Arctic Circle and Lapland

The final leg of our African leg was to drive across Swedish Lapland and hike north of the arctic circle.

We started by picking up some gear in Stockholm (thank you to Andy for delivering in person from London) and enjoying a few days of museums (there are literally hundreds in Sweden) and exploring Swedish culture. The culinary side can be explored very quickly (meat, potatoes, flat bread, hotdogs and pickled fish) but we did manage to get in a few good meals of reindeer and herring.

Striking out from Stockholm we drove 15 hours north to the artic circle and the town of Jokkmokk. We spent five days in the area canoeing, hiking and enjoying the non-stop rain and cloudy skies. Yes, we didn't pick the best time of year to come to Sweden, but still managed to enjoy ourselves with good 3-ply Gortex.

The nature looked very much like northern Ontario but with reindeer, good Swedish organization (orderly cities, public transport etc) and Sami (Lapp) people. The Sami are an ethnic group of reindeer herders who live across Norway, Sweden, Finland and Siberia. Interesting history with much the same historical prejudice and Native NAs or Inuit people...

Off to Japan to conquer Mt Fuji!