My Lapland Adventure
Due North II has come to an end now that I’ve returned to the UK. It’s time to catch up and share some of the adventure I’ve been on. My drive to the Arctic saw me cross the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland.
I go to this point in the dead of night, waking up early to get a coffee and explore the gift shop. Yes, of course there’s a gift shop. This point on my journey was monumental. It came after days of driving all the way from the UK, over the channel on a ferry and into France, through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. In Denmark I got on a second ferry at Hirtshals that took me into Norway where, immediately upon leaving the ferry, my windscreen froze solid with the combination of frozen rain, extreme cold and the difference in humidity from the ferry crossing. I was driving on the main highway from Larvik to Oslo but was forced to stop to clear the windscreen and treat it with de-icer in an attempt to prevent it from happening again before continuing. I then went through Oslo and up into Sweden, driving all the way up the E4 and crossing into Finland. I reached the Arctic Circle crossing point at Juoksenki and immediately felt as if I’d arrived and could slow everything down.
From here on I was free to explore Lapland. My first port of call was Äkäslompolo, home of the largest reindeer statue in the world.
The whole of Lapland is the traditional home of the Sami people. Their nation, Sapmi, spans across modern borders and sits within northern Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Sami people are the indigenous reindeer herders, and their reindeer are free to roam the entire area with virtually no restrictions. This can sometimes make driving a challenge because between the reindeer and the moose, there are plenty of hazards hiding in the dark.
Lapland greeted me in style, giving me an incredible show of the Northern Lights over Ylläs. The whole oval was visible and the temperature dropped to -20ºc, giving me a crisp, clear sky to see all the colours of the aurora.
I’ve noticed that as we approach solar maximum the colours of the northern lights are far more vivid. The primary purpose of my trip was to conduct a lot of aurora research and note any changes in the behaviour of the northern lights. I shot as many aurora photos as I could, at every opportunity, and made note of all the patterns and observations I possibly could. This meant many nights out in the cold, keeping my eyes on the skies at all hours to see the aurora come and go. The lowest temperature I had was -25.5ºc, which is a far cry from the -38ºc I experienced last winter in Finnish Lapland near Muonio, but once it drops past about -15ºc it’s all pretty much the same aside from the humidity and the wind.
After spending a week in Finnish Lapland I headed farther north and crossed over into Sweden. Just outside of Jukkasjärvi, home of the original Ice Hotel, I had another awesome light show. I took the opportunity to do some more considers photography and employed my best modelling tactic - looking away from the camera.
My Lapland adventure was only just beginning.