IN FINLAND SEPTEMBER 2006

To read our illustrated account of travelling north from Helsinki, through southern Finland and Karelia (with a visit to Vyborg in Russia and the easternmost point of the EU), up to Lapland and the Arctic Circle, click: Finland August 2006

To view a slide show of our journey through Finland, click: Images of Finland

To read Jane and George Swindail's illustrated account of their 11-week journey the length of Norway, click: Jane & George in Norway

With a fine drizzle carried on a cold east wind, we drove 20 miles north up highway 5/ E63, turning left onto the 962 for 10 miles to the Pyha Ski Field. We found quiet sheltered parking at the Pyha resort, between the supermarket and the abandoned caravan park, made lunch and set off on an exhilarating circular cycle ride.

The rain held off for most of the time and the 33-mile circuit was all on sealed roads, hilly enough to keep us warm. We rode east on road 9621, past the little lake Pyhajarvi, to meet the main E63 near Pelkosenniemi, then south to Vuostimo and back round to our base. A good ride, plenty of reindeer on the edges of the forest, and very little traffic, even on the highway. A village name on the map can mean as little as a log-pile by a bus shelter, and the only 2 cafes we passed were each at a campsite. The only shop was a grocery van, parked at one tiny settlement.

Pleased with our time and average speed, we celebrated with tea and digestive biscuits, then drove north-west past the Luosto Ski Field, to join highway 4/E75 10 miles south of Sodankyla. We returned to the town's excellent campsite across the Kitinen River and settled back in, after ringing the custodian to come and collect his dues (a phone number is displayed in the office window). The campsite Reception is only staffed until the end of August, though the site and cabins are apparently open all year.

Yesterday 4 items stopped working – Barry's watch, the microwave oven light, our well-screwed pepper mill and, more importantly, one of the motorhome spotlights (vehicle lights are compulsory day and night in Scandinavia). We walked into Sodankyla with this list, not over-optimistic after our failure to find tent pegs in the town 4 days earlier.

Success on all fronts! A watch battery was fitted at the jeweller's, while the correct spare light bulbs were found at the car accessory shop and the electrical store. Finally, 'The Northest Lidl-Store in the World' supplied a battery-operated pepper mill, as well as a pair of satin pyjamas, a 19-piece drill-bit set and enough food for a siege.

Well satisfied, we spent the afternoon fitting the new light bulbs, writing and doing the laundry. Nilimella Camping has a washing machine for just €1, with a free hot air dryer – an opportunity not to be missed! The kitchen (with ovens) and shower rooms all have their under-floor heating on, a pile of chopped logs lie ready by the covered campfire place – highly recommended!

After a rainy night it remained overcast and drizzly, so we decided to head north (makes sense?) Highway 4/E75, the great north road into the farthest reaches of Finland, climbed gradually alongside the Kitinen. We crossed the river after about 35 miles, by a small campsite/cafι advertising 'Smoked Fish' and 'On parle francais'. 10 miles on, our road turned north-east, away from the lake formed by the Kitinen, and 5 miles later we had reached 1,000 ft.

The road was quiet on this cold Sunday afternoon, most of the light traffic coming south, towards us. A couple of cafes with souvenir shops catered for them. Vuotso, 55 miles from Sodankyla, was a small Sami village, with shop and petrol pumps (Sapmi is the preferred name for Lapland, and Sami its indigenous inhabitants. 70,000 of them live across Norway, Sweden, Finland – about 8,000 - and Russia). Another 5 miles to the 'Gold Village' of Tankavaara, with its Visitor Centre and Gold Prospector Museum (see www.tankavaara.fi for more, including the Finnish Goldpanning Festival and Championships in August).

20 miles later we passed Saariselka ski resort, with the now-familiar scars on the fell-side behind upmarket hotels. It lies on the western edge of the Saariselka Wilderness and UKK National Park, which extends to the Russian border, with some remote trekking routes.

Free-ranging reindeer no longer have us reaching for our cameras but they are still a delight. Two white ones were among those seen today, against a backdrop of gold and green forest as the birch trees turn colour for Ruska (late August to mid-September).

