Today’s route had to be started half an hour later, which gave me some extra time for sleeping. Just as i expected, the area was rather productive. The habitat was slightly different with more open fields, big river and some birch woodland. Thus the new birds started appearing. At the first point i had Lapwings, Whimbrel, Northern Wheatears and later on i added Teal, Wigeon, Dipper, Greenshanks and lots of Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers. It was great to see some of these waders and ducks in their breeding grounds: not something i experience every day.
The terrain wasn’t difficult to walk. The only challenge is the big rivers which have lots of water at this time of the year. I couldn’t really cross them without getting soaking wet. Never mind, the most important thing is that i managed to do the job and i was happy with it. This was my fifth route which suggests that i am done with a third of the routes.
Once i changed the wet gear i hit the road to the next place which was some 280 south of where was. It was pouring rain along the whole trip. I am glad i managed to do the route today but with this rain, tomorrow will be a day off. This will give some time to my gear to dry out.
Driving along i saw a sign saying “2 km to the arctic circle”. Wow, this is worth a stop. The Arctic circle is at 66’33 and separates the Arctic region. It is the borderline where the sun doesn’t set in Summer and doesn’t rise in winter. The circle is marked with a few little statues and a sign. Of course there was a place to visit which was only a restaurant and a shop. Of course this is what the contemporary society wants: CONSUMPTION. There was no museum other than a few info boards with maps outside the building. The area around is fairly flat with a few hills. There was still quite a lot of snow. Temperature was about 4 degrees Celsius and it was pretty windy. I suppose this is part of the charm to experience the Arctic. It sounds sort of exotic because of its remoteness but it is flipping cold. Well as a typical representative of the contemporary society i bought a few souvenirs and continued along my way.
Arctic circle
Arctic circle shop
Polar bear in the arctic circle shop
It was still raining when i arrived at Mosjoen at about 18 o’clock. It took me some time to find a hotel and when i did i couldn’t believe that a very basic room cost about 100 euros. Up to now i always managed to find a place for half of this price but this is ridiculous. Well there is storm outside so my other choice would be to sleep in the car. I selected the hotel at the end and didn’t regret it. Managed to get some good sleep, proper breakfast and internet which is becoming an addiction. Tomorrow was going to be a day off and i stayed later than usual to catch up with staff.