Crossing the Russian border back into civilisation definitively ended the Russian adventure and started the trip around the Nordic countries. Finland presented itself as a land of safety, lakes, mosquitoes, forests, endlessly straight roads and general boredom.
This morning definitively ended the Russian adventure and started the trip around the Nordic countries.
Finland presented itself as a land of safety, lakes, mosquitoes, forests, endlessly straight roads and general boredom.
But all this we only found out much later. We slept through almost the whole first day in civilisation. The three days before had been nothing but a mad rush, which even in Russia is only good for a beast of burden, and there was somehow no time left for sleep.
That part of the crew (unfortunately the majority – 5 out of 7) which doesn't like raising the adrenaline level in its blood by spending nights in unexplored areas kept pushing us to leave the "dangerous" zone quickly. So we were catching up on the missing sleep until two in the afternoon, which had the Finns at the petrol station raising their eyebrows in astonishment halfway up their foreheads.
Those who arrived later (for God's sake, if this isn't the correct form of the participle, then it's something in Finnish) nearly scalped us when our ladies washed the laundry in the toilets and hung it out on lines strung between the cars in the car park.
Then we carried out a total de-messing of the car and saved about a cubic metre of space.
Andrej set off ahead to find a suitable lake for swimming. He found one near Strömfors and it was brilliant. Beautifully clean water, forest all around, warm, just perfect. Right by the bank floated a moored raft with two benches. They looked like they were meant for our swimming, lounging, cooking and so on. Imagine our surprise when a Finnish couple turned up with a basket of laundry and explained to us in fluent English what those benches were actually for. A regular ecological washing machine. The lady pulled out ecological soap, an ecological scrubbing brush and did her ecological laundry.
We had a laugh about the Finnish washing machine and then ate well.
Since, as usual, we wanted to give the city (Helsinki this time) more time than Andrej's crew did, we agreed on a meeting point for the following evening and Andrej set off.
We got to Helsinki towards evening, but it's light all the time here, we've got the polar day. We looked round the centre, the parliament building (a palace with enormous classical columns, all white), the Uspenski Cathedral at the harbour (a huge red cathedral with several towers) and in the distance we spotted the Ferris wheel in the local Park of Culture and Recreation of JF. We drove out of the city and found a decent spot to sleep in a little wood on a housing estate on the outskirts.
In the morning we parked Rája in the centre of Helsinki, found out that on Sundays parking is free (otherwise 120 CZK/hour) and set off to do the rest of the sights. The Helsinki Guide helped us a lot with that, a brochure available free everywhere, including a map. We saw the local national theatre (a horribly ugly modern building), the rock Temppeliaukio church (a rock in the middle of the city, trees on top, a church inside) and the Sibelius monument.
Then we got hungry, found out the prices of the local refreshments (a hot dog 70 CZK) and pulled out our own Tatranky bars. We took the ferry over to the island to the Suomenlinna fortress, where there was practically nothing. By car we drove to the Park of Culture and Recreation of JF and had a ride on the local version of the roller coaster, wooden here. (150 CZK/person)
With that we considered Helsinki a sufficiently explored area and set off towards Lahti. The motorway led us past the sports grounds, which we only glimpsed in the distance (the ski jumps). So as not to feel too sorry about it, we played a footvolley match across a strip of lawn at a rest area. We beat Martin (though totally useless) 2:0.
We had a meeting with Andrej on the E 75, so we kept driving along it. Unfortunately the Finns renumbered the roads and we were driving along the new E 75, which also leads to Jyväskylä, so it was all signposted correctly. We found out about it reasonably in time, near Helsinki, and drove an extra 78 km to the meeting point.
Andrej was already waiting there by the lake, they'd driven about 150 km out of their way.
While we were having dinner some totally sozzled Finn came up to us and wanted to explain something to us in Finnish. He didn't speak English so we talked to him in Czech. We told him what there was for dinner, how much a tracked excavator weighs, what colour a mosquito is and so on. He just kept gesturing by crossing his open palms, swaying about and burbling something in Finnish. We had a great time and in the end he gave up. He probably wanted to throw us out.
After dinner Andrej, Péca and I took one of the boats that were there out to the island in the middle of the lake.
A veeery nice island.
In the morning, still before breakfast, we all jumped into the lake one after another, I went into the mud in the reeds first, then they told me there was a swimming jetty a little further along.
Andrej's lot were, as usual, ready an hour earlier, so they set off ahead. When we were setting off, my jammed handbrake complicated things a bit. We were parked on sand, so my attempt to pull away left two deep ruts 3 m long. It took several proper blows with a wooden stake to the wheel to unjam the brake and then we could set off.
According to the morning calculations we had about 350 km ahead of us. In the end it turned out to be 530 km, so until midnight we just drove and drove. On the way we passed about 1000 lakes, gorgeous at first, then just boring.
We stopped for food at a petrol station which was more of a bell museum. Altogether there were about 100 bells there, from five-tonners down to tiny ones. You were allowed to ring all of them, so we had a proper go. In one two-storey shelter full of bells there was even a carillon.