5 miles before the town of Ivalo we passed another husky dog farm, just before the turning for Ivalo Airport (entry point for Saariselka's ski enthusiasts). From here on, a separate path ran parallel to the road into and around the town, providing a safe route for summer cyclists and pedestrians, or winter skis and snowmobiles. All the Finnish towns we've seen have these, usually illuminated – very civilised.

Shortly before the town, we passed one campsite on the right of the road, then this one down a lane on the left, set on the banks of the Ivalo River. A simple place which appeared empty – until a coach arrived and filled all the huts with Senior Citizens.

We drove into Ivalo in search of an oil change for the motorhome, as we do about every 5,000 miles. There is a cluster of 4 service stations in the town centre and Esso had the best workshop, which can fit us in at 3.30 pm tomorrow.

So it was back to the campsite to answer some emails. We had 2 sad pieces of news this morning: our septuagenarian friend, Ian Hibell, cycling in China, has badly injured his hand in an accident with a van - and had his valuables stolen in the process. (Click: Ian Hibell in China for details of his tour.) The other item was that a German/Polish couple we befriended when we were all cycling in New Zealand are about to divorce. Our sympathy is with them all – time to count our blessings.

After lunch the weak sunshine (about 60 degrees F and no wind) lured us out for a 24-mile cycle ride. We went south for 5 miles on the cycle-way alongside the E75/4 then turned right onto a sealed forest road, which followed the Ivalo River south-west for 7 miles, ending abruptly at Tolonen. We passed more reindeer, running through the pinewoods or pausing to graze the forest floor, studded with bright red lingenberries.

A morning's work (updating our website's 'A-Z of Full-timing', among other things) before going into Ivalo for an oil change at the Esso Garage. This was done promptly and efficiently by a competent (though taciturn) mechanic, using 9.5 litres of heavy duty Mobil SAE ISW-40, which made our heavy-duty engine good for another 5,000 miles.

We walked round Ivalo (pop 3,500), which didn't take long, and photographed the road sign pointing to the Russian border: 'Murmansk 303 km'. The river-bank garden of the Hotel Kulta Hippu (= Speck of Gold) had statues of a group of gold-panners; the entrance to the Lapland Gift Shop had a stuffed reindeer on wheels; and the offices of the local weekly paper doubled as an information centre. There was also a post office and a few shops – a self-sufficient little town.

Continuing ever-northwards on the Arctic Road (E75/4), we passed a campsite on Lake Ukonjarvi about 6 miles from Ivalo. A couple of miles before Inari, we stopped at the first of its 2 campgrounds, both on the right on the shores of the expansive lake Inarijarvi. It's in a beautiful location and we had good memories of a previous stay 7 years ago. Sadly, a change of ownership has changed the tone of the place, with prohibitive notices stuck on every vertical surface (and no level pitches). Next time, we'll try the other campground.

The clear sunny day gave way to a very cold night, with a bitter wind – time for an evening by the fan heater watching TV (an excellent BBC production, 'Gideon's Daughter' by Stephen Poliakoff).

Again we spent the morning working on the laptops before driving 2 miles into Inari (pop 550). This tiny place is home to the region's main Sami community, with their 'parliament', radio station and vocational training centre. There is a small tourist office next to the Inari Hotel, a couple of good shops for handicrafts, and a bus stop where the Rovaniemi-Utsjoki bus dropped off a group of heavily laden hikers, probably bound for the Lemmenjoki National Park (the country's largest).

Inari's museum amused us for over 3 hours (with a tea-break taken in the motorhome). It incorporates an open-air Sami Museum (50 years old), illustrating the development of Sami dwellings from tepees and turf shelters to 3-room log cabins, along with their fishing, trapping (bears, foxes, wolves and wolverines) and food storage methods. Fish was the most important part of their diet here on Lake Inari, with reindeer supplying furs and hides, as well as milk and meat.

Indoors, the modern 2-storey SIIDA Museum has extensive displays about Sami culture, the history of settlement in this Arctic region, and the hardy flora and fauna of the far north. We learnt that globally 5% of precipitation falls as snow, while up here it's about 50%! The only disappointment was a short audio-visual of the Northern Lights – a series of fuzzy disconnected slides of sky and snow, with monotonous music. But overall, well worth a visit (€8.00, or €6.50 for Seniors) – click: www.samimuseum.fi. It was too cold to consider Inari's other attractions (a 2-hr cruise on the lake or a 6-mile hike to the Wilderness Church, dating from the 17thC when the Sami were forcibly converted).

