Dwti Draig

We slept well in Santa’s Village; there was no visit from the Big Man overnight, maybe we have not been good enough? There were no sound of hooves overhead on our roof, and no Elvish giggles outside. Undeterred we went in search of Santa, only to be deterred by the queue and the price tag of 30E for a small photo. We celebrated our steadfastness against unnecessary commercialism…… by spending 40E in the gift shop and a cup of coffee in Santa’s restaurant. Ah well, can’t win them all. 

We left Santa and his adoring crowd queuing for him and set off. Our plan was simply to head north. Lyn had earmarked a nice spot about 2 hours up the road, so journeyed on up, with me practising my Finnish en route. 

Lyn had come up trumps (this was before the second assassination attempt!) and found us the perfect park up to have a bit of chill. We drove about 2 hours up the road, turned left to find a beautiful spot right on the river. It even had its own sandy beach. We had to dip, so got right in. The water was so clear, and not too cold at 10 degrees. A swimsuit was optional, so I took the nekkid option. Autumn trees surrounded us with the leaves falling. It was blissful. We sat outside on a bench with our sandwiches. Life was good.

We dragged ourselves away, and headed further north again. This time we drove across the top of a hydro electric dam and found another isolated spot right by the river. We didn’t dip this time as the current looked strong. Safety first and all that! We had a quiet night and woke to beautiful blue skies and a rainbow.

You can guess which way we headed when we left…. Yes, north again. We had booked our first paid stop of the trip on night 10; to give us a chance to use hook up, do some washing and batch cook without depleting our batteries. 

We had booked into a Husky Rescue Camp, called nomadicnaali.com. We have our own little spot, near a sauna and a lake, so of course, we had to do the quintessential Finnish thing; once I had made a full roast beef dinner, complete with roasties. 

There is a Finnish man staying in a little wooden teepee next to us, so I was able to chat away to him in Finnish! Well, actually I managed to say hello, I am Lucy, it is beautiful (about the area) and it is big (about the truck!) Strangely I didn’t manage to mention that I have a green parakeet (I don’t) or that he is a handsome wizard (he wasn’t), although I could have if I wanted to. Thank you, Duolingo for equipping me for the essentials!

Our Finnish friend had lit the sauna, so we planned to use it when it got dark. The sauna was massive inside. “Se on itso sauna” in Finnish. Helpfully the Finnish word for sauna is sauna! We got hot, added the essential oils provided (sandalwood or eucalyptus) then braved the lake, with the full moon rising over it This was the coldest yet, at 9 degrees. We did this twice, displaying more nakedness, before retiring to the truck. After beautiful clear blue skies my aurora app is showing a cloudy night, so no firework displays for us tonight. 

We had a lazier start today, catching up on washing and drying the bedding, which took forever. We then paid to have a tour of the husky farm which was amazing. We met the three yaks first, Chantel, Snowflake and Hilda.

Then it was time to meet the chickens, before the main event; the 40 huskies. These have been rescued from all over Europe, especially from the sledding industry, for example if they have gone blind or are too injured or old to pull the sleds anymore. The dogs were amazingly chilled, but they had been out training that morning. Each dog has a name and their own personality, and all loved being petted and stroked. It was really interesting to hear all about life on the farm, and how they even manage to grow their own vegetables in the short summer season. This rescue business has been set up in five short years, and it was amazing to see the love shown between the owner and the dogs. He could call any one by name and they would instantly respond by coming to him, and they all flocked around him when he sat down. No apologies for the huskey porn!

We left after having another quick sauna and dip, and filled up with water, and set off again, heading north.

We have parked for the night by another lake, with a big green German overland truck next to us and a tiny little van the other. We had a rather unwanted surprise when we went into the van after parking up; we had had a water leak above the door in the bathroom. Luckily Lyn carries all the spare parts and tools we could need, so he effected a temporary fix and didn’t have to resort to Blue Peter sticky tape. The lake is beautiful; again surrounded by forests. I think another dip beckons tomorrow.