to follow the E 8 northwest in Finland and then turn south onto E 45 in Kaaresuvanto crossing the border there. But again we decided to take the more adventurous small roads. Therefore in Muonio we turned south and just outside of town took a small road crossing the Muonio river and left Finland. Again the border crossing was not really visible. A customs sign, a speed limit, an abandoned looking building and – zack – we were in Sweden before we knew it. The car clock jumped one hour back in time again.
Less than 20 km further on we reached the slightly bigger road # 99 and turned southwest. There was very little traffic and the road was rather straight and not much other than forest, small lakes and meadows were to be seen.
At Kitkiöjoki – a tiny settlement with mostly summer houses it seemed – we turned onto an even smaller road leading south. There was almost no traffic. Forest, forest, forest and the odd sign warning for wildlife – mainly moose – crossing the road. But we saw nothing…. Oh well ….
At some point a Dutch motor home appeared ahead of us. It was somewhat creeping along the road. The road was narrow and we were for a while stuck behind it, but eventually got a chance to over take it and were going a bit faster again. A little further on we saw something on the road in front of us. It blended in with the grey asphalt, but something flew off and caught our attention. There were indeed 2 cranes! They flew off the road and landed again close to a small lake. We stopped and got out of the car to observe them.
The Eurasian crane is a medium-sized species, it is the only crane commonly found in Europe and it is one of only four crane species not currently classified as threatened with extinction. In Europe, the common crane predominantly breeds in boreal and taiga forest and mixed forests, from an elevation of sea-level to 2,200 m . In northern climates it breeds in treeless moors, on bogs, or on dwarf heather habitats, usually where small lakes or pools are also found. In Sweden, breeders are usually found in small, swampy openings amongst pine forests. Unfortunately before I could get the good camera out, the Dutch motor home rolled past and scared the cranes away.
We got back in the car and I made it a mission to catch up with the Dutch once more and passed it in no time. Not much later we reached the bigger road # 395 in Junosuando. In the small village we took a short detour through some side streets lined by colourful houses to find the first secret box in Sweden on this trip. It was an easy one right next to the street and quickly we were back in the car driving towards the main road again. Just when we approached the junction the Dutch motor home sipped past. We had the slow snail ahead of us again!
It was a main road now, slightly more traffic and 90 km/h allowed. We had no problems catch up with and passing the slow Dutch motor home soon. I honked and Mom waved when we over took it. How many times did we already pass each other today?
The next secret box I wanted to find was – it seemed on the GPS map – close to the road. There was a parking spot parallel to the road and just when we got out of the car the Dutch motor home passed us again, honking and waving this time as well. It was the last time for today, though.
There was a board walk to a small view point overlooking a green and leafy canyon. The GPS marker pointed 65 m over the edge. What the heck! Instinctively I kept following the narrow hiking trail which became a narrow boardwalk along the edge. I left Mom at the view point. There was much moose poop all over the place. We had yet to see our first moose, though. We had been looking out for days now, but other than reindeer had not see anything. Well, at least we saw heaps of moose poop now!
Ok, they say, maybe it was elk poop. Old dried out ones are very common, and it can be difficult if not impossible to say for sure which animal left them. Moose and Elk droppings from a mature animal will most certainly be larger than say from a deer, however. But quite frankly, those for me are moose poop! So! We saw moose poop! The next best thing to seeing a moose!
The board walk ended on the top of a wooden staircase leading down into the canyon. Really? I have to climb down all those stairs to find a tubberware box? …. I went down for a bit, maybe I would get lucky and that thing was not all the way down …. down and down and down, one platform after the next … the GPS marker only crept very slowly closer. At some point I was so far down that I went the rest of the way as well, no point in turning around short of the goal.
When I reached the bottom of the staircase there was a platform. The canyon was all grown over in lush green bushes and ferns. A small creek was flowing along. I searched for the secret box for like 10 min, but could not find it. Either it was not there or I was blind or searched at the wrong spot. I found however the hiking log book and put my name there. That has to do. And who is going to judge me anyway.
In the midday heat I had to climb all those stairs back up again. It was hot today! Blue sky and sunny with 25°C. Not really the weather we had expected North of the Arctic Circle, but – hey, who is going to complain? Not me! – I marched back up all those stairs huffing and puffing. When I reached the view point again, Mom was nowhere in sight. I shouted out. She had wandered off to study the information board.