We continued for 20 miles north to the even smaller village of Kaamanen, consisting of a pleasant campsite at the Youth Hostel and a single roadhouse (using the Australian term for a pub/cafι/shop/filling station in the middle of nowhere). We had a quiet night, just a Finnish/American couple in a cabin for company. The showers (piping hot, as ever) had under-floor heating – if only they could add a lock to the door!

7 September  121 miles  KAAMANEN, Finland to KIRKENES, Norway    Kirkenes Camping

On a very cold morning we drove north-east on the quiet road 971, along the west side of Lake Inari. The birch trees reflected their autumnal shades in the water. After about 20 miles we passed a simple campsite right on the shore, then another signed off to the right as we left the lake (despite Inari TI's assurance that there was nothing along this road). Our height was a steady 460 ft and new snow posts stood along the verges.

55 miles from Kaamanen we saw another campsite, a couple of miles before the village of Sevettijarvi. We lunched in a rest area, complete with a small Sami museum/gift shop, and learnt that the area is home to the Skolt Sami, who moved here from an area annexed by Russia. They have a distinctive language and religion - the village has an Orthodox church, a school and a cafι (but no diesel).

Naatamo, 22 miles later, is the last village before Norway, at latitude 69 degrees 40', height 270 ft. We stopped to buy diesel (price above average for Finland, but less than Norway) and bread (ditto). The border, 2 miles on, was marked by a cattle- (or rather reindeer-) grid and a high fence. The animals cannot cross from Lappi (Finland) into Finnmark (Norway) but we could and the customs post did not halt us.

Norway is part of Schengen (free movement between member states) but it is not a member of the EU and has its own currency (NOK - Norwegian Krone - about 12 to the pound sterling). The language, akin to Swedish and Danish, is thankfully much more accessible than Finnish! It lies in the Central European Time zone (GMT + 1), so our clocks went back an hour.

The difference in scenery was immediately obvious, with a narrower rougher road, the grey fells more bare and rocky, the russet birch trees more stunted the farther north we drove. 6 miles from the border at the village of Neiden we met the busier (but not much wider) E6. This highway runs from Kirkenes along the rugged (to say the least) Norwegian coast for over 1,250 miles, ending south of Trondheim.

We had made a rapid descent to sea level in Norway, as Neidenelv (elv = river) opens into Neidenfjord. The campsite/motel of Neidenelven claimed to be full – it's also a Norwegian husky dog centre and some kind of canine event was due. Given the barking which greeted our arrival, we didn't mind leaving! Turning east towards Kirkenes we passed another campsite, which looked closed, and Neiden's Turist Hotel offering parking by the road, with hook-up and use of showers, for 120 NOK (or €14), but see later!

Continuing 30 miles to Kirkenes, we made a circuit of Norway's second most easterly town (less than 5 miles from the Russian border), then backtracked a few miles along E6 to the only campsite, near the village of Hesseng. It seemed deserted but the facilities were open, the water hot (though showers needed tokens) and the power on. We rang the phone number posted outside the office and were told that a man would call that evening to take our money (he never did)!

Later we were joined by a British motorhome and met an interesting couple, Mike and Christine, who were catching the Hurtigruten coastal ferry from Kirkenes all the way to Bergen – the complete voyage of 5 days. They had a special price of ₤830 (including cabin and all meals – no charge for vehicles if you sail the whole way). The maximum headroom was listed as 2.4 m and their Hobby measured 2.42 m, so they had bought a foot pump in case they had to let their tyres down! Mike and Christine had driven here via Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, ferry to Sweden, and then Finland and Norway! They left Devon in February this year. Even more astonishing, they had never heard of the MMM magazine!

