We had another long drive today, through Norway and Sweden to Enontekiö in Finland… our final new country on this trip. Once there, we treated ourselves to a proper Finnish experience, including 2 saunas, a dip in a cold lake, then reindeer for dinner… only our second meal out on this trip!
It was cold and damp as we left the motorhome aire in Bjervik, and there seemed to be new patches of snow on the hills. We drove past Narvik and wound our way high up into the hills, where we found little huts nestled on rocky hillsides by lakes. It was beautiful.
We left before 9.00 and the sat nav said it would take just over 5 hours, arriving at 15.20. I’d booked the sauna for 16.00 so that didn’t leave us much spare time for food and loo stops!
At some point it occurred to me that the sat nav was saying the journey was 6 hours, not 5. Had Garmin picked an odd route? No… my phone’s maps said the same thing. My brain whirred, trying to work out why a 5 hour journey was taking 6 hours. Then it clicked! My phone’s directions said EEST… Eastern European Summer Time. Finland is in a different time zone and an hour ahead of Sweden and Norway! 2 hours ahead of the UK.
We crossed the border into Sweden and Lapland then had a quick stop for fuel and a snack in the mining town of Kiruna, making good progress. A few caravans and lorries held us up at times, but the roads were good, with straight sections and, in John’s capable hands, Molly Moho was able to overtake anything driving slowly.
The forest seemed endless in Sweden but eventually, at about 1.15, we came to the border with Finland. As we now expected, the clock changed to 2.15. Just one hour to go! We arrived in Enontekiö with plenty of time to spare and parked up at Roima Rantasavu where we’d booked the sauna and an evening meal.
The sauna was lovely and we had the place to ourselves. We could use both a traditional smoke sauna, in a dark smoked-stained cabin and a new electric sauna in a pretty wooden kota (conical-shaped hut) with views of Lake Ounasjärvi.
The sun had been shining, but it started to rain as we entered the sauna. I quite enjoyed listening to the raindrops hitting the roof.
When we were too hot, there was a flight of wooden steps to a jetty where we could have a cold dip in the lake. It took us three attempts to actually swim! The rain stopped but the wind got stronger and there were waves on the lake when we swam.
When our time was up, we had a lovely hot shower and made ourselves look respectable before heading to the restaurant in a larger kota.
Wooden benches surrounded a central fire pit and it was warm and cosy, although the fire wasn’t lit at this time of year. We both chose homemade reindeer braised in a cast iron pot, as well as some drinks. It was delicious and filling, and we didn’t need dessert.
Now we’re parked up behind the visitor centre. We can’t go outside because there are mosquitos surrounding us, but that’s ok… it’ll soon be bedtime.
Ramblings 
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