We need to stop soon somewhere with a public toilet! I need to go. – Mom, you waited for me like 20 min and over there is an outhouse! Why did you not go there while you waited? – I do not think it is an outhouse. It looks more like a garden tool shed or such. – It sure is an outhouse, but I go check …. Look, it is an outhouse! – Oh, good…
Back on the road we had lost the slow Dutch motor home. My little canyon expedition had given them a head start. The road was getting wider now and it was mostly 90 or 100 km/h allowed. But I was in geocaching mode and the next secret box was hidden in an old watermill close to the road some 20 km ahead. We turned off onto a small forest parking space. The old wooden mill stood there lonely next to a creek. It was an interesting building, though. An ancient waterwheel stood next to it unused.
The secret box was supposed to be hidden inside the building and with google translate – because everything in the description was in Swedish – I figured it must be on the upper level. How to get there? There was some sort of a chicken ladder with no rail leading to a door on the first floor. Without a spot on a rail to hold onto I was a real chicken and rather crawled up to the door, opened the latch and flopped in.
The room was empty apart from the machinery for the millstone below. There were many cobwebs and obvious signs other people had searched for the hidden box as well here. But I could not find the stupid box. Consulting the description again I had the idea of checking the lower level of the building. Maybe I was wrong in thinking it was upstairs. There were rickety stairs leading down. In the center of the lower room were the huge millstone and the machinery that used to move it. Of course, immediately I had an idea where the secret box could be hidden and with one quick snatch I held the box in my hand. Quickly I signed the logbook.
Now, how to get out without having to crawl down the chicken ladder again? …. Mom! Can you open the lower door from the outside? – I do not see a lower door! – It must be below the chicken ladder! – I cannot see it! … Wait, there it is! But I cannot go down the slope. – Well, there is also a window on the other side which has no frame or pane anymore and I guess I can climb out there into the bushes. – No, wait, I am coming. …. How to open the latch now? – It is probably similar to the one above. So, just pull it up. – Ah yes!
From there on came a long stretch with no suitable secret boxes and we drove on northwest until we reached the village of Vittangi. Our first stop here was at Suupalo Homestead Museum. There was a collection of old wooden houses and cabins, like they were typical in this part of the country. The biggest house was the yellow former doctor’s villa. Everything seemed closed today, so we just took a quick walk and I found the geocache hidden there.
I had found online that there used to be a Moose Farm in this town. We still had not seen a moose. We were in Sweden! Is it not, that moose are running around and crossing the road everywhere in Sweden? So far we have only seen the warning signs “Moose crossing the road” …. Well, at least we saw moose poop earlier ….
In the center of the small town we stopped to visit the church – because there was a secret box hidden behind it. But once we were there we might as well visit it. It was pretty wooden church.
After finding another small box near a gas station we turned southwest on the main E 45 for a few kilometer. It felt almost like an autobahn after driving along small roads for so long. On a parking lot there was a challenging geocache hidden with a difficulty rating of 3. It was obvious in which vicinity it was hidden, but I was not lucky for a long time. However, I was not going to give up! NO! And after a long time searching and Mom already getting bored, all of a sudden – Voilá! – There it was! What a cool hiding place that was and it took me a bit to even fish it out.
Soon enough we reached the T-junction at the end of the road and turned northwest again onto the E 10 on which we would stay pretty much for the rest of our road trip and which would take us all the way to the end of the Lofoten Islands. But for today we would not go that far, we would stay in Sweden. Just a few kilometres on in the village of Svappavaara we stopped again to find a geocache. This one was hidden at a tiny museum again, at the Svappavaara Historical Place with wooden houses. We parked the car and only took a short walk. The museum seemed closed as well, but quickly we found the box.
It was a long way on before the next convinient geocache showed up on the GPS. The road was straight and we moved on fast. Forests and no moose in sight. Eventually we approached Kiruna.
Just outside of the town there was a GPS marker for one at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics. The institute’s primary task is to carry out basic research, education and associated observatory activities in space physics, space technology and atmospheric physics. It was founded in 1957 and the first Kiruna-designed satellite experiment was launched in 1968. The secret box was hidden near the visitors’ parking and easy to find, mainly because the campus seemed deserted. Only a few cars and a couple of bicycles were parked outside and we saw only a handful of students walking past. Maybe everybody was on summer vacation.
