Day 8 Enontekiö/Hetta to Kolari

Apologies for delay of blogs, it would seem internet is a rareity in Finnish hotels and Swedish campsites.......

So back tracking a week

29th July

158.28km in 5hours 58min

Averaging 26.4 kmph, maxing out at 56.3kmph

Lovely rolling Finnish hills on our faverite E8

Awake in Finland, buffet all you can eat breakfast again. Highlight of this morning's were the Gingerbread biscuits which found happy new home in our biscuit tin (having now polished off the travel sweets I had insisted on for the flight).

We elected not to follow the Bible(official mannual of the Eurovelo7 route) satying in Finland rather than meandering through Sweden. Which meant our longest day in glorious sunshine following the E8 (imagine a country lane crossed with a motor way and minimal traffic).

Zooming down, grabbing 50cent coffee and doughnuts on route.

Now out of Norway the numbers of fellow cycle tourers on the road has thinned out. Quite a relief as now we can stop racing with everyone. Most frustrating was the sweet little Swedish man we met our first day from Alta who we cycled a few km with before speeding away from him. In a reinterpretation of the Tortoise and the Hare he kept reappearing at our stops as we got further north in Norway!

But back to the Finish E8 where the day was proving too long and hot for Alice despite the reviving roadside picnic sandwiches. Thankfully we came across the equivalent of a service station for Fishermen and she was able to get some Pepsi Max. (Who we are approaching for sponsorship).

Revived we sweep into Kolari which seems to consist of out of town shopping complexes with no obvious centre.

With no camping signs apparent we follow the first signs for a hotel. A winding course along a gravel path leads us to a guest house. The hostess up on the balcony smiking a fag, causally shrugs and waddles down the stairs (portly is normally an adjective I'd only use for a man but for her an exception). With limited Finnish and English she attempts to extract an extortionate amount of Euros from us for bed for the night andbreakfast?.. Possibly(that shrug again!).

We edge out and flee on our bikes (fully loaded touring bikes aren't the fastest get away vechicles but safely escaped her waddle), she shouts lower and lower prices at us as we leave.

A little up the road we check into a motel most suprised and grateful for out of season custom.

Over the road to the local burgar joint for a hot sandwich!