Thursday 17/07/08                 Day 5              Sweden

We returned to the campsite for the Sweden off-road tour where we were quickly greeted by Peter the tour organiser. As the first Brits to take part in this year’s tour he made us feel very welcome and introduced us to some of the other people.  After a short briefing and crash course in off-road driving we were let loose on the purpose built off road course which consisted of an extensive network of tracks of varying terrain and difficulty. Naturally we skipped the easy grass tracks and throw ourselves into some of the tougher stuff! It wasn’t long until someone (not us!) got stuck and had to be winched out of some particularly sticky mud, much to the amusement of everyone else, and the slight embarrassment of the driver!

The Discovery coped brilliantly with everything we threw it at and we were only held back by gravity disagreeing with our attempts to haul the near 3 tonne mass up the very steepest tracks, and despite a couple of tries with increasing run-ups we couldn’t get past a hole made by a previous car.

Lunch was eaten and confidence was riding high - high enough to give the difficult ‘red’ routes a bash!  This is where things started to get really muddy; our first track presented us with a large mud hole, about 10metres in diameter and the only way out a steep and very dicey-looking track at the other side.  After being assured it was fine, the accelerator was floored and into the mud-water we roared, big grins firmly fixed in place we slipped and slid our way through and up the other side without a problem.  Feeling suitably smug we parked up and watched several other cars trying their luck in the giant muddy big-boys playground that is the off-road site before calling it a day and hitting the road once more.

Seeing as it had been a while since we have had a night out, it was decided that a sampling of the Swedish night life was on the cards.  The Rough Guide was consulted and we headed to the town of Umea as, from the description, seemed to be most promising.  Attracting a lot of attention in the filthy car we opted to get out and find the target hostel on foot.  Quickly settling into the six bed dorm room and having made the most of the hot water we donned shoes and shirts and hit the town.  Disappointed at the lack of night life (and incredibly full from the enormous piece of chicken I had eaten) we retired much earlier than we had planned and made the most of real beds!  I guess Thursday isn’t a big night in Sweden…

Friday 18/07/08                      Day 6             Sweden

After making the most of the comfortable beds and the showers we headed out at around 11 o’clock.  As a welcome break to the predominantly cloudy and rainy weather we have experienced so far, we were even greeted by some lovely warm sunshine, excellent!

Much of the day was spent blasting down Sweden’s highways, not very exciting but efficient at eating up the miles.

We stopped for supplies at a very impressive Co-op Forum store which stocked everything from apples to angle grinders. After a quick picnic in the car park we continued north along the coastal road. After a few hours diving with no sight of the sea, we decided to take matters in to our own hands and head off down a logging track in the direction of the coast. Little by little the track got more difficult and eventually we had to admit defeat.  After some time and a 57 point turn, doing our best to avoid hitting trees, stumps, rocks and holes, we were back on the highway to Kalix to find the next Swedish off-road campsite. On arrival we again thought “why pay for a campsite with dismal views? We can do better than this!” So we headed off in search of a more suitable spot armed with the usual method of randomly driving down interesting tracks.

We eventually settled for a very pleasant spot in the middle of a beautiful pine forest with moss covered ground, not another person for miles in any direction and a great view of the ever-setting sun through the trees… then came the mosquitoes! To make things worse we had misplaced the mozzie repellent so decided to battle them with a raging camp fire and some equally fiery pasta! Naturally, this had to be washed down with a few beers to quench the chilli burn.

As always with these things, the mozzie repellent turned up just after we had survived the initial onslaught and had started to get them under control.

Saturday 19/07/08                   Day 7              Sweden

We work from another night of perpetual daylight, freshened up as best you can in the woods, and headed down to join the rest of the off-road tour at the site where many of them had stayed the night before.  The day’s off-roading session is to be held in a wildlife sanctuary with wild boar and reindeer roaming around, apparently, we didn’t see any as I guess the big diesel engine scared them all away!  The closest we got that day was the spam-like wild boar we had for lunch.