Kiruna itself is a small mining town located smack in the center of the Aurora oval – a huge ring above the earth’s geomagnetic North pole where Aurora Borealis occur. It is the northernmost town in Sweden and has approx. 17 000 inhabitants. The town is home to Abisko National Park, Sweden’s highest mountain Kebnekaise and the ski resorts Björkliden and Riksgränsen. Not to mention the Icehotel in the small village Jukkasjärvi nearby – of course only open in winter ….. It’s also a town on the move – yes, they’re moving an entire town! Believe it or not! The reason is that mining has caused subsidence which affects the town, and parts of Kiruna have to be rebuilt on new ground.
The city was founded in the early 1900s when the mining industry really began to grow. Some years later Lapland was said to be “the land of the future”. It was where the forest was, and where the ore was. Iron ore made up 10% of Swedish exports already in the early 20th century. People came to Kiruna to work as lumberjacks, craftsmen, miners or working for railway and water companies. Merchants, cooks and maids followed.
The site chosen to establish a town, the low mountain Haukivaara, had a relatively favorable local climate and was strategically placed between the two mining mountains Luossavaara and Kiirunavaara. The housing back then needed to be close to the workplace because of poorly developed means of communication. 1948 Kiruna was granted city rights and during this period the town started to expand.
Mining, however, causes the rock to move and this affects the environment, above and below ground. As mining nowadays goes deeper and deeper, the land and the surrounding communities are affected. Already back in the 1970s there were indications that deformations caused by the mine meant certain parts of the town needed to be evacuated, but it was not until 2004 that LKAB – the mining company with around 4,000 employees in some 15 countries – notified Kiruna Municipality that mining would greatly affect the urban area. A couple of years later it was decided where the new centre would be – 3 km east of its current location. The town would be moved!
We stayed at the main road E 10 traversing the town. The urban transformation is now in an operational phase with plans and decisions being implemented. Construction of the new City Hall is in full swing and it is scheduled for inauguration in November 2018. The old city hall is now being demolished as a result of the ongoing city transformation, but some parts of the building will live on in the new city hall “Kristallen” – The Crystal. The iconic bell tower, which has always been a strong symbol for Kiruna, has been moved to the new city hall and now stands on the square next to the building. It was still a huge construction site, but already looked quite impressive.
I think, we passed part of the new town as well as part of the old town. There were a lot of fenced off areas on the side of the road which seemed ready for demolishment. In the far distance we could also see the mining operation. We did not stop, however, but drove on towards our next destination. Nevertheless, the story of this town was very interesting.
The E 10 from now on followed the Iron Ore railway line. This 473 km long railway line between the Swedish Luleå and the Norwegian Narvik ist the northern most railway line which is connected to the European railway net. The line is dominated by the 8,600-ton ore freight trains operated by LKAB. In addition the line is used by passenger trains and container freight trains. Me being a train buff – I think I might have to come back to take that train! Maybe in winter to see the Aurora Borealis! That would be like hitting two birds with one stone! ….Hmmmm, sounds like a plan!
Road and railway were leading northwest again. Traffic was more now closer to civilization. Often we saw a funny road sign – Attention, snowmobiles! Supposedly in winter there are special tracks only for snowmobiles and whenever they are crossing the main road there is such a sign. Other countries, other traffic signs, I would say.
We did not see a moose today, but again there was a herd of reindeer in the middle of the road. This time – Swedish reindeer – were actually really blocking the road. They just stood there and did not move. And all the cars just stopped and waited …. Nobody honked ….
After a while one of the drivers just shouted and waved out of the window and they moved over at least only blocking one lane, so all the cars could pass eventually. When we drove past, they did not move an inch more over and did not give a care in the world when we drove past.
Going to find yet another geocache we took a tiny detour to a bus stop / parking space near a small commuter train station. The cache was easy enough to find. What again amazed me, was the row of mail boxes. All the mailboxes from close by houses were situated next to the bus stop, so the mail man had quick work – one stop for the a whole bunch of houses. We had seen this often on our road trip. Why was this amazing to us? Because we hail from East Germany and before the wall came down we used to have exactly the same thing. There were collections of mail boxes near every settlement or for a couple blocks of houses. Just like at high rises the mail boxes are at the bottom floor near the entrance. Imagine the mailman had to go to every single floor and every single door of a highrise to deliver mail! Well, in villages there used to be a collection of mail boxes at every road entrance or such. But when the wall came down a lot of the good things went the same way as the bad things … down the drain. Following the motto – Get rid of it because it is East German! – So those collections of mail boxes disappeared and our mail men (and women) have much more leg work to do now than before. But it was absolutely marvellous to keep seeing those mail box collections along our road trip in Scandinavia!
