Arctic Circle Return 2015

[XCovlov70]

Thanks for the interesting pictures.

I think a bit to much snow for for my taste for a vacation. I live through what you are now getting every winter so I would chase warm weather. Seems to me though that your last trip north was not quite as bad for snow. Late winter up there or earlier trip this year than last?


Good that you have gotten the light issue fixed.

Hi ssicarman,

Glad you like the pictures while thanks to the cold the camera battery is having to be charged more frequently as it 'dies' faster in this weather!

Having had a look at the details of the trip in 2013 we did arrive in Sweden around 3 weeks later previously, but the people here are saying that this year has been a warm & mild winter so I think the volume of snow must be related to climate change in some way, and more snow is forecast for today and Monday!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that the light issue stays away as well.

[XCovlov70]

Arctic Circle Return-2015

A day in Arvidsjaur Town

While the weather forecast for today said Snow we woke up to a nice sky with some blue bits showing through but a very cold wind coming from the East, so after getting some washing out of the way we set off into the town centre on foot as it was quite close by….

As we go along the side of the frozen lake we see the downhill ski runs off in the distance which are now closed till next winter….



Next up on the lakeside is this café-restaurant which is part of the Laponia Hotel complex in the town…



Main Street, where the Supermarkets are the only places open on Sunday….





While outside the Library is this Moose family carved and pieced together in wood which is about as close as we will get as they are normally very shy animals and only come out at dusk or very early in the morning to feed.



Directly across the road is the Kommun building….



While at the far end of town is this rather impressive church again all in wood….



With this notice just above the main entrance which mentions King Oscar II and whose church we are hoping to get to at the top of Finnmark and just across the river from Russia…..





Having collected a few items from the supermarket we start to make our way back to the campsite and firstly pass this little windmill whose sails were going around quite fast in the wind but there was no sign of any flour or even a generator providing electricity.….



While in front of the Laponia Hotel is this family of Bears carved in wood with a person offering something to one of the smaller Bears ....



As we go back along the road to the campsite we call into a place where Cross Country Ski-ing is held while also there is a rifle range at one side and the electricity is still running so from the electronic sign we can see the temperature…

The plan of all the routes you can take with the distances of each course at the bottom…..



The ‘Start’ point, with the tracks still in place….



The temperature, but the wind made it feel a lot colder….



The rifle range…..



Back on the road tomorrow and if the weather turns out to be correct then it will be Jokkmokk in a single run….

[ssicarman]

That three weeks earlier departure for you is likely a good part of the difference for the cooler weather and amount of snow. I know that the eastern part of Canada had a lot of snow this winter and the Maritimes got buried in 2-3 metres of snow this year. Perhaps some of those snow flakes made it over there.

[XCovlov70]

That three weeks earlier departure for you is likely a good part of the difference for the cooler weather and amount of snow. I know that the eastern part of Canada had a lot of snow this winter and the Maritimes got buried in 2-3 metres of snow this year. Perhaps some of those snow flakes made it over there.

Thanks 'Pal'!

At this exact moment in time the SNOW is hammering down over here in this campsite, so can you possibly give those guys a call in the Maritimes and ask them to turn on their BIG extractor Fan to suck some of those flakes back and drop then in the 'Pond' then tomorrow we might just make it out of here!

Otherwise it it going to be more expense when I go to buy a BIG Snow Shovel and a set of Studded Tyres as I don't think my Nokian M&S will be accepted by the Bureaucracy over here for driving on their roads in 2 feet of snow!

[ssicarman]

Sadly I was talking about this winter. If you are getting snow now it may be the Nordic gods playing with you. Have you upset Loki?

Hope that you don't get hit hard with to much snow and that it goes away quickly.

[XCovlov70]

Sadly I was talking about this winter. If you are getting snow now it may be the Nordic gods playing with you. Have you upset Loki?

Hope that you don't get hit hard with to much snow and that it goes away quickly.

