Jormua – Feb 23
Feb 24th, 2020 by rallyadmin
The sky never cleared overnight so there wasn’t a chance of seeing the Northern Lights again. And it had snowed lightly. The snow was actually welcome. Last night the walk to the restaurant was very slippery. The temperature during the day had been just above freezing and then had dropped as it became dark causing the packed road surface to freeze and get very slippery.
The route we’re taking today goes east to the E63 and if the road is as slippery as the roads around the resort, it’s going to be a very long, slow day. A covering of snow on the road will give a great deal more grip. Driving will still be a bit dicey but the snow will help a lot.
We load the car and head out. The GPS-o-meter says it’s just over 400 kilometers to our next stop, Kajaani Cottages in Jormua. On an unplowed secondary road, route 962 (as usual, bigger numbers equal smaller road), in a snowstorm. This is going to be fun.
And since this a popular ski area, both downhill and nordic, there’s plenty of traffic. The good news is that the traffic is mostly coming toward us and there are no trucks (it’s Sunday) and it’s moving slowly. The bad news is that it is snowing harder the farther east we drive.
We get to E63 and turn right (south) and aany hopes of the road being plowed are dashed quickly. There’s not much traffic and as long as I stay in the previous tracks in the snow and stay away from the very edge of the lane, the driving is fairly easy.
There isn’t much to see that we haven’t already seen. Just more snow-covered trees and occasionally winding forest roads that are so beautiful even on this overcast day. And the wind is blowing very strongly today but there’s no real drifting problem.
There are multiple national parks in this area of Finland so there isn’t much development. Of course, there are only 5 million people in Finland and it’s a good sized country so you wouldn’t expect UK or US type development. If you don’t want neighbors crowding you, eastern Finland is the place for you.
We driving down a named route, the Via Carelia. Carelia is the area the straddles the Finnish-Russian border and has been traded between Sweden and Russia and, more recently, Finland and Russia since the 1300’s. For the Finnish natives, forced emigration from Carelia to the rest of Finland has been a regular occurrence as the area has been traded between Sweden and Russia and Finland and Russia. The full story is here.
As we drive south we cross the Arctic circle. We’ve been above the Arctic Circle since we left Kemi on the 16th which makes this the longest continuous time we spent above 66°33′48.0″N. Though we’ve been across the Circle a number of times but the usual stay is a day or 2 with one or 2 at maybe 3 days.
And we’ve officially left Lapland. Though the scenery seems similar and the snow-covered forest in beautiful, we can see that there is less and less snow as we travel farther south. After a week in one of the most amazing and beautiful places we’ve ever been, the south looks so much less. That’s not fair but…
We get to our destination just as it’s getting dark. As we drive up to the small building that has a sign “Reception” on the front door, a man comes out from an adjacent building. He turns out to be a quite interesting person. We chat as we’re checking in. He thinks that we are Australian. I tell him the we are Americans and he seems a bit confused. He’s trying to figure out how to handle us. Are we Trumpies or Never-Trumpers? When we indicate that we are Never-Trumpers, he brightens up and tells us that the last people he checked in were Russians and he says, “You have to be careful with the Russians. Politics are difficult for the Russians.” I’m sure.
He goes on to atlk about Finland relationship with Russia. He says a very funny but true think about the relationship between the two countries, “We have had many wars with Russia. And we have lost them all. Every one. They are very big and we are very small. The trick to surviving if you live next to Russia is lose the war quickly.” And live to fight the next war, I guess.
After charging us 10€, he shows us the cottage in excruciating detail. He finally leaves and we move our gear from the car to the cottage.
He has told us that the only food in the area is a combination fuel stop/restaurant/market back up the road 4 kilometers. We get back in the car and drive back up the road and get some snacks and some more freeze-dried pasta. Back to the cottage for dinner.
It’s been either snowing or overcast all day and the outlook for tonight isn’t very good. The 2 aurora forecast apps that I have been using completely disagree about where the aurora viewing will be tonight but they agree that the good areas will be farther north than Jormua. And the weather would make the question moot anyway.
About 9:30, I get dressed and take a short walk to check the skies and surprisingly the wind has come up and the skies have clear. There are plenty of stars but no auroras. I go out again at 10:30, 11:00 and at 11:30, Barbara goes with me. It a beautiful night but no auroras. We’re running out of possible nights. We may have to come back again.
Back to the cottage and to bed. Tomorrow we drive farther south on our way to Helsinki. The trip is winding down.
Obi-wan