Polar Stroll – Day 22
When did you have your last first time? I did today, when I crossed river Tornio and finished the Polar stroll across Finland. During this adventure I had a lot of first times - I went on a multi-day ski-trip
Adventures
Polar Stroll – Day 21
Interestingly enough I woke up at the same place I went to sleep - in the woods. During the night the wind was rocking my tent, but I slept tight, because I knew that the wind can’t blow my tent
Polar stroll – Day 20
Yesterday I went out. As you normally do on Friday nights. But this time I didn’t go to the theatre, but was simply jumping over my campfire. A very jolly activity, I have to say. While I was entertaining myself,
Polar Stroll – Day 19
This was a surprisingly warm morning - the sun had warmed up the tent to a temperature that was enough to leave the gloves off. Slowly I placed my belongings out in the sun to dry. Although it was a
Polar Stroll – Day 18
Today I got off the road, so the wheels had to go. I took my sledge off the wheeled construction and secured the construction on top of the sledge. In this fashion I crossed lake Sevettijärvi and tried to find
Polar Stroll – Day 17
This morning I woke up in a small spruce cluster between a supermarket and Mercedes service-center. It wasn’t a particularly scenic location, however it was a strategic one - I had made my camp near metal-shops and a construction supplies
Polar Stroll – Day 14-16
You could say that the day before yesterday was the most important turning point of my adventure so far, and not because I finally met the real Santa-Clause, who wasn’t just my neighbor with a thin beard glued to his
Polar Stroll – Day 12/13
I’ve been alone for two days now. Martins has successfully returned to Latvia and is preparing for getting back on track with his everyday life, but I continue laying my tracks in the Nordic snow. Yesterday the morning came with a
Polar Stroll – Day 11
The time is 19:30 and we have fixed up our camp, but we still have no fire. Martins is attending to that right now. Perhaps the lack of a pile of wood combusting in a rapid manner is the reason
Polar Stroll – Day 10
Last night I got cold feet - literally. The rest of my body was protected by all available clothing in many layers, but the feet got a bit iced. It’s reasonable to assume that the broken zipper on entrance of
Polar Stroll – Day 9
The time is 20:00, and the thermometer shows -12 degrees. But for how long? An hour ago the temperature reading was -8 degrees. So we are experiencing a 4 degree drop in an hour, and there are still approximately 10
Polar Stroll – Day 8
It’s a good thing that we spent last night in the accommodations of the alpine-skiing club KORE, because during the night the temperature dropped to a freezing -26 degrees Celsius. I guess there’s no need to say that we would
Polar Stroll – Day 7
This evening we reached Suomu ski-resort, where thanks to Laima Kaufiņa we met the members of the alpine-skiing club KORE. At this point there are approx. 100 Latvians in Suomu, because the Latvian and Baltic Alpine-Skiing Championship is taking place
Polar Stroll – Day 6
Though I like to say, that the past doesn’t exist, the first part of the day went by remembering the sauna and admiring Heikki’s skillful hands. He is a retired hunter, but his hands are quick with plane, chisel and
Polar Stroll – Day 5
It’s 16:40 and we have reached a town called Hirvasvaara. Last night the snowing stopped only around 2:00 making it a 12 hour long snowfall. We have nothing against the snow per se, but its nasty habit of melting in a
Polar Stroll – Day 4
As planned we get on our way reasonably early - at 9:00. The temperature is -2 degrees Celsius and the weather is fine. And the route is fine as well - we cross a marsh, a frozen lake and follow
Polar Stroll – Day 3
Our first nigh in the Finnish wilderness was quite comfy. The only problem is the late and slow start of the day. We got up quite late, because last night we went to sleep only after midnight, and the lack
Polar Stroll – Day 2
When we get out of the train in the Kemijärvi station we are overwhelmed by the warmth of the local hearts - we are welcomed by accordion music, bonfires and Santa-clause himself, who by the look of it works here
Polar Stroll – Day 1
The journey from Riga to Tallinn goes on with a somewhat dramatically-romantic feeling as we watch Forest Gump on the TV screen in the bus. It was one of my favorite movies while growing up. I often pushed the overplayed
Polar Stroll
The idea is to follow a 750 km long stretch of the Polar Circle from the border of Russia and Finland to the banks of the Norwegian Sea across Finland, Sweden and Norway. The participants of this adventure will walk