Baltic Sea Circle Day 7
The mornings were getting slicker with breakfast, packing away the tent and getting on the road. We were on the road by 7:30am, leaving the Arctic Camp at Jokkmokk behind. The car still had a whiff of fish about it, especially if you opened the centre armrest where the tin had sat for two stinky hours, there was fish juice in there somewhere.
Windows open, we set our sights for Alta in Norway. The rest of the rally teams had been in Lofoten and we’d decided that we might be able to catch up a little by heading straight north for Nordkapp, which was my original target when I first thought of this crazy idea nearly two years ago. To get to Alta we’d need to do a short stint through Finland too!
We took turns at driving, me doing a 90 minute run and then Gem taking an epic 2 hour go behind the wheel. There was a moment when a reindeer jumped onto the road and Gem had to do an emergency stop, which she handled very well, but was a little shaken after. We swapped again just before the Finnish border, which we crossed quickly as there was no security checkpoint, and resumed our journey north. We stopped for a bite of lunch, which we hadn’t pre-made as usual. One of the many little parking stops along Scandinavian roads seemed ideal, we got out, opened the boot and grabbed our bread, jam, crisps and drinks. There was a small picnic table there, perfectly placed on the side of a lake. Before we knew it, mosquitoes descended and surrounded us in a swarm. We we’re getting covered and within 3 seconds had grabbed up all the stuff again and ran back to the car, opening the doors and jumping in, food and all. As we gave a sign of relief, a new panic set in, about a hundred mosquitoes had followed us into the car before the doors were closed. We swatted madly for about 10 minutes, smearing the beasts on the glass with our fingers and anything that came to hand. We had killed most of them and could eat something, nervous every time we heard a buzz. For the next two hours there would be squeals and splats as we discovered another one hiding.
We crossed into Norway with ease, again no checkpoint. The roads had a noticeable change from Sweden and Finland. They were bumpier and twistier than the long straight perfect Swedish roads (gravel roads excluded!). Gemma declared her nervousness for driving these roads in a car she’s not too familiar with. I on the other hand relished the chance to throw the 5-speed box around, and feel the grip of the tyres on the asphalt.
The Norwegian roads to Alta did not disappoint, as we descended from the plateau through a ravine, and skirted around blue lakes. The 944 really does come alive on roads like these, with its 50:50 weight distribution. The steering was precise albeit heavy, certainly a good work out for the arms. We were very careful with the speed limits as Norway has notoriously high on the spot fines and the police were out.
We arrived at our camp about 4:30pm, a charming little place on the side of the river in Alta. We went for a walk after setting up the tent to air, and took some photos down by the river, where boats were speeding up and down. We cooked some pasta in tomato sauce for dinner, with waffles for dessert. The flaming hot cheesy crisps we got made an excellent topping for our pasta!
We climbed into the roof tent that night, the daylight streaming in at 10pm. Eye masks were the only way to get to sleep, and we woke at 12:30 to see the midnight sun, it was very bright outside! I fell back to sleep in an instant.
WILD SPIRIT 