The second day started well with coffee and porridge, and I slowly packed up the camp. I loaded the bike with everything in the right place for the first time, using guy ropes to hold it up (a top tip I remembered from my boss). I still had a fair bit of food from yesterday but I took a cautious approach and went back to the K-Market (this would prove to be a wise decision). Last night, based on the maps and the roads I had found so far, I decided to take the 9552 road to Pokka where the next campsite was, rather than my orginal plan via Sirrka. One of my Finnish friends texted to say make sure it was surfaced, and a couple of looks on Google street view showed it was ok. I headed east on the 80 for a few kms until the 9552 was signposted to the left. At this point I stopped to take a photo and the bike fell over, you need to concentrate all the time! The 9552 proved to be the best road ever, very light traffic, very good surface and nice rolling terrain. It was generally through forests but with some farmland and lakes.
This continued for 50 kms until the road reach the Kittilia Gold Mine, where it suddenly turned into an unsurfaced road (I should of looked further in Google!). To be fair the surface was very good and I didn’t ever need to walk despite only having 25mm wide road tyres. The main issue was that it was slower both on the uphill and needing more caution on the downhill.
I pushed on with 40 kms to go before Pokka, and joining the main 955 road shortly before that. There was very light traffic on the road and everyone gave me plenty of space so I could ride on the best part of the track even when they were passing. I was really eager to join the 955 road for some relief and tarmac, but when it came it was also un-surfaced and was worse with more ripples and loose stones. At least it was only 4 kms to the campsite and I felt relieved when I saw the big road sign outside “Camping”. However, in the Cafe I was told, no camping and the nearest sites were at Inari (or Kittila where I had come from), both were about 100 kms away. I asked about cabins or hotel and both drew a blank. I was in shock! I was so ready to finish for the day. I sat down with a coffee and a doughnut to consider my options. It was only 4:30 so I decided to push on towards Inari, as I could potentially reach it in an acceptable time. However I knew I could wild camp anywhere in Finland (with a few simple rules) and had at least two hot meals with me. I also had an abundance of lunch/cycling food due the extra shop this morning. I went back into the Cafe to get my water bottles refilled and was told that the road was tarmac all the way to Inari. I headed off on tarmac with slightly more rugged scenery, the bogs seemed to be bigger and closer to the road and the climbs were slightly harder, but it could have been due to my mindset!
My initial target was to get to Inari by 11pm or look to camp elsewhere. However as it was only my second day on the road, the landscape was not very appealing for camping and it would be difficult to get very far from the road. At around 10:30 I was close to the Lemmenjoki National park, where I knew of a campsite (about 10 kms off my route, but had shelters and cabins – which I had a taken a photo of a brochure) or it was still around 30 kms to Inari. I decided to head on for Inari and find a suitable wild camp site. It was getting very cold and I could only carry on because of my neoprene overshoes, a purchase I nearly contemplated as being too extravagant! As soon as I made the decision the landscape changed to lightly wooded terraces down to lakes and the river, with plenty of choices of site. I went close to the lake and just out of site of the road (camping like this seems alien after camping in Britain). I ate all my cold food, as it was too late to cook and enjoyed the midnight sun over the lake. There were a few mosquitos but it was one of the best pitches of the whole trip.
It had been a challenging but good day and I learned quite a few lessons!
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