We are in Lappland. Not to be confused with Lapland, which is part of Finland. However, both areas are often called Lapland and frankly this just adds to the confusion. Lappland originally included the Finish Lapland but was annexed in 1809 by Russia. Lapland became part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous part of the Russian Empire and predecessor to Finland as we know it now. We plan to visit Lapland, home of Santa Claus, shortly. For now we are in Lappland.
Just after I wrote this, as if to prove me completely wrong, we drove past a signpost for “Lapland Airport” in Sweden.
Sweden has a lot of lakes. Lakes and trees. Sweden is mostly lakes and trees. In an attempt to embrace the lake culture I have been swimming in a few of them. I used to be very keen on swimming but went off public pools several years ago. The thought of swimming in a tepid mixture of chlorine and human effluent is just too revolting. You need a shower when you get out, for goodness sake. Also it made my eyes sting for the rest of the day. The lakes in Sweden are beautifully clear and fresh. They are a bit chilly. Some of them are really chilly. Slightly to my surprise I have found myself coming to like this. In fact, I feel like I have rediscovered swimming. The water is beautifully clean, the scenery is fabulous, I come out feeling refreshed an invigorated. Then I have to get dressed really quickly before the mosquitoes find me.
Sweden has a lot of trees. Trees and lakes. Forestry is a national activity. They probably teach it at infant school. My first chainsaw; a felt toy at age three. The forests all appear to be well managed. In any region you can usually spot areas in all stages of the forestry process from the recently clear-felled, through compartments in various stages of regrowth, to the mature trees. This scale of forestry requires big machines, much bigger than Baloo: harvesters cut the trees down, forwarders carry the logs to the roadside and trucks carry the logs to the saw mills. Consequently the supporting roads and tracks are, for the most part, quite suitable for us to drive along. There is a whole network of smaller roads and tracks which we have been exploring.
Down one such track we came across a sign that read “Husky farm”. So we were compelled to investigate and indeed, we found a husky farm. I have no idea why huskies are bred in farms whereas other dogs are bred in kennels. The owner, Constantin, was very friendly and happy to show us round. This despite the recent downturn in tourism which just about drove his business down to nothing. The dogs are quite small, very fit and agile, bred for stamina rather than strength. They were also very friendly and much calmer than I had expected. This time of year it is too hot to run them so mostly they just laze around but they seemed very happy doing this.
Pushing further north the countryside becomes more rugged, people are more sparse and the mosquitoes are more voracious. We saw an Elk which I completely failed to photograph. We have also see quite a lot of reindeer. Trying to photograph these is tricky because they always spot you first and wander off. We have a lot of pictures of reindeer bottoms. Eventually we crossed the Arctic circle. This is the geographic line that marks the start of the midnight sun. A roadside parking area marked the line and some large billboards announced the grandeur of the midnight sun. However, it was overcast, cold and raining so some of the splendor of crossing the line might have been lost on us.
Trains and trucks use the same bridge 