Lappi

It's 1050 km from Stockholm to Haaparanda - if you drive the E4. We
drive the hole distance nonstop. From Tornio in Finland we slow down
with the driving, but we must reach Rovaniemi in time to get a place for
the night.

Four days we drived around in the north. We spend half a day walking
around in the "Santa Claus" main place - a real tourist trap - in
Rovaniemi and the other half in Tankavaara gold museum. In the
eavning we arrived to Saariselkä and stay over the night (first). It was a
fabulous place and had so grate service that we decided to stay there a
couple of days and use it as a base during our tour in lapland.

Saariselkä was perfekt as a base. In one day we could drive without a
hurry the route Saariselkä - Ivalo - Inari - Lemmenjoki back and forth.
We where back so early that we had time to visit the top of the
Kaunispää fell. What a view, you could see as far a way you liked -
fantastic. The meal in the restaurang on the top lay the final finishing
touch to our visit in Saariselkä.

We drived slowly to the south. We left behind us the Porttipahta and
Loka artificial lakes, Sodankylä, Pelkosenniemi, Kemijärvi and Salla. In
Oulangka national park we stay a couple of hours before we drive to
Kitkajoki for the night.

On the morning we enjoy our morning coffee at the Ruka hotel and send
again a lot of post-cards. To Kuusamo we arrived at lunch time,
developed photos and walk around in the city.

Now our goal is near, it's 80 km to Hossa. The road is narrow and
winding but in good shape.