| Distance | 42.7 km |
| Average Speed | 14.2 km/h |
| Maximum Speed | 28.3 km/h |
I consulted with Asko and his son (confusingly also called Timo) over my breakfast, which was as excellent as always. We agreed that in order to ensure that I didn’t bump into one of their groups I would head west towards the power lines and then perhaps work my way north round to Harjajärvi. This would involve using the ski trail which Saija Timo confirmed was open.
After feeding the dogs I set off at about 10:30. There are a lot of different trails leaving Saija across the lake an unfortunately I chose the wrong one. This took me west, but against the southern edge of the lake. Eventually I realised my mistake and managed to turn round but then I had a problem with the lead dogs who seemed to continually turn to the right away from the clear trail in the snow. I managed to get back to Saija and onto the right trail, but they kept veering to the right.
After leaving the lake and heading into the forest I finally figured out what was wrong with the leaders. Unlike previous days, Foxy was running on the left and she really wanted to be back on the right. She kept trying to get to the right of Pehu and in doing so pushed them both to the right. Fortunately, this problem was easily fixed and then the team ran much better.
I followed Saija trails for some distance and then managed to pick up the ski trail. Unfortunately I very quickly hit a problem. The ski trail crosses a forest road in two places and this road had been opened by a snowplough. Clearly this had been done recently and with the snow already deep and compacted. This had produced a 1.5m high wall of snow blocks down each side this completely blocked the ski trail. There was no sign that anyone had tried to cross these before me so these walls were untouched.
Getting the sledge and dogs over these walls was extremely challenging. It is hard to control the sledge because as it pivots over the wall the brake will be too high to grip the blocks beneath. In addition, as this can’t be done in one fluid manoeuvre the dogs will inevitably decide that they wish to run along the road. This twists the sledge round causing it to topple sideways off the wall. It is of course absolutely vital not to let go; if the dogs get free on a swept road they will run a very long way and possibly onto a bigger road with traffic. I fell onto the hard road surface at least twice as I struggled to hold onto the sledge and expressed myself freely regarding the selfish idiots who drive the snowploughs!
Having overcome these obstacles with difficulty I then continued along the ski trail where I met a lady coming the other way who was skijouring. I stopped and held my lead dogs so that she and her dog could get past without any fights breaking out!
It was already becoming clear to me that continuing all the way to Harjajärvi would take much too long. I therefore continued as far as the Hella junction before turning right and then right again onto a track which I had never taken before in the hope that it would lead me back in the right direction. By good chance it eventually did – via a rather circuitous route – take me to the end of the swept forest road I had crosses earlier. A short drive along this allowed me, with more difficulty, to get back onto the ski trail.
It was then a simple matter to re-join the Saija trail which I followed north east up towards the road and then round onto the lake and back to Saija.
