Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Expedition retreats Rovaniemi


After three days of eating and saunas and laying around the big house I feel like I'm returning to somewhat of a normal state. I do mostly nothing during this period except for an occasional bike excursion and a run to the market.

On Monday I pack up and ride to the the local hotel which doubles as the bus stop. Here, I dissemble the bike once again. I'm getting very good at this. It only takes 30 minutes to get the bike in its case and to dismantle the wagon. The two hour and forty minute bus ride to Rovaniemi covers the same ground I chugged through nearly three weeks ago. It's hard to believe I biked all of this. The reindeer seem to be more numerous, gathering in larger numbers than before.

In Rovaniemi I put the bike together and ride to the camp ground on the banks of the Ounasjoki. I meet a Swedish bike rider, Andreas, who, along with his wife, has biked from the North Cape and plans to continue to Turkey. He's fascinated by my bike, and can't seem to get enough photos of it.

This may be the last night of camping. The temperature at night is now close to freezing. It has been dropping steadily each day. I have also noticed that we now have a real night, with darkness. The sun sets at about 8:30 pm. When I first arrived in Helsinki it set at about 11:30 pm. Each day is noticeably shorter.

In the morning, I am off to the train station to see if I can get to Oulu on the Gulf of Bothnia. I would like to spend two days there before heading back to Helsinki, again, via train.

1 comment:

justwondering said...

We've been following your amazing journey step by step. We'll be anxious to read the rest when we get back to the US, as we leave for our Europe trip tomorrow morning. And we certainly look forward to seeing you after we're all back in Seattle and hearing first hand about your adventures.