The day’s off-roading was harder going than the previous, with lots of potentially damaging big rocks and tree stumps.  After a couple of early thuds and crunches as we drove along we decided to take it easy and spent much of the day watching the other vehicles tackle the tricky sections, the Land Rover has to last us nine months and not just for the tour so it was probably the sensible thing to do!

The chap running the off-road site also had an impressively large collection of ex-military vehicles, one of which we were treated to a ride in the back of.  As we climbed in to the back of the huge Russian armoured personnel carrier we wondered why everyone was cramped into one side whilst the other remained completely empty.  As soon as the big diesel engine fired up, Alex found out.  After the extra initial burst, he was treated to ten minutes of sustained diesel fumes directly to the face. Yummy!

That afternoon we ploughed on northwards towards Kiruna and the final destination of the Swedish off-road tour.  Taking advantage of the relatively high top speeds and road manners of our Discovery, we overtook several other of the 4x4s on the way, only to miss the turning we should have taken and head the wrong way for about 20 minutes.  We were the last to arrive at the camp site, much to the amusement of the others but we are both still adamant that the roads are not the same as the map we have and it clearly wasn’t any fault of our own!

Being the last night of the tour we decided to stay at the camp site with the rest of the group.  As a reward for our efforts it rained for quite a while, thus enabling us to take advantage of the campsite bar, although at over £5 a pint we didn’t take advantage for that long. 

Staying at a camp site is an excellent opportunity to take a break from washing in rivers and lakes as we go along, or so we thought.  Arriving at the shower block we discovered that it actually required coins to get hot water.  As you can guess, we had no Norwegian coins, leaving only one option - cold showers.  There are cold showers and then there are cold showers when you are well inside the Arctic Circle, and believe me when I say these make a cold shower back in the UK look positively toasty!  Of course we both manned up, stepped under the water, and screamed like little girls whilst frantically trying to wash! A fine end to an evening by anyone’s standards.

Sunday 20/07/08                    Day 8              Sweden

For the final day of the Sweden off-road we headed towards a restricted military area near Kiruna.  The track to the off-road area was superb by its self and led to a huge off-road playground of mud, sand and gravel – perfect!

We were given a free roam of the area and everyone was making the most of it.  One small side track had us out of the car with the spade to alter the track so we could get out of a steep cul-de-sac and it was satisfying to dig ourselves out of such a situation.  We pushed on to try some different tracks until we came across our favourite terrain (partly because you don’t damage the car) - mud!  Our eyes lit up as we slithered along spraying mud around us until we reached a fork in the track - one uphill to firmer ground, the other down and even muddier!  Dave shouts ‘take the left one’ (no prizes for guessing he chose the muddier one) and within a few metres we had ground to a complete halt, unable to go forwards of backward, up to the axles in the stuff.  Maybe the right track would have been the better option after all!  Fortunately for us, help was at hand and, after several attempts, one of our Norwegian colleagues winched us back to dry land.

We left some of the more damaging tracks to the locals who seemed happy to throw their cars into almost any situation with an “oh, it’ll be fine” attitude that surpassed even ours.

After a quick lunch, where we hoovered up the last remaining hot dogs without the usual bread roll, (a fine example of the balanced diet that life on the road has been treating us to), we went off on the afternoon group tour, where all the vehicles convoyed along a varied and challenging trail.  The camaraderie was excellent as everyone got out to watch and help one another through some of the trickier bits and those that felt capable or brave could really test their vehicle to the limit.  We lost some trim off the runner boards as they scraped against a submerged rock in a muddy pool.  Dave, not to be put off by the slimy mud and brown water, stepped up: shoes off, trousers rolled up and waded in to fish out the length of rubber to be refitted at a later date.  A heavily modified G-wagon, in a valiant attempt to cross what can only be described as a swamp, had to be winched out of the deep by a beastly Volvo military vehicle with tyres that wouldn’t look out of place on a monster truck, which in turn had to anchor itself to the Disco to keep its back wheels on the ground as it pulled with the winch from the front.  A great afternoon!

