74.45km –10H39’
Altitude : 194 m
Finnish provinces are divided in municipalities which bear the name of the main town. The municipality of Sodankylä is the second largest in Finland, with a surface equal to that of Jamaica (thank you Wikipedia). It has 9,000 inhabitants, which makes a population density of 0.7 inhabitants per square km. In spite of this, we don’t feel lonely. Recreational Vehicles are legion and we see dozens of them every day. Like motorcycle drivers, RV drivers wave, so you are constantly raising your hand in reply, when you aren’t daydreaming. Up to now the license plates have been mostly Finnish but we are beginning to see Swiss and Austrian plates. Lapland draws a great number of tourists, more than Central Finland, and of course we are on a main road which leads to the North Cape. So we don’t feel isolated at all and contrary to what I imagined, camping sites, holiday villages and WI-FI are easier to find now than they were some days ago.
Serge, continues to advance, making it seem like it is something disconcertingly normal and commonplace. He gives the impression that nothing can keep him from progressing each day, as he wishes and we can only hope it will continue this way for a few months. The word tired is an understatement; getting up in the morning is difficult and Serge says that he would pay a lot of money to be able to stay in bed all day, stretched out to rest his legs and his sore body. But we smile and say nothing, because it is not a question of price…..
News:
• Yesterday Rene planted a seedling Finnish pine tree in a flower pot and from now on he will lovingly take care of it in the back of his van
• At km 70 Serge sprayed himself with mosquito repellant to protect against a regular attack.
Town : Purasuvanto