As Tom and I approached the Finnish border (as tempting as it was to use the ‘Finnish line’ pun, I knew Tom was going to use it and so haven’t done so here) we faced a dilema. 1 mile to the east was a jazz and blues festival, and 70 miles to the north a town called Ravaniemi, which is home to father Christmas, was hosting a rock festival. Seeking culture, and because we were tired, we blundered our way 1 mile east. It’s not that the music was bad, in fact it was great, but I’ve never seen father Christmas and I wanted to ask how he will know where to bring my presents this year.
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Other than the music and some drunken nights courtesy of Harri and Kalle, things have been pretty slow and there’s little to report, which is why I will now discuss the weather. I don’t like to complain but I am English and so it comes naturally. I have heard from a number of people in England that it is rainy (normally in a whinging way) but I don’t sympathise, Tom and I are suffering blue skies all day every day at the moment. OK, so that doesn’t sound too bad, let me try again. We are in a heat wave and now it’s hot enough that I sweat just from standing in the sun - remember that we have just half an hour without the sun each day. Inside our tents the temperature increases and so sleeping is a difficult and sticky affair (sleeping outside the tent isn’t an option because of the mosquitoes) and cycling behind Tom is like sitting behind a water sprinkler. But not all is bad, in such heat swimming is an incredible pleasure and Finland is called the country of a thousand lakes for good reason – there are a thousand lakes and it’s a country.
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By the way, we are currently in a city called Oulu and from here will head down the coast towards Helsinki. This wasn’t our original plan but it looks like we’re going to need a new visa for Russia as we are a little behind schedule.