At midnight, as I already said, we arrived at the meeting point, completely done in. Another whole day without a proper meal.
It was a concrete car park by a campsite by the sea, right next to the road, nothing special, but by then we didn't care. The girls still knocked up some porridge with a sausage.
We planned a short, restful route, which in the end got even shorter thanks to Andrej's shock absorber. Something had been banging at his left rear wheel since yesterday, today he found out the shock absorber had snapped off.
Andrej stopped at an Opel dealer and guided us in by radio. We got into a muddle at the junction the Opel place was at, but in the end we found each other. Andrej asked what a new shock absorber cost, they told him about 5000 CZK (5 times more than at home, like everything).
Behind the workshop, in a heap of used parts, we found two rear shock absorbers, measured them up and set off to find a place to camp where we'd fit them. We found a nicely tucked-away spot by a lake after about 30 km. We squeezed the cars in there and put up a tarp against the rain. After the rain, as usual, the local bloke appeared and in clunky English explained to us that it was his, that the island in the lake was his too and that in the morning friends were coming to go boating. As usual we talked him into one night, and as usual he got a pack of Camels.
After dinner Martin and I went to scout the surroundings. We found a beautiful half-built log cabin and a strawberry field. The cabin was nice to look at, the strawberries nice to taste. The girls set off to look around too. They were gone suspiciously long.
In the morning those "friends" arrived in a Samara, they wanted to eat us alive but didn't dare. Yesterday's disappearance of the girls bore fruit, literally – blueberries in the morning semolina porridge. Stuffed with porridge, as usual and, as usual, at noon, we set off for further events.
In the afternoon we reached the Arctic Circle. The only way you can tell is that there's a sign by the road saying Arctic Circle in several languages and next to it stands a fairly large souvenir shop. No natural dividing line anywhere, like grass from here, snow from here, nothing like that, just a bit of a white line on the car park. On the shop door there were loads of stickers from all over the world, I added one from Koktejl.
Inside they had nice postcards, products made of reindeer hide, loads of kitsch and lovely wooden kitchen accessories made from cut-up knots. When you travel the world you meet not only cars, pedestrians, cyclists and similar vermin, but sometimes animals too. Cats, dogs, cows etc. don't surprise me any more. But a reindeer I met for the first time. A scene like out of an action film ensued. Furious braking, a landing party with cameras and the clicking of shutters. Meanwhile the reindeer calmly strolled down the middle of the road and took no notice of anything. It was terribly funny, because it walks both front – both back, and the back legs further apart so they don't bump into the front ones. Once we'd photographed it enough we set off on, only to meet dozens more of them and then whole herds…
In the evening, while looking for a place to sleep, we got bogged down. Martin came over, hooked up the rope, I put my foot down and got out of it on my own, I could have pushed him as well.
The place to sleep was by a lake, we drove a bit along the sandy beach and unfortunately got stuck there. We had a bit of volleyball against the gloom, the lake was as cold as beyond the Arctic Circle and then the mosquitoes drove us into the car. We shut and sealed everything and tried to get to sleep. Not only is it light all the time here now (we've got the polar day), but on top of that those buzzing beasts kept getting into the car from who knows where. We had the Inquisition going on all night, I don't think I've ever slept so badly. In the morning we weren't sleeping in a car any more but in a mass grave. Away quick.
Mosquitoes – Shell + showers – border – 45 CZK/l – lunch by the river – Lapp camp
Military area – junction for the North Cape – ferry – the Audi juddering – North Cape – sun – a 3-litre pineapple – Ferry 0200 – junction 0400
A brutal getting-up – Andrej – lake with a Scorpio – canasta – rowing boat
Fjords + waterfalls – 19 km there and back – fishing – mussel risotto – vodka
Matterhorn – petrol station – fish on the jetty
In the morning we drove the short bit to the ferry to the Lofoten Islands and joined the queue. While waiting, probably the biggest Yank tank I've ever seen turned up. I didn't see one like that even in America. A white Cadillac Cabriolet, about a '65, everything in white leather, ivory steering wheel, length a bit under 6 m, the boot lid alone 2.5 m, in perfect condition. The driver a young bloke like me. I stood there with my mouth open, drooling. I'm already looking forward to having something like that myself. Then we boarded the 2nd deck of the ferry and 25 minutes later it spat us out on the Lofotens.
We found ourselves a little spot for lunch above a beautiful little fjord with an island and a mountain in the background and had a proper feed.
In Kabelvåg, which we reached along narrow little roads above little fjords, cliffs and islands (gorgeous), there was the Lofoten Aquarium. At first we drove past it, but since Petra had been looking forward to the local seals for 3 days already, she drove us straight back. The seals were adorable, the rest of the aquatic fauna rather revolting (e.g. a crab with a claw span of about 80 cm etc.). In the projection room they showed us the northern lights. It was nice, but I wouldn't say I'd have to see it twice…. (V. Frištenský)
We even caught the seals' dinner, which was the nicest thing in the whole aquarium. The seals have a big tank outside there with a constant supply of water from the sea. There was also a whaling harpoon on display outside, a pole about 2 m long that I wouldn't be able to lift.
