July 1: Day 61, Rovaniemi-Sodankylä
It's now been about three days since the sun got close enough to the horizon for it to be twilight. Thick blinds are important, and the place I'm staying doesn't have them, but I'm doing my best to get enough sleep. It's mostly working.
But I've had a few experiences where I've woken up to see dim blue light outside, wondered if it might nearly be time to get up, then found it's 3am.
Back on the road today. I finished off the last of the breakfast cereal, ate the usual fruit and yoghurt, skipped coffee for reasons I'm not clear on, washed all the dishes, packed everything up, and then the bike made some nasty noises when I tried to back it out the door. It's overdue for some TLC so I applied some lube, pumped up the tyres, and gave it a more careful check. Only five days to go, hope nothing goes wrong now - it's getting more and more remote.
First stop was the supermarket. Mindful that gaps between villages and shops are getting longer I picked a few more bags of dried fruit and trail mix, as well as lunch. No need for more Powerade, I haven't been drinking it recently, but today is looking sunny and it's 7.5h / 130km so I might drink some today.
As usual, there were good cyclepaths to get out of the city. I passed the Santa Village again - that means I've passed the Arctic Circle, but I didn't get a photo to mark the moment; the one from yesterday will have to do! That was where the cyclepath ended, and I was on a state road again. And where I'd be for most of the day…
But it wasn't too bad. There was no space for cyclists on the shoulder, but traffic was light enough for people passing me to use the other lane. Few trucks. My back wheel started with the clicking noises, I applied more lube, it went away. Then it came back ... but I figured that it was linked to the wheel turning, not the chain movement, so the place I'd put the lube shouldn't have directly affected it, and maybe it was an axle problem? I don't have grease on me, and had cooked up a plan for how to transplant some from the front axle with minimal waste when it went away. I can't say I was actually worried about anything seizing up, but idly figuring out contingency plans is a good way to pass the time out here in the wilds...
From left to right: major bridge out of Rovaniemi, with a cycle lane; I like it. Another more stylish bridge which I’d have liked to have seen closer. This is pretty much today’s view - apparently Finland has about 22 billion trees.
I stopped for lunch on one of the little side roads which often turn out to be the driveway to an abandoned house. And the insects were vicious. I had to walk around while eating, I tried standing still and five mosquitos landed on my legs immediately. It was so bad I didn't take a photo. I stopped again at a rest area which was a few minutes up the road - much better!
I remember in Spain there were villages so regularly I could stop at one for lunch, and take an hour... I miss them.
The weather forecast had predicted a headwind of 14km/h from the northeast. Been a while since a headwind has been a problem; but today it was. It turns everything into a mild uphill, and I could see that I was well behind the Komoot time estimates. The weather was getting steadily more overcast, I ended up putting on my jersey for the first time in a long while.
I stopped for a snack in the middle of nowhere, when I noticed a passing car drift over into the other lane, suddenly realize where it was, and change back. Then I noticed a threadbare reindeer at the side of the road, wandering into the lane and back off the road: it was the reason for the lane change, not driver inattention! It was distant, but I got a quick photo before it wandered off.
Only it didn't wander off: it hung around the righthand side of the road as more cars arrived. They slowed down and carefully went around it, giving it lots of space. It was on my side of the road; it was big and had serious antlers. Unlike the cars I'm smaller than it is, and I don't know how well reindeer deal with insecurity ... passing it could be interesting.
I was thinking I could change to the other side to give it maximum space as I went past it, but there were so many cars I couldn't easily cross over. While waiting for a gap to appear I kept getting closer... Suddenly it decided it wanted to cross the road - a couple of cars had to stop while it trotted over, and I pushed past before it changed its mind. It trotted alongside the road briefly, then stopped to look deeper into the forest and I left it behind.
Incidentally - the reindeer’s threadbare look is because it's shedding its winder coat, it’s quite normal this time of year.
From left to right: reindeer showdown! Causing traffic problems after its sudden crossover. This is the closest I got, as I went past.
That was the high point of the afternoon, after that there was a few hours of headwind and hills on a state road. Occasionally there would be a cyclepath and I'd get my hopes up but it'd disappear after a kilometer. (Presumably they were for villages.)
I got into Sodankylä at about 1900, so the ride took nearly 9 hours - a bit longer than the 7.5 hour estimate. I blame the headwind - I hope it's gone away before the 10h ride coming up or that will be a very long day.
I was a bit worn out so I didn't explore the town like I normally do in the evenings; I went to the hotel restaurant and had a reindeer burger. It looked just like a regular burger patty but tasted gamier. Not unpleasant.
From left to right: selfie during a brighter moment. The start of a cyclepath! The road briefly ran parallel to a river. Reindeer burger.
Four more days of riding. I’m on a fixed schedule from here, there’s no space for flexibility. Fingers crossed that there's no problems or delays...