A message from Fiord Line ferries on our mobile phone meant a sudden change of plan for us! We had booked and paid for their weekly ferry from Bergen to Newcastle on 26 October, giving us plenty of time to drive down the Norwegian coast. A nice Geordie voice now informed us that the fare would be refunded, as the route and the boat had been bought by DFDS and our ferry would be in dry dock for a refit on the 26th! Checking websites, we couldn't find when Fiord Line stop sailing and when DFDS start again – just 'sometime in early November'. So we turned out attention to the Kristiansand–Newcastle route by DFDS for late October, only to learn that they were selling that ship and giving up the route, since they had just bought the Fiord Line one!

Our new friend Mike suggested we follow their example and take the Smyril Lines boat from Bergen to Lerwick (in the Shetlands), then drive down via the Orkneys and Scotland. We decided to sleep on the idea.

We drove the few miles into Kirkenes, a port busy with Russian and Norwegian freight and trawlers. It's the terminus of the Hurtigruten coastal express, which has plied the coast round Nordkapp and down to Bergen, 2,500 nautical miles, for an unbroken 112 years, carrying mail, goods and passengers. (Details on www.hurtigruten.com.) The sea, the traffic, the bustle, the industry – it was a real contrast with Finland's soft landscape and quiet calm. We are further east than Cairo and the North Pole is considerably nearer than London! We are actually at the same latitude as Siberia, Greenland and Alaska, but with the benefit of the Gulf Stream, Norway has the longest ice-free coast in the polar regions.

We visited a bank for NOK currency, the Tourist Office for maps and an STA Travel Agency to learn more about ferries back to the UK. They knew less than we did, so we tried the Library, which had just opened (11 am) and offered half an hour's free internet use each. No news on Fiord Line/DFDS, but we did discover that the Smyril Lines (HQ in the Faroes) boat from Bergen to Shetland (which goes on to Iceland) doesn't call at Lerwick outbound after the end of September. We would have to go to Iceland first! An email in from Barry Crawshaw (MMM Foreign Travel Editor) confirmed that he would welcome an article on motorhoming in Finland – surprisingly, he had no record of any previous pieces on this beautiful land of lake and forest. We also picked up 6 good books in English for one krone (less than 10p) each, from the Library's book clearance table!

The Hurtigruten boat was due to leave at 12.30 pm and we went to wave Mike and Christine off, only to find them on the quayside! The problem (of which they had not been warned) was that the real maximum vehicle height for boarding depends on the tide, since the ramp into the boat is angled according to the position of the moon! It was impossible to drive onto today's boat, the Nordlys, and they were told to come back tomorrow (it goes every day, operated by 14 ships in total), since the tide and the ferry would both be higher! We wished them luck and are waiting to hear the result. All this makes the average Greek ferry drama seem quite boring!

We hope they make it onto 'the World's Most Beautiful Voyage'. Back in 1990 we enjoyed 3 days on board the Hurtigruten, from Tromso to Alesund (for a further ferry to Newcastle), after cycling up into the Arctic from England via the newly reunified Germany, Poland, the Gdansk-Helsinki ferry, Finland, Sweden and Norway – a busy 7 week summer holiday!

Leaving Kirkenes, across the Pasvik River at Norway's narrowest point, we took E105 east to the nearby Russian border crossing at Storskog/Boris Gleb. Those with a visa can continue to Murmansk but there was no queue. Lunching in a rest area on the way, we watched an amazing one-man machine Stikksetting – it drove along drilling holes and placing snow-markers along the verges and round the lay-by, all by remote control from the one-man cab. The temperature was 10 degrees C or 50 F and we wondered how rapidly it would drop to zero.

Staying in Norway, we continued north-east on the minor road 886 (closed from December-May), climbing to 600 ft /190 m – a bleak landscape of grey rock, dwarf birch and no pines - before dropping to meet the Jakobselve, the narrow river which forms the northern end of the Russian border. Turning north alongside the river, the road (unsealed for the last few miles) took us to the river mouth at Grense Jakobselv, ending abruptly, 40 miles from Kirkenes, on the Arctic coast of the Barents Sea! This stormy fishing haven, Norway's easternmost point, feels as remote as it sounds. It is also one end of Russia's border with the world which stretches away for thousands of miles to the Pacific Ocean.