While I don't think we have upset Loki, after the events of last night as you will see bleow in the next update, I think it's still Winter over here, as we have been hit with the white stuff and it's still coming down so all movement plans are on hold until I check with reception.

[XCovlov70]

Arctic Circle Return-2015

12 hours in Arvidsjaur. Oops!

Around 18:00 last night it started Snowing, which might be a little difficult to see in the first picture below….



By 19:30 it looked like this..…



22:00 just before we turned in this was the scene….



07:00 the following morning we found this scene when we opened the door while the front passenger corner of the bonnet of Flamenco Red is in the lower right corner of the picture…..



My guess is around 3 inches on the ‘TinTent’ step….



Looking across the area to the other pitches we have a nice winter snowy view!



Turn around and there we are all covered in Snow and now listening to it sliding off the back and front of the TinTent!



Hey Ho plans changed again as I don’t think we will be going anywhere today…..

P.s. By the way, it’s still snowing!!!

[XCovlov70]

Arctic Circle Return-2015

Arvidsjaur to Jokkmokk

As the snow continued to fall this morning I went off the Camping Gielas Reception to get some input on the road conditions to Jokkmokk, and the young lady in Reception (Emma) told me that it would be fine with a lovely convincing smile, so we packed up and off we went….



While the roads, this one being the E45 was nice and clear as the Traffic Authority are responsible for the main ‘E’ roads in Sweden, while the non major roads are the responsibility of each of the Kommunes who live along them to keep clear…..





One of the small Kommun Villages we passed through…..





Bus Shelter and we did see an Intercity Bus pass us on its way to Őstersund, which is a long way from where he passed us…..



As the snowplough had been done the other side of the road you could see the broken white line while our side was waiting for the snow plough to come back…



Comfort break in a Traffic Plats, while also removing some chunks of snow that had turned to ice and were making a noise in the roof gutter, as well as clearing the pile of snow still in the middle of the roof….



On the right in the next picture is the WC, which is heated, has hot water for washing your hands and a dryer, and a plentiful supply of Loo paper, while it is also serviced once a day in winter by the traffic authority….

Left of middle is the old road bridge which you can walk over but no vehicles are allowed….



While this is the view from the old bridge which was really nice….







Then it was back on the road using the new bridge as we passed the old one…



While a bit further North we had a part of the road that the Snowplough had yet to visit…..



Just after that, it was SLOW DOWN time as we came across a small herd of Reindeer looking for food near the road….







Another small village….





As we spotted a Diesel Garage we pulled in for some fuel and spotted this small boat whose days were now being spent as a flower basket…..



As we then arrive at The Polar Circle crossing point…..







With the front of the ‘TinTent’ absolutely filthy from the road as well as a lot of ice build up as the temperature had been 0C from when we left Arvidsjaur….



While a little bit further up the road we come to the sign for Jokkmokk ….



Shortly after we arrived at our next campsite, but as it was still snowing quite heavily we got checked in and then onto a pitch and got set up, with a few pictures of the campsite planned for tomorrow when hopefully the snow will have stopped!

[ssicarman]

Some nice shots again despite the white stuff or rather because of the white stuff. I did a quick check of the weather for the next few days for Jokkmokk....
Sadly the good news is if you don't like change you will be happy.

Looks like Emma and her smile were right about the roads. Hopefully the slight warm up in temperature helps to keep them clear.

[XCovlov70]

Some nice shots again despite the white stuff or rather because of the white stuff. I did a quick check of the weather for the next few days for Jokkmokk....
Sadly the good news is if you don't like change you will be happy.

Looks like Emma and her smile were right about the roads. Hopefully the slight warm up in temperature helps to keep them clear.

Thanks, glad you like the pictures, you might like to forward them to the Midwestern Weather Guys with our thanks for shipping the stuff over!

While I don't mind change, then as it isn't going to happen in our case it looks like we have a few 'problems' on our front door which we will need to investigate in Jokkmokk today as we are back on the road tomorrow.

While it got warmer yesterday the temperature is back down again this morning and the white flakes are once again drifting through the air, landing and going nowhere!