Further on the road skirted the Torne Räsk, the sixth-largest lake in Sweden. It has a total area of 330 km² and a length of 70 km. Its depth of 168 m makes it the second-deepest lake in Sweden. It is usually ice-covered from December through June. It was surrounded by snow-capped mountains and the scenery was beautiful. The mountains around us were close to 2 000 m high and the temperatures had dropped slightly again compared to the last couple of days in the low lands, we had approx 20°C now.
We followed the lake for more than half of its entire length. At the Visitors Center of the Abisko National Park we stopped shortly to find a funny secret box. It was right in front of the visitors center by the parking lot and the description said “small house”. Sure enough, there was a small bird house hanging in a tree near the entrance in the middle of the parking lot. It was hanging in a funny height, way lower than eye level – at least for me. It must be the secret box! And it was. One of those boxes that hide in the very obvious and you would never notice it unless you are a geocacher and looking for it. Quick find.
From here it was not far to our next hotel, the Hotel Fjället Björkliden. It was located on a hill overlooking the Torne Räsk Lake. The GPS led us up a steep curvy road and at the end of it there was a very full parking lot. Playing stupid I drove right up to the entrance and found an open space in the short parking zone. We arrived at about 16:00 and went in to check in without our suitcases first. It was a big complex made for winter sport vacationers, obviously. It was busy in summer as well, though. The area is famous not only for skiing and watching Northern Lights in winter, but also for midnight sun and hiking in summer.
The girl at reception was not so helpful. First time on this road trip we encountered a not-very-well-informed receptionist. She could not – or would not – tell us if our room had a view or not. She actually said – get this – I only started here 2 weeks ago. There are so many rooms and I cannot know which room has a view or not yet! – Are you actually kidding me? – We took the room key cards and turned to the corridor leading to our room # 217 and after 5 seconds walking along the corridor I knew our room would have a view! – All rooms with uneven numbers were left side – facing the valley, even numbers were on the right side – facing the parking lot and mountain. Easy enough! It took me 5 seconds to figure it out and you are here 2 weeks and do not know it? Maybe you should look for another job! ….. – I know I know, I let the cruise director hang out again! But, damn, I am paying for this and this is not acceptable.
After checking out the room we went to the Lapporten Restaurant. We did not have a picnic today. We had saved ourselves for a big Swedish dinner! The restaurant had huge panorama windows and we made a reservation for 19:00 at a window table. Then we went to get our suitcases and settled in the room. The room is nice and most importantly it had huge windows to open and enjoy the view…
While we were not here for hiking, we still had our North Arctic Beers from Finland and I wanted to find a nice view point to sit and enjoy it. In the midnight sun there is no point in sitting inside the bar of the hotel. Everybody was watching the Football World Cup anyway. Grrr… Lucky me I was on vacation and did not have to watch it! At work on the ship I would probably have to, even though Germany was out….
We went for a little walk. There was two choices – downhill were we came from or uphill. No question – we would go up where there was hopefully a view. The gravel road leading up was very steep. Even I was huffing and puffing up that hill. Mom went slower and I said I would go ahead to see if there is a bench. It was only like 200 m steep up – distance meter not altitude meter – before there was the first bench. It was a good enough place to park Mom. She made it up here! And it was very steep!
The view over the valley and the lake was fantastic. But there were many mosquitoes! – I am going to have a smoke to chase the mosquitoes away! – Yes, Mom and please blow the smoke my way as well, so they are not all coming to me either!
It did not help, though. They all attacked me! Of course! I collected the dead mosquito bodies after I killed them. I was hitting in all directions. They were everywhere and in armadas!
I went to check out if there was a better place further up, but no benches in sight. Mom did not want to go on. The sign behind us said there was a Golf Course and I saw one of the greens. There was a birch forest behind us with purple forest flowers.
On the other side was the top base of a ski lift. Of course closed in summer. Nevertheless, I took my beer there and the view over the lake was even more stunning here. One of my favourite “beer can & feet” shots was a must before I succumbed to the mosquito invasion and downed the beer quickly walking back to Mom.
She had finished her beer long before – You finished already? You drinking fast! – I was thirsty! – But you always say, I drink too much and too fast alcohol! And now you always finish your drinks before me! – I was thirsty! – Yeah, right, Mom!
Walking down that steep gravel road was not so easy. Mom had packed her Nordic Walking sticks for this trip, but never wanted to used them. She said, she did not need them and again had left them in the car… Now going down this gravel track she could have used them very well. Instead I was her walking stick… She put her hands on my shoulders and like a chu chu train I walked coffee bean steps down in front her with her in tow. Some hikers that passed us either up or down hill smiled at the funny pair we made, but hey, if it gets her safely down that slope, what do you want!
