Scandinavian Roadtrip - Finland

August 2006

After rejoining the E06, it turned into the E8 and eventually turned south towards Finland. Late afternoon, we crossed into country number seven. There were no border formalities and the Euro had returned as the currency. We had left the coastal scenery, the fjords and mountains and entered Lapland – undulating forest scenery, broken up by blue lakes.

“Finland is mostly flat and punctuated by huge forest and lakes, but has wide regional variations”….including….”the gradually fells of Lapland, Finland;s most alluring terraib and home to the Sami, the semi-nomadic reindeer herders found all over northern Scandinavia” (Rough Guide).

I had sailed from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, the Finnish capital, in the south, back in 1992. After the cheap Baltic States, the cost of living was astounding, but Helsinki was a nice place to visit. This time, we were exploring northern Finland.

Almost within minutes of crossing into Finland, we saw our first reindeer grazing by the side of the road. First a young one, then a mother and her baby and finally a stag with huge antlers. It made my day. I had never seen reindeer before. The young ones have furry antlers.

The E08 Highway ran along the Finnish/Swedish border. When we started to look for a campsite, all we could find were muddy grounds or grubby cabins. No-one seemed to want tents. After Norway’s excellent facilities, those of Lapland were definitely third class. I had an idea. Why not drive across the border into Sweden and see what their campsites were like. So we did.

We found a campsite by a lake just outside Karesuando, the northernmost village in Sweden. The good news was that it was much nicer than the Finnish ones. The really good news was that they had half a dozen reindeer in a large enclosure that we could watch. The really bad news was that the midges/mosquitoes were awful and we got bitten to death pitching the tent. Fortunately, the kitchen facilities were excellent and we holed up in the midge free kitchen/dining area all evening. It was still light at 11pm and even at 1am and it was light enough to see without needing a torch! I read later that just a few centremetres beneath the surface in this area, the ground is in the grip of permafrost all year round. Which explains why I couldn’t get the tent pegs in!

The sound of bells around the reindeers’ necks awoke us the next morning. The midges had gone but the flies had arrived. We got out of there before 8am and crossed back into Finland and drove south down the E08. Ahead of us a mother, father and baby reindeer were trotting down the middle of the road. We slowly caught up with them trying to get a Kodak moment. We would pass them and wait but they would then run along side the road in the long grass, then return to the road ahead of us. It was great fun trying to get a photo. Eventually, after a couple of miles, they pulled off into the forests. It wasn’t the best example of reindeer herding.

We passed an enormous souvenir shop with a stuffed moose, wolf and and polar bear outside which looked too inviting to pass by. It had an excellent selection of goodies, and after Norway, was reasonably priced. It was a family run business. There were a series of photos on the wall starting in 1968 when they used to stand by the side of the road selling reindeer hides, then the first stall, then another stall, until the current building was erected in 1986.

At Muonia, we turned east onto Highway 79 and decided to follow it through Finland’s interior. The scenery didn’t change – just endless forests broken up by rivers and small lakes. My father said that when he had driven through Finland from the north in his campervan a few years ago, that he was almost driven mad from seeing only trees for two whole days. I know how he feels. But we kept ourselves amused by looking for reindeer, and the purple flowers blooming by the lakes were lovely.

We had another reason for taking this route. Rovaniemi, calls itself the capital of Lapland, and is laid out in an antler shape. The tourist blurb boasted that although it only has a population of 57,000 it has a surface area of 8015km making it “the largest city in Europe – though much of it is covered in forest”. No shit, Sherlock.

We had not come to see Rovaniemi, but what lay 8km outside it - a world famous place - Santa Claus village, right on the Arctic Circle. I had often seen Xmas flights to visit Santa Claus in Lapland advertised and wondered where they went. I had even got the plane a couple of years ago, though I was supposed to be going to Spain instead. Now I knew.

I suppose it looks very different in December, covered in freezing snow and warm cosy shops. Today, it was a dull overcast August day with no snow and looked like a shopping mall. There was a long line to indicate the Arctic Circle so you could stand astride it. There was even a web cab so your friends could see you on the Arctic Circle. But how would they know unless you called them?

Nevertheless it was all free and you could visit Santa Claus himself. We lined up behind a couple of families in a cabin. One of his female elves chatted to us and taught us a few Finnish words. Santa was sealed off so noone could take photos. Within ten minutes, we were ushered in. A portly old man with long stick-on white curly beard and a red Santa uniform sat on a wooden chair on a stage. He invited us up and chatted to Colin about football and asked if Lori had been a good girl etc etc. His English was excellent. We chatted for five minutes. It was all very relaxed. Then someone took our photo with him and we were led out. The photo was excellent and rather overpriced at £14, but there was no hard sell. We walked away without the evidence that we had met Santa. You can check out Santa live here (office hours only)

Then we visited Santa’s Post Office that has (so far) received 11.1 million letters from 194 different countries. At Christmas time, Santa can get about 32,000 letters a day. He received 550,000 letters last Xmas. The Top 4 countries were 1. England 2. Italy 3. Poland 4. Finland. There were cute examples of some of the letters including one from Stoke Newington, London. You could also send a postcard from the Arctic circle here. I sent one to my parents and unlike Norway, they got it in two days! You could also send someone a card from here that would be sent at Xmas from Santa Claus’s Post Office.

It is strange to think that with all the mass tourism nowadays, people have always visited the Arctic Circle. But in the past, noone took any notice of it, until a deliberate attempt was made to start attracting tourists. In 1948, Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of then dead President Frankin D. Roosevelt) was the first VIP to visit. There was nothing here so they had to build a wooden cabin for her. This still exists in the complex with some interesting photos of the visit. The rest of the complex is pretty much endless souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants. All things considered, we thought it was a great place and spent two hours here. It must look much better, and be more fun in the snow.

It was also here that I discovered that Finland was one hour ahead of Norway and Sweden. Our watches had been wrong for nearly a day. Doh! The car’s mileage said that we had driven 3,590 miles from Norwich, England to Santa Claus Village on the Arctic Circle.