Pull down the roof and hit the road refreshed…
This article is about the third day of our Arctic Ocean roadtrip. We had a refreshing sleep and got a plenty breakfast at the hotel. Could the day start any better? Actually it can, since the sky was clear, sun was shining and temperatures started to be a little more what is expected from Summer. Our goal? To drive from Inari to Northern Ostrobothnia.
If you haven’t read the arcticle about the first day or second day, I highly recommend to take a look at those first and then continue with this one.
The Morning
We had our alarm set to 08:00 and intended to hit the road early. But what do you know, when it set off, I just slammed it shut and we woke up at 09:00. Wasn’t a great loss though, since sleep was also something we needed very much.
The breakfast at Hotel Kultahovi was tasty even though maybe not as varied as in many bigger hotel. If you compare it to the breakfasts at many hotels abroad, you could say this was plenty. This got me thinking, have you noticed that you were used to always eat similar breakfast set when you stay at hotels? I have, at least when I stay at Finnish hotels because of work. Then when I’m traveling on my free time and choose a bit different hotels, I can’t find that default set. That is a good thing because then you eat different foods and maybe choose something you normally wouldn’t. Maybe this is called a routine.
After all our stuff was tugged inside the Mini (amazingly everything still fit) and room was paid, we lowered the fabric roof and began to head south. I started as driver but this time we decided that neither of us would drive over 1000 km this time like it was in the beginning of this trip.
I attached my GoPro to the end of a pole and we drove through the Inari center (seen on video). After this pass through, we turned around and came back to a tourist shop we noticed. We got some souveniers so that we can go back home.
Sceneries was just beautiful when driving south from Inari and the road was winding between the Fells. At Saariselkä, the road raised quite high and then quite quickly started descending back to lower ground. You can see clear lakes and ponds left and right to the road.
One could have spent a while by those lakes just enjoying and smelling the scents. Eventually we did stop to a resting area by one pond. I could smell mash tea while we were filming the car.
Vuotso channel
Next stop was next to Vuotso channel. I don’t know the reason but in my head it was constantly as Vuoksi channel (totally elsewhere) and it was quite difficult to get it right on the video. Took many takes, as usual. Dark clouds started to cover the sky and we though it was better to lift the roof back up. A moment later it was pouring rain. We took a quick look around and continued onwards.
Time and sceneries went by and then we spotted a road side advert about ice-cream and pancakes. We could not resist temptation so we stopped to a lakeside café. We got a tasty pancake with whipped cream and cloudberry jam on top. If ever I driver by that place next time (and the place is open) I will stop there next time too. That is soooo tasty that you can’t believe it until you taste it.
At Sodankylä we switched Marko behind the wheel. I can’t say much about the city itself because we just drove through it. I have stayed there after this trip but that is another story. Now we were rushing to Kuusamo but choosing a bit smaller roads since we had that choice. Scenery started to be more foresty and not so rough as Lapland scenery. Roads were fun but bumpy and our bottoms and backs didn’t like those that much. Mini Roadster has sporty chassis and suspension so you can feel everything in your spine. There were also a truck driver which I would happily call as lunatic. You shouldn’t be able to drive over 90 km/h with a truck but if we drove 100 km/h, the truck would soon be kissing our bumper or maybe overtake. Let’s put it this way that we wanted to get rid of that trouble. So we did and left it behind.
Kuusamo
After Kemijärvi we chose a smaller road again. This road took us to Posio and to Rovaniemi-Kuusamo road from there. That road was also nice even though not as beautiful as the roads in Lapland. We had a scheduled meeting with Tuure from Remmiahdin -blog. Tuure is a professional in automotive field but has moved to other business since. You can talk everything about cars with him and you can get lost on time. He had also prepared us a fine meal which was hugely appreciacted.
Even though it was nice to have these discussions with him, we had still much to drive for the day. I took the wheel again and we started driving towards Oulu but we switched again a little before arriving to Oulu. There was also a fine rainbow there but can’t say that one ended up in gold. Or what do you think?
Marko Drove me 100 km south from Oulu to a town called Oulainen. He continued a bit further and stayed the next at Haapavesi. He was meant to pick me up next day after he visited Kajaani and I was done with the affairs at Oulainen.
This was basically what happened on day three. Another night in bed and a good night sleep. One reached goal complete that day was to take a ralfie (selfie with a reindeer).
Next article is about the last day of our trip. Returning the car and getting back home.
