Distance Average Speed Max Speed 43.4 km 12.4 km/h 25.7 km/h Noticed strange object on trail leading from hut where it passes in front of sauna. Turned out to be a wooly hat presumably dropped by a guest as they were starting. Hung it up in hut and sent text to inform guides. After starting got a reply asking if I could take it with me, so collected it at lunchtime. Dogs definitely a bit tired after two very long
2017 Trip – Day 5
Distance Average Speed Max Speed 65.2 km 13.9 km/h 29.4 km/h Slept in a little later and managed to get away from Saija by 1030. Headed N to Kylmaluomajarvi. Met Saija guide from yesterday at snowmobile trail junction at W end of lake. Followed trail as far E as the edge of the map before returning to kota for lunch. Direct route from trail to kota not open down steep slope so had to continue to adjacent laavu and then
2017 Trip – Day 4
Distance Average Speed Max Speed 61.8 km 14.1 km/h 31.0 km/h A very long run from Jänisvaara to Saija partly due to wrong turnings. Weather excellent with clear skies and trees very picturesque with frost on them. Started OK on snowmobile trail and followed ski track S from power lines towards Hella and then on to army road. Got confused by trail near bottom of army road and turned back N. Eventually, after another couple of wrong turnings ended up
2017 Trip – Day 3
Distance Average Speed Max Speed 22.4 km 15.5 km/h 31.4 km/h Spent entire morning preparing kit, waiting for bag and then packing stuff from bag. Timo provided new sled with significantly larger sled bag (as it turned out this was essential). Lunch and food supplied in two huge bags was far too much, but could be cut down by discarding less vital stuff and some judicious decanting. Helped a couple of groups to depart and bag arrived just as the
2017 Trip – Day 2
Distance Average Speed Max Speed 34.5 km 13.6 km/h 32.4 km/h This year’s team is: Selimo Manta Suri Elvis Max Kattla No sign of bag in the morning, so borrowed some thick socks and ventured out without a map. Got away by about 1030 and headed off to left of main trail. Eventually re-joined trail but wasn’t sure where. Headed N and finally hit Janisvaara junction. Didn’t want to go to hut, so instead went to top of hill
2017 Trip – Day 1
Checked in OK for flight to Helsinki, but plane was late departing. Reason was unclear, but there seemed to be a very long queue just to get into the gate. Queue didn’t go away until boarding was already underway. Plane was new A350, so 3-3-3 configuration, but long haul experience with screen in back of seat and video on demand (including two external views of aircraft). Not clear if this is a permanent change or just the aircraft that was
Helsinki Trip – Day 2
For the second day of our trip Monika suggested that we visit the Finnish National Library. This was not a destination we would normally have selected, but it was really a very interesting and recently restored building. The first room you enter has a magnificent dome surrounding which are beautifully decorated arches. Through a door is a three storey reading room. In the central tower Monika found a heavy read… …but Sophia found something rather lighter. Whilst Marina went back
Helsinki Trip – Day 1
Today we visited the Helsinki Science centre “Heureka” with Monika and Olivia. The science education value of this section was unclear, but it contained some fun activities. The first event on the list was curling, and here Olivia shows us her technique. Whilst Monica had a go at the sweeping task. Note that there was no actual ice and the stones ran on casters of some sort so the sweeping activity didn’t seem to make any difference. The next event
First day in Adelaide
Well, here I am at the start of my third trip to Australia and ready to spend five weeks in Sunny Woomera. Since I will be driving up to Woomera and it is a long drive, I have two rest days to enjoy the delights of Adelaide (or at least as much as I can as I recover from jet lag). Opting for a nice easy start I visited the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. These come highly recommended and what’s more,
Anti-Spice
Nowadays, everything is very spicy. It is practically obligatory to like everything chilli, cajun, everything hot, VERY HOT etc. On some days, the menu in our daughter’s school canteen looks something like this: chilli con carne pepperoni pizza spicy lentil veggi chilli I was once served a fish soup containing, by my modest evaluation, the entire content of the pepper mill. Makes one think about those Olden Days when spices were allegedly used to hide the taste of food that