In dire need of sustenance, and unable to wait until the farewell dinner, we treated ourselves to a burger from the local fast food place and headed back to the campsite to brave the icy showers before meeting up with the remaining off-roaders for the farewell dinner where we tucked into our second meal of the evening!  After another excellent feed, Peter, the tour leader, presented everyone with a Diploma for their time on the tour. After a few hours chatting, it was time to ascend the mountain overlooking the town for the official end of the tour and to catch a glimpse of the midnight sun.

The nine remaining vehicles made a truly international feel with eight different nationalities present; English, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, German, Danish and Dutch. After a glimpse of the 23:49 sunset, we said our goodbyes and everyone dispersed from the mountain.  We headed part way down the mountain and parked up on a gravelly ledge to make camp and enjoy the views.  The end of the Sweden off-road tour marked the end of a significant and enjoyable chapter of the trip to date, but, unlike the others whose holiday had now come to an end, thankfully our adventure was still just beginning and we would have plenty more to look forward to.

Monday           21/07/08                     Day 9              Sweden/Finland/Norway

The day started with a visit to the local electrical store for Dave to try and get his hands on a new video camera, as the one we had brought with us had decided that it didn’t want to play anymore and no longer worked.  With success on the camera front, but not with the inverter, we headed on our merry way even further north.

We powered on to the Sweden/Finland border, before stopping for food.  Once again we forgot the guide book for deciphering the menu and it was only after we had ordered that Dave returned to the car knowing what the word for meatballs was!  We left Sweden having had a great time on the off-road tour but a little disappointed at not having had meatballs and more than a little disappointed that, in a country synonymous with beautiful girls, we were yet to spot any!  We must have been in the wrong areas.

We entered Finland, but only for a couple of hours and never even stopped before (ignoring the desperate cries of my wallet) returning again into the extortionately-pricedNorway. 

Once again we were slowed by the winding roads and breathtaking scenery of this country.  It is often difficult to concentrate on the roads; your eyes are constantly drawn to the surrounding snow-capped mountains with glaciers and dramatic waterfalls cascading into the steep sided fjords as you round every corner.

The only thing that pulls your concentration back to the task at hand is avoiding the multitude of campervans and caravans heading in the opposite direction, a lesson we learned the hard way, at the cost of our yet-to-be-replaced left wing mirror, earlier in the trip.

Several hours further into the trip we pulled off the road to admire a particularly stunning bit of scenery and stretch our legs.  We picked our way down some particularly slippery rocks towards the edge of the crystal clear waters of the Arctic Ocean.  Alex, getting a little too close to the water, got one of his much loved, but this time unintentional, alfresco showers as a rather large wave hit the rock he was standing on.

We carried on for a couple of hours longer before attempting to find a place to camp.  Since being on this trip we have set our standards pretty high in terms of our wild camping locations, tonight was no exception. We climbed higher than the road up a small track to just above the snowline on a mountainside overlooking the fjords.

Not one to miss a trick, after finding level ground, Dave grabbed the bucket and headed off to the nearest patch of icy snow.  That evening, in contrast to the usual warm ones, we were able to enjoy a nice icy beer, or two, superb.

Unfortunately, the icy beers came at a price.  With hindsight, it is not surprising that; being above the snowline on an exposed mountainside there is a strong wind.  Not a problem, we are sleeping in the car, not a tent - it can take a bit of wind, we thought.

Much to our delight, the way this particular wind was blowing was causing one of the roof bars to resonate - in effect acting like the string on a guitar, meaning that we are trying to sleep inside the sound box!  As the clock ticked by on the permanently light night, the wind grew stronger, and the deep humming of the bar got louder and louder.  The night turned into a battle of endurance and will between the two of us.  At around 4:30 Dave snapped, left the warmth of his sleeping bag and wearing just his pants and muttering some choice language, braved the snow, wind and rain to try and make the dammed thing shut up!  Numerous solutions involving some rocks, a bucket and an apple were implemented to no avail before it was decided that the only option was to move the car so the wind came from a different angle.  Not as easy as it sounds, when the car is converted to a sleeper, you can’t get in the drivers seat.

Eventually the car was moved and the melodic tones of the roof bar ceased, allowing Dave to return to the warmth of his sleeping bag and go back to sleep!

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