A notice board, with an old photo of men catching eels in the estuary, told the story of the grey stone church perched on the hillside – King Oskar II's Chapel (King = Kong). The border was drawn in the early 19thC but disputes between Russian and Norwegian fishermen and whalers continued. The chapel, built in 1869, was a more peaceful statement than a gunboat and it proved useful – painted white by the lighthouse service! It was restored to its former and proper glory to mark its centenary. We climbed up to it and walked round the little cemetery, with a mixture of Norwegian, Finnish, Russian and Sami graves – both Lutheran and Orthodox. A brief walk to the shoreline, for a view of Russia a 100 metres away on the opposite bank, the sound of the ocean, the call of the sea birds, and back inside for a pot of tea and a digestive biscuit!

Whereas in Finland, Russia was the enemy during WW2, bravely repelled in 1944, Norway has a different history. This Chapel was one of the few churches to escape the German scorched earth tactics at the end of the war, when towns and villages were burnt, leaving their people to perish in the Arctic winter. In Kirkenes (which suffered 320 German aerial bombing attacks) there is a memorial to the Red Army, welcome liberators in 1944. For more on the war in this border area, the air raids and bombing, the Murmansk convoys, etc, visit the Grenseland Museum in Kirkenes.

Grense Jakobselv was our turning point. There was nowhere else to go but back - and that we reluctantly did. We returned the way we had come, past Kirkenes and Hesseng, remarking that the GPS screen is now a maze of green contour lines rather than a flood of blue water as it was in Finland. Stopping at Neiden's Turist Hotel (marked by a white concrete statue of a polar bear holding a salmon), we found the owner about to close for the weekend, as his 3 staff had all gone down with flu (and he felt none too good!) He was puzzled that the sockets on his outside wall were dead, rang his electrician without success, then offered us a parking place (and use of hot showers) free of charge! Turning on the gas heater and popping a steak & kidney pie in the oven, we made the best of it (what a hard life!)

On a cold wet day, we headed back into Finland to stay on the northernmost campsite in the EU, in the northernmost town in the EU, near the northernmost point in the EU!

From Neiden, we drove north up E6, meeting the south shore of Varangerfjord near Gandvik after about 25 miles. Stunning autumn colours and red berries, shining in the rain, clothed the scrubby heath and we spotted our first pair of Norwegian reindeer. West along Varangerfjord (the country's second largest) for another 25 miles, past isolated farms and clusters of small fishing boats. Wooden racks held hand-cut hay in the fields, though the fish-drying frames were empty at this time of year. Varangerbotn, at the end of the fjord, had a town hall/fire station in a wooden building, petrol station, busy shop and cafe, bank and post – but no public phone. They appear to be as rare as they are in Finland (actually, Kirkenes had one but it didn't work!)

At Skipagurra, another 10 miles along E6, the Tana Familie Camping site was open, on the right just before we turned left on road 895 for another 10 miles to the border. The road follows the Tana river, which runs south from Tanafjord to form the border with Finland, where it becomes the Teno, as far as Utsjoki. Just before the border (another reindeer fence and grid), a Norwegian police patrol stopped us to check driving licence and vehicle document. Then over the Riksgrens and Welcome to Lappi/Sapmi, Finland – and the EU at its northernmost point.

The first town, Nuorgam, is really just another clearing in the trees with a shop, a gas station and one cafι/campsite/cabins – but on the fast-flowing river Teno, famed for its salmon, rather than by a still lake. At latitude 70 degrees 4 minutes, it's a good place for a break – at least until it stops raining – and much less bleak than the world's northernmost campsite, which we also know, near Norway's Nordkapp.

A cool spell of sunshine, showers and rainbows gave us time to catch up on laundry and writing. We started on the third edition of the A to Z of Long-term Motorhoming for our website (the first 2 editions were published by the MMM). No longer limited to 10,000 words spread over 4 articles, we are now free to write more fully – visit: The A to Z of Long-term Motorhoming. We also prepared the excellent account and images of a 6,000-mile, 2-month motorhome journey to Turkey and back, sent to us by Keith and Jenny Dear, who we met in July in Romania. Click here to view: To Istanbul by Campervan.

Alarmed by an unexpected bill from Vodafone (already paid by direct debit), Barry had to spend an hour or 2 working out the details and emailing our protest. Having answered all their questions, we await the next move – but doubt we shall renew the contract!

