Lapland

[Olof_imp]

D+6. Today we rode to Fatmomakke. It's is the most prominent Sami sacred village in Sweden and one of the best preserved in the world. The place has for thousands of years been an important spiritual place and is still used as a cultural meeting place. The oldest buildings date back to the end of the 16th century but most buidlings are from the beginning of the 18th.





The roads here are gravel, varying between hard and grippy and quite loose. We found the sign of 65 North. No souvenir shop. No café. No sculpture for taking selfies with. No traffic. Just the sign. Us. And the gnats.



In an attempt to be a bit more outdoorsy and embrace nature we followed a particularly loose gravel.road to Marsliden, the starting point for one of the trails, with the ambition to spend a quiet day on the mountain. By the time we got there, the gnats, heat and relentless sun had convinced us that we'd rather go for ice cream. We got the picture, jumped on the bike and skidded back to Saxnäs and our trusty grpcery store. Which of course has an ice cream machine.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Looks like for some fun ADV riding. Nice.

 

[Stichill]

Beautiful landscape! I love the lake views. Made me wonder why any Swedes ever emigrated to the New World in the 1800s...but maybe it was the bugs!

P.J. O'Rourke once went "back to nature" by walking out into the woods completely naked. His conclusion: nature itches!

I think that insect swarms are pretty common to all northern latitudes in the summer. The insects have a short time to "do their thing" and they make the most of it while they can!

Probably not a solution for when you're out on the bikes, but when stopped for the night or out hiking, Thermacell is amazing. We took them to northern Minnesota, also home to an insect Air Force, and we were completely untroubled by the mosquitoes and gnats. Best part is no chemicals on your skin. There's a slight odor but it is very mild and not offensive. The system works by means of a butane cannister that burns catalytically to create a tiny heat source. This heats up the blue pad until it emits the repellent that drives away the pests. They are very lightweight and clip on your belt. You will forget they are on you.

 

[Olof_imp]

@Cormanus: yes the scenery is truly stunning, also up close we were amazed by the freshness and beauty. Drinking the water straight from the streams is not only fine but also very tasty. At the same time it's an unforgiving harsh environment, especially in winter - the hardships that early settlers had to endure are unbelievable.

@Goldoxie: absolutely, ADV riding should be top here in terms of wildlife. However, there are not really that many roads around. These two phone screenshots, from the Swedish Transport Administration site, perhaps illustrate this. The top image portrays the Saxnäs area, Lapland, and the bottom image portrays the Helsingborg area, Skåne (where we live), with same scale - 1:750000 which roughly translates to 100 km horizontally across the images (I have no idea why the images end up with different sizes in the post but in reality these are the same so just mentally enlarge the Skåne image, sorry for that). Red lines are tarmac roads and blue lines are gravel roads. There simply aren't any roads up north. The difference corresponds pretty well with the population density - in Lapland less than one person per square kilometer, compared to 107 in Skåne (which happens to equal the average population density for Europe).




@Stitchill: Thermacell looks interesting. I admit that the mosquitoes bothered us more than we had expected and after a few days with constant application of chemicals on your skin - which goes straight into your blood - we were quite happy to leave that behind us. So, we'll look into this. Thanks!

 

[pdedse]

I didn't know the mosquitos were such an issue!

Very cool to see your area of the world, Olof...thanks for posting the photos.

 

[Olof_imp]

Impressions of food and drink in Lapland, compared to what we are used to: Less pork and more fish and reindeer. Smoked, dried and canned. Lots of flatbread in various forms. Beer more often than wine. Many take their coffee black unfiltered with a pinch of salt and there even is a special brand, Lemming Coffee, which comes with a little envelope with - allegedly -special salt. Our typical breakfast: muesli, sour milk and self picked wood strawberries. This however I suspect gives us away as city people since breakfast here often is a much more substantial meal, often with porridge, bread, cheese and coffee. Lots of coffee, strong and black. Eva takes her coffee with milk but this may be considered a bit soft. Sugar, on the other hand, seems to be fine. No logic there.



Some common dishes. Top: potatoe pancake with bacon, pressed cucumber, lingonberries. Middle: smoked pork loin with potatoe salad, tomatoes and a local beer. Bottom: Hash browns with whitefish roe, red onion and sour creme.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

What fine cuisine before, during and after a motorcycle tour.

 

[Olof_imp]

D+7. Last day in Saxnäs. We visited a Sami knife maker and got these. Finnish blades (from a friend) and the rest sourced locally; handles of reindeer horn and birch. There were at least twenty knives to choose from, each different in shape and combination of materials. None of the knives had guards (for preventing the hand to slip from the handle onto the blade). She - because the knife maker was a she - smiled when we asked and explained that guards are considered to be for children only.



We also learnt that knives are an important part of Sami life. Most have several knives, specialized knives as well as knives for general use. Different areas and families often have their own ecorations and ornaments. Knives are also considered to have magical capacities and there are rites for healing and love involving knives.

D+8. Departure. We had booked our next overnight stay at the Salsåker mansion by the Baltic coast. This would be a 400 km ride on roads that we had been warned were pretty bad in parts. In addition the forecast predicted a particularly hot day, peaking at 28-30 degrees Celcius mid-afternoon. So, in order to be done riding around lunch we took off early. This was taken 03:58 a.m., right before helmet on and engine start up..

