Sunday 9 February: a nice trip and a great evening

Kurravaara - Enontekiö 290 km

Today we started with breakfast in the restaurant followed by a little walk on the lake. They build a snow village there with igloos and a fireplace. Really cool. 

Leaving the campsite was the first challenge, it was a small, slippery road full off hills and curves. The first few drivers got stuck so then everybody was carefull and waited untill the one before him got up the hill. So it took a while before everybody was on the main road, but it was a great start of the day.

Waiting our turn

Once on the mainroad we continued and had a lovely tour.Today we stayed on the main raids, which doesn’t mean its less beautiful. We saw reindeer again, they tried to outrun our car and reached a gop speed of an impressive 40 km/h.

There was also this truck who drove of the road, these tings happen, and another truck who stopped beside him in the curve, making the situations really dangerous. We managed to pass because the 2CV is really small, but I don’t think other cars could. 

And of course we crossed the border of  Finland again. Just before the border we posted some cards, they had Swedisch stamps so we were right in time.

We also visited this really nice shop full of Finnish stuff and a really nice lady selling it. Tanguy got a very nice sweater, real wool. I bought reindeer paté. And we got free coffee and donuts. But only for two minutes.

My most favorite shop in Finland 

After the shop we drove to our camp for tonight. 

We had the driver’s meeting first.

After that we went to our cabin and Gertjan and Lenneke joint us.

Tanguy and me got a lovely cabin with sauna and a fireplace. I went to the sauna with Lenneke and jumped into a ice-hole to cool down. In the meantime Tanguy started our Fire-box and we eat sausages on the porch. It was a real Finnish night to remember. 

The dog really liked us.

Our cabin

Me in the ice hole

Diner time 

Now it’s time for bed, the sauna made me quite sleepy, so goodnight to you all. 

Saturday February 8: a beautiful trip 🥰

Jokkmokk - Kurravaara 262 lovely km

This morning we said goodbye to the extreme teams and took of for the first classic trip of the raid. Because the distances are much shorter and weather cleared up, we decided to the a longer route over smaller roads. 

But first we had to find a please to change the gearbox oil because the gearbox started to make some noise and we smelled some oil. In The upper countries there are petrol stations with heated workshops which you can use for changing oil and minor repairs. Normally you pay a little amount for the usage, but they liked us so much that we could use it for free.

it turned out to be a good decision to change the oil, the oil that came out was really foamy and there was a lot of little pieces of metal as well. For now we are okay, but back home I think we have to revise the gearbox thoroughly or replace it.

The plug of the gearbox with all the metal pieces on it

Doesn’t look like it, but this is oil 

Taking the longer route was also a good decision. The road was beautiful white and quite. We saw reindeer and lovely landscapes and scenery. After al the days of bad weather and the long last drive we really enjoyed today. 

We came trough some small villages, stopped to pee and to take a lot of pictures. Now hurry finally.

Before going to the cabins we did some shopping. We wanted to buy some beer and wine but that is not possible in a Swedisch supermarket, and on Saturday the official liquor store is closed. So just Whisky, Beerenburg and Jagermeister tonight. 🙈.

The road to the cabins was a nice suprise at the end of the day. White, small and with hills, love it.

We celebrated the first save arrival in fromt pf pur cabin and then Some of the teams cooked their own meals, some enjoyed a simple but good reindeer stew with baked potatoes in the restaurant. 

After diner we had an outside drivers meeting regarding the next day and then went to bed real early.

 

Friday 7 February: a day in Jokkmokk, snowmobiles and reindeer.

Jokkmokk.

After a very good night sleep we had a nice breakfast together in the camps restaurant. After that is was time for a day off.

Today we had a 2cv route free day. The only trip we made was to the snowscooter company voor a tour on a 2 persons snowmobile. Tanguy was driving while I was enjoying the trip sitting behind him.

Unfortunately I have no pictures from during the trip because my phone was frozen and it was way to cold and bumpy to take pictures.

After the trip we took a walk to the market. Each year there is this market in Jokkmokk for all the Sami people. They come together to have reindeer races, buy stuff and enjoy themselves.

We took a stroll along the market an watched the reindeer races, which were a good laugh. 

  

It was kind of chaotic at the finish because reindeer don’t stop by themselves, they don’t stay on the track either so each time a team came to the finish a group of Sami took a dive at the reindeer and sleight to stop it. 

On the market Tanguy finally got his own kuksa with his name engraved on it. 

The lady is burning the inscription in the Kuksa

Happy Tanguy

We also bought Elkmeet and a curred ham, new woolen socks, some presents and a really cool new cooking device for camping. We really needed that (not 😂).

We also had some diner, Tanguy salmon was nice, my pork not really. But the beer was good. We also had a look in the party tipi and had a drink.

Then we took the car to pick up our cool firebox. Offcourse we drove Draakje onto the market, right in front  of the stand. 

 

Then we went back to the campsite to drop the car and take the snowscooter taxi back to the party tent to have some dinner. We had two different dishes of reindeer, both very nice. After another drink we took a cab bavk to the camp because nobody else was in the partytipe and the music was not to our tast. 

On the snowscooter taxi

Diner

Back at camp we had some drinks and chats around the campfire before turning into our sleeping-bags again for another good night of sleep.