Lapland

[Olof_imp]

D+5 continued. Off bike day spent checking out Saxnäs, such a small village that it's easily done on foot.



This was and is, one of the southern outposts of the indigenous people, the Sami who calls the village Saadteskenjuana. It' been a state village since 1824. Farming is not easy up here and back then hunting provided most of the supplies. To avoid depleting game hen the law dictated a minimum distance of 10 km between settlers. Today the village officially consists of 134 souls. Naturally tourism is an economical backbone here and last year, likely due to Corona, the number of visitors sky rocketed. We saw a steady stream of motorhome, caravans and bikes from early mornings to late evenings.





The hub of Saxnäs is the small grocery store along the main road. For many years on the edge of bankruptcy it's now run by a young energetic team an seems to be thriving. It doubles as gas station, post office, pharmacy, liquor store, fishing store and cafe. Most of the time there was a happy queue outside, waiting for their turn to get in.



Behind the grocery store we found this. A book exchange booth. You simply bring your finished book, put it in the booth and picked another and brought home. Seemed to work well.