We took to our bicycles to photograph the 'EU Northernmost Point' signs, 3 miles away, and had a longer ride (31 miles) towards Utsjoki, following the Teno River. Part of this was several kilometres on a stretch of the old gravel road alongside the Alakongas Rapids. Handcarts and then horse-drawn carts were used to portage the cargo of boats past the rapids, until the new road and trucks made the whole process unnecessary in the 1930's. Now all is peace, with information boards, toilets and a shelter/fireplace for anglers.

On a bright dry morning, a strong back wind tailed us down the Teno Valley, over the border, leaving Finland and the EU once again. After 3.5 miles the first village in Norway, Polmak, consisted of a farm offering B&B and a small museum of grass-roofed riverside cabins (closed).

We followed the 895 to Skipagurra, then E6 as far as Varangerbotn, about 20 miles from the Finnish border. Here we shopped (the supermarket has a corner with free coffee and cake, discovered as we returned from Kirkenes a few days ago!) It's also a good place for refuelling if you're about to take road E75 to Norway's remote north-east corner and Vardo island, as prices rise steadily along that route! The Varanger Sami Museum by the shore documents the culture of the coastal Sami.

Along E75 passing the pretty white church (1858) on the shore at Nesseby, then the Sami cultural heritage site at Mortensnes, with traces of settlement since 10,000 years ago – sacrificial sites and graves. (Why did people settle so far north after the last Ice Age, we wondered?) After 20 miles we came to Vestre Jakobselv, a busy fishing village with several huge wooden racks for drying fish or spreading nets. Even out here, cycle paths provide safe routes round the centre and children's bikes were stacked outside the school. Signs warn of the traffic-calming humps, called Fartsdampers! It has the only campsite along E75 (which runs for about 100 miles, beyond Vadso and Vardo, out to the summer-only fishing village of Hamningberg.)

Following the north coast of Varangerfjord, with stunning views across its broad waters, it was another 10 miles to the surprisingly large town of Vadso, a port of call for the Hurtigruten (northbound only). We parked in the centre and wrapped up to brave the wind (48 deg F or 8 deg C outside!) The town has a good range of shops (Barry bought warm waterproof gloves for cycling), a small Tourist Office (with free internet) and a beautiful modern library, also offering free internet on which we spent an hour. We lunched back in the motorhome, watching an amazing double rainbow playing over the water. Vadso is famous for its King Crabs, which grow to world record size in the Varangerfjord. It also has several museums. Sadly, the Airships and Boats Museum was closed but we saw the airship mast to which both Amundsen and Nobile tethered their craft when they landed here, en route to the North Pole in 1926 and 1928.

About 10 miles east of Vadso, we turned off briefly to the Ekkeroy peninsula with its tiny fishing village, a cottage offering accommodation and a former fish factory with a cod liver oil steam machine (open in summer as a museum). Ekkeroy is best known for the cliff-top nature reserve, where 40,000 kittiwakes – and many other species - nest, just a short walk from the car park. Margaret took the path but the nesting season is over. There were more traces of the German occupation of 1940-44, the concrete bases of their camps littering the hillside.

Continuing north-east across a treeless wilderness, we shared the empty road with a few well wrapped sheep, hardy cattle and ponies. After one more tightly built fishing village, Kiberg, we climbed to 412 ft/125 m, over the bleak hill called Domen, before dropping to Svartnes. From here, Norway's oldest submarine tunnel goes beneath the Barents Sea to the tiny island fortress town of Vardo. The tunnel is 2.89 km (2.3 miles) long, 88 m (290 ft) deep, well lit – and free of charge! Cyclists and pedestrians are also allowed through (it beats swimming).

In Vardo (pop 2,400) we parked near the quayside in the lee of a warehouse and battened down for a stormy night. The terraced wooden fishermen's cottages had a lamp twinkling in every triple-glazed window, curtains open – perhaps the tradition, lighting up the haven. A weather-beaten Sea Eagle perched on a post nearby. We were woken by hailstones on the roof and by the Hurtigruten boat calling at 4 am on its way to Vadso. (Southbound, it arrives from Kirkenes at a more reasonable 4 pm.)

To continue this journey, click: Across the top of Norway