Winter Wonderland Southern Lapland

The days have been perfect weather wise. We start with a 40cm dump of fresh , fluffy snow at -7C and finish off with three amazingly clear, sunny days down to -18C.André can’t wipe the grin off his face, he has a beautiful, strong team of dogs, Rohan and Robert in the lead, then Saga, Yoga, Tall, Malte and Toker. Super affectionate and very strong dogs. Each morning as the sleds get filled , the poop scooped and a snack given out to the dogs, they know we are about to leave , sound deafening and it is almost impossible to hold them back. There is no chance for getting something in the cabin you may have forgotten , they go!!

Photo taken by Ulrica Almqvist

In the meantime, I pretty much do the same route with one day to myself in a remote cabin, total wilderness, not a sound as even all the birds have flown south. I get to bring water from under the frozen lake after chopping a hole in the ice, keep the pot belly stove going for comfort and keep an eye out for the Northern Lights.

Last day I get to do some dog sledding and finish off with a crash course in how to drive a snow mobile. It is a lot of fun, flying on the snow with the trees screaming by.

Our farewell to the dogs dawns with a crisp -30C. There is doggy love in abundance, but really can there ever be enough of that!!A 10 hour bus trip to Kiruna, north of the Arctic circle fills the day. Despite the remoteness, the bus connections work like clockwork and we get to Kiruna on the schedule minute, seeing our first reindeers on the way.