Rovaniemi; Sunday, 22 July, 2007

Within a couple of minutes of crossing into Finland the coach pulled up at the first service station of the journey, and at the same time the gentle drizzle that had accompanied us all the way from Norway dissapeard (almost as though it had stopped at the border, refused entry by the Finns) to be replaced by a gloriously warm sun and a clear blue sky.

After a 20 minute stop the coach continued on for about another hour before stopping again for a break, slowing down every now and then to avoid running over the reindeer that wander out into the road. The pattern continued until early afternoon and the final stop at Muonio. From there the coach ran direct for the last two hours to Rovaniemi, arriving about 20 minutes early. I took my bag out from the luggage hold and walked the short distance to the Sokos hotel and checked in.

After having a well needed comfort break (I hadn’t realised that the last two hours would have been non-stop, otherwise I might have had a better break at Muonio!) I wandered back out into the warm summer sun of Rovaniemi. After about an hours wandering I came back to the hotel to have dinner in the restaurant, before attempting to get some sleep.