The land of the long white cloud

No I'm not in New Zealand, but after four days in Lapland, with the white fluffy stuff as far as the eye can see and no midnight sun bouncing on the horizon in sight, I am both confused and convinced that the bouncing sun is a myth!

Thankfully our first night camping (yes: our, the Irish man and I) was at a lake facing the sunset near a town with the amusing name of Pyhanta (pronounced a little like PooHunter; yes the Irishman and I can have very juvenile humour). We got a glorious view of the clouds smeared all the oranges and reds and purples of a Pantone Colour Book and we ooohed and aahhed appreciatively as much as the mosquitoes allowed us. On that note, the Irishman is a joy to travel with, for the mozzies like him a lot more than me. It's a bit of a novelty to not be the first person bitten and I must admit it was with some schadenfreude that I watched the top of his head get bitten (hmm reminiscent of the seagull..?) as I managed to walk around unharmed.

The trip saw us "do" the Artic Circle (really, been there three times now, and still don't have the t shirt to prove it!); drive towards the Russian border a little; explain to many foreigners phoning in that the Arctic Circle was not covered in snow, and meet a little man who collected pens (20,000 hung from the ceiling of his camp site reception) and the skin of foreigners...

A disappointment not to see the sun, bouncing or otherwise, but the Irishman and I got on famously depsite tent and VW Polo sharing and a mad stint on the freeway where I decided to Baa like a sheep at anyone Finnish. The only clouds really were in the sky.

Roadtrip photos:
Rovaniemi
Kuusamo
Juhannus