 

[Houtman_imp]

The food looks VERY nice !

 

[Cormanus]

The food looks delicious and the photos of it are excellent as well.

 

[Stichill]

Fascinating local customs and traditions. I'm not a veteran sailor, but I have heard that salt in black coffee is common in navies.

The plates look incredible! Amazing cuisine and presentation.

 

[Olof_imp]

D+8 continued. We were on the road at 4 a.m., eager to get going to avoid the daytime heat, but stopped for a last picture. The beauty was unreal. The scenery was ok too.



We'd made up the plan during the last couple of days: first cover the 400 km to the coast, as it was said to be nice there. Stay overnight. Then head south and suffer for half a day on the dual carriageway down to Gävle before shifting to A- and B-roads a bit inland to avoid the Stockholm area (we're not keen on cities). Stay overnight in Nyköping, That leg would be the longest, 600 km. Then follow nice back roads down the coast until Valdermarsvik, before we yet again had to suffer main roads which would lead us to Borgholm for our overnight stay. An easy day, only 300 km. And then, finally, returning home to Råå after another 300 km. The full round trip, some 3000 km, would look like this.



The night was bright, traffic nil and the roads better than expected. We'd started on empty stomachs, relying on the 24/7 open gas station in Vilhelmina to serve us breakfast with, most importantly, hot and strong black coffee. Unfortunately the gas station was in reality closed, forcing us to do another couple of hours before we finally got our coffee in Solberg. This put a strain on our good mood but on the plus side still very little traffic and no animals (as a side note: we had the same for most of the trip - very few animals on or near the road. We had expected lots, and actually looked forward to being stopped by flocks of reindeer on the road, with bells clanking and hoofs clattering quaintly - most sites predicted (promised) this and strongly suggest tourist travellers to be very cautios as reindeer are supposed to be very stupid - but no. We only saw one measly reindeer, between Särna and Järpen going up and that was it. Very disappointing).

This was our scenery for most of the morning.



Apart from the coffee trauma the day was pretty uneventful. We rode, filled up the bikes every 180-220 km, had a snack and some drink at the same time and then rode again. We watched the landscape go softer as we got nearer the coast. More small lakes, more lush green, taller trees and more roads. By the time we reached the coast all felling of wilderness and being far up north had more or less disappeared. We found our place, checked in, had a few beers and slept well.

 

[peterbaron]

....getting jealous, great trip, pics and bike

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

RE Lack of strong black coffee: At least the bio breaks were less of an issue.

 

[Olof_imp]

D+9. A morning walk around Salsåker revealed this creative garage solution. Incidentally this is a Volvo Laplander, in military terms "Person/Cargo Terrain Vehicle 903". Volvo produced and delivered 8000 of these 1963-1964, which many of the components shared with the cars, for example the engine - the Volvo B-18. It turned to be very rugged. It served in the Swedish Armed Forces until 1974 when it was replaced by a larger platform. Many 903s were sold as surplus and have today a small but loyal following.



Back at the mansion we had breakfast by the Baltic before departing for the longest leg on the trip - 600 km. The first half would be boring dual carriageway. We hoped however to make good progress in the early hours, before the caravans and motor homes appeared. Then, for the second half after lunch, we thought we'd found a nice set of A- B-roads from Gävle for the second half down to Nyköping.




The plan worked well at first. The dual carriageway snaked through a hilly landscape, smooth and freee from traffic and law enforcement. We made quite swift progress and enjoyed every minute of it. The CB impressed, stable att all speeds and, as it turned out, pretty easy on the petrol too. Under five litres per 100 km is not bad att all considering the pace.

After Gävle however the roads turned out to be quite dull, with lots of heavy traffic and overcrowded petrol stations. The heat was getting to us as well. Pretty grim faces until the last 200 km, when everything improved. It even cooled down a bit. Lots of quaint villages and great roads, as made for motorbikes. We arrived in Nyköping tired byt happy.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Cool (or not).

 

[Stichill]

It's so interesting to see and hear about such different places. I really enjoy the attractive and inviting colors of the buildings you've shown us: rich rust red, light yellow, ocre.

The Person/Cargo Terrain Vehicle 903 looks like it would be pretty fun to offroad with!

 

[Gone in 60]

Wow, what a fascinating trip. My wife and I are still ruminating over our last adventure a week and a half ago, even though it was in our own state in our own car. Last night, while taking a stroll through the neighborhood, she asked me where our next vacation should be.

I think I have a new destination to throw into the list! Thank you!

 

[Olof_imp]

@ GoldOxide, Stichill and Gone in 60: thanks for kind comments. This is a great forum and the trip reports are always inspiring and the great adventures people dive into often humbling. Our little ride does not really compare but I enjoy writing the report and if it's of any interest to anyone I"m glad.

Regarding the Volvo Laplander/903: I believe they are pretty capable offroad. I've never driven one but have some experience of its successor the six cylinder C303 which is said to bd comparable and even participated in Paris-Dakar. They do rust however, to the extent that the Swedish Armed Forces rather than repairing the fleet of C303s replaced every C303's bodywork with a complete brand new one. They are still in service.

From the Paris Dakar (photo Teknikens Värld)

 

[Cormanus]

Sounds like a great ride, Olof. I enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures too. Thanks for getting out there and entertaining us.