Until the evening we just drove through the beautiful scenery of the Lofotens, rugged terrain, overgrown rocks rising straight out of the sea, colourful little houses. A shame the weather wasn't on our side, it keeps drizzling and the peaks are wrapped in cloud.
A tragic event occurred. Not that I'd lost the red pencil for underlining chapters, but I ran out of film. And that was the last one. Since then I've had the feeling in every bend that this is exactly what I have to photograph. The shops here are all open until 22:00, true, but everywhere they only have 24/200 negative and I want 36/100 and slide film at that. Bad luck. We only bought some local paper bread (50 – 150 CZK) and vegetable fat for frying, thinking it was butter.
Martin found a place to sleep, at first I wasn't keen (it was between the road, the airport, a swamp and power lines), but then we drove on and there it was brilliant. Rocks, moss, blueberry bushes and the coast. We parked the cars in a hollow, the girls knocked up dinner and we made a fire. Romance… Chopped-up washed-up pallets…
The sun was shining a bit in the morning, so it looked like we'd finally get to see the Lofoten in all their glory. On the way we spotted a rest stop with an info point, so we swung in there. Besides the info booth with brochures and perfect toilets, the rest stop came with about 300 m of gorgeous sandy beach, like something cut out of a Čedok brochure, package tour to Capri. White crests of waves on a green-blue sea, a low rocky shore with little pools behind the beach and a rocky mountain with a white cap in the background.
Stunning. We spent over two hours there wandering around and collecting sea critters. I found a huge shell – a mussel about 10 cm long, Martin and Lenka found a dried crab (2x).
ferry 7:00 – saved 500, stayed in the car – Bodø – glasshouse – fish – currents – gutting fish – sleeping by the sea and the blueberries, eating fish
Since at this stage of the trip I'd been hit by writer's laziness, only the notes and the date survived. So I'm writing this 14 years later, on 4 March 2011. I do remember a few things though, for instance that on the ferry crossing we couldn't be bothered to get out of the car, so against the rules we stayed in it below deck. We had a nice nap, but we missed a pod of dolphins that the Kuzmas saw up on deck.
After getting to the town of Bodø we walked down to the harbour, where people were crowding around a channel that looked like a river. Except that the river, which was flowing to the right, suddenly started boiling with giant whirlpools and half an hour later it was flowing the other way. It was caused by the tide, but it was really impressive.
Then, in one seaside restaurant, we grabbed a table further out on the terrace by the railing above the sea and pulled out our fishing lines. At first nothing happened at all, plenty of fish sniffed at the bits of hunter's salami on the hook, but they didn't consider it food. Then the locals at the next table started watching us and, to make our efforts more entertaining, they gave us their leftover shrimp. And that's when it kicked off! Within 20 minutes we'd pulled out 15 or however many fish, so many we could barely carry them! The locals warned us that fish from the harbour aren't fit to eat, but we, brought up in the North Bohemian brown-coal basin, aren't put off that easily! In the evening we fried them up and they were great :-)
Rain – departure 13:30 – wooden pump – lunch under a plastic sheet – 23:00 Mo i Rana – concert – cops – ditched girls
This day also went down in history, and not exactly in a positive way. Again, I'm writing this entry 14 years later, when it's no longer such a sensitive matter :-) After the petrol incident, Kuzma and I ended up at the police station. Since I didn't have my passport, it took several hours before they let me go, and I spent them in a cell. How it all went down and why, I'm willing to tell in closed company and only after the fourth beer...
6:00 departure – jerrycan – back to the Swedish border – mountains – sleeping till 14:30 – Swedish border – 24:00 – sleeping by a clear-cut forest
Sunshine – Dorothee (info + bread on the square) – mushrooms – cops (antlers) – blueberries – lunch by the campsite and the pond – sleeping in the forest by a transformer station
Departure 9:30 – sunshine – lunch by the locomotive – river by the motorway – Uppsala – largest cathedral in Scandinavia + 1000 bikes + rain, Stockholm in the evening – jugglers – festival – metro – rain – fine of 3,500 CZK – Martin at the motorway petrol station – home – sleeping by a guesthouse
Örebro (castle, little pond, nice square) – lake by the road with a barrier 10 min – S-N border – petrol – 31 CZK! – phone call home – rest stop under the bridge – toll into Oslo 60 CZK – checking on the ferry – castle – bikers and pubs in the centre – beer 200 CZK – sleeping on the pier
Info on ferries – returning tickets – Munch museum – Bygdøy peninsula (RA II, Heyerdahl, Pavel Pavel), Viking museum, Nansen, Amundsen) Vigeland Park (200 statues) – beach – stone – Moss – harbour