After this exciting adventure we had to take a break. In our room we opened the windows wide. We needed no lights in the room and therefore no mosquitoes came in. It was great! The view was fantastic. A good G&T while reflecting on today and planning tomorrow was in order.
It was then time for dinner and we were hungry. The Lapporten Restaurant was not too busy, yet. Probably everybody was watching the world cup in the lobby….
We got a great table by the window with spectacular views over the lake. Following our tradition of foregoing food that we can have any day at home and instead splurging in local specialties, we searched the menu for all the good things.
At home you never drink beer! – Yes, Mom, never! But the wine is good and inexpensive in our latitudes. Here, however, they have to export basically the same wines and they are expensive. So, why would we want to drink the same wine like at home for twice or trice the price? The beer they brew here and those local beers we cannot get at home…. Therefore we drink local beer.
Accompanying our local beer we choose Älg for starters. First time we would have moose on the plate! If we did not see any, at least we can taste it. Blackened tartar of moose filet, pickled rose petals, onion, birch leaf, birch emulsion with smoked Västerbotten cheese was our choice of the day. And it was absolutely outstanding! It was really delicious! I mean, have you ever had crispy fried birch leaves? Or pickled rose petals? And that together with moose tartar? To die for! I can tell you!
The menu choices for main course were endless as well and the decision was hard. In the end we opted to share the main course to be able to taste more. For Mom we ordered Ren which was pot-au-feu of smoked reindeer tenderloin, reindeer sausage, blackened leeks, morels, cranberries and fried onion. It was a huge plate and just to look at it was mouth watering.
I chose Skog – moose meatballs, lingonberry, cream sauce, cucumber and potato puree. I had eaten moose once before when I hitch hiked through Canada in 1994. I visited friends in British Columbia and for Sunday dinner they made moose roast which was very good. Now my moose meatballs were very Swedish and very delicious as well! We actually made half and half – we ate half of our portion and then swapped plates.
In the end we were so full from all this good food that we needed a local medicine. We splurged in an herbal local schnaps, before retiring to our room and enjoying the view over the valley and the lake some more. What a fantastic meal we had tonight!
12.07.2018
When we woke up this morning at 07:00 it was cloudy and rainy again, the sun was gone. Breakfast was at the Lapporten Restaurant. There was a huge breakfast buffet with everything you could think of and more. Regional specialties were there as well as a waffle station where everybody could make their own waffles. My favorites, however, were the juice station and Kalles Kaviar.
The juice station was controlled with an iPad. Put your glass under the tap and select your favorite juice on the iPad. The local Lingonberry Juice was so good. Lingonberry or cowberry is a short evergreen shrub in the heath family that produces edible fruit. It is native to boreal forests and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Lingonberries are picked in the wild and used to accompany a variety of dishes or made into jams or juices.
Kalles Kaviar I know from my Swedish colleagues from when I was working on the sailing ship. They would always bring a great stock for their time on board. Kalles Kaviar is based on a recipe that is several hundred years old, they said, and it originates from the Swedish west coast. The bread spread is mainly made of salted cod roe, sugar, canola oil and spices. It has been a commercial success in Sweden ever since its market launch there in 1954. It is internationally recognized as a Swedish product, because many IKEA furniture stores worldwide feature it in their food markets. Here at the breakfast buffet they had it in portion size tubes in the well-known design. I was naughty and stuffed my pockets with handfuls of those tiny tubes to take home.
At about 08:30 we checked out and got on the road. It was drizzling and grey. We took the E 10 west towards Norway. It was only about 30 km until we reached the border. On the way we found 2 secret boxes. It had stopped raining and slowly it got lighter and even a little bit sunnier.
Riksgränsen means “national border” in Swedish and is a ski 200 km north of the Arctic Circle right by the border between Sweden and Norway. The skiing season is from February to June. From end of May the lifts operate under the midnight sun. Riksgränsen is a popular location for the winter testing of pre-production cars by various European manufacturers driving the new cars on snow-covered roads and on courses specially prepared on frozen lakes. In the small settlement live less that 50 permanent residents. In skiing season this number rises of course considerably. But skiing season was over already and the village looked kind of deserted.
Shortly past the village we passed the border which was again nondescript and we were back in Norway before we realized!
On the way to the Lofoten Islands!
