Above the Arctic Circle

The scenery is black and white. There is no sunlight, not at this time of the year, but the full moon is really bright. Trees are covered with frost and snow. The river is frozen. It’s quiet. So very quiet. I can hear only my breathing. Then sudden cracks, howling and wailing. It’s the river ice singing. A welcome song to me. It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m back home. Above the Arctic Circle.

Finally, at home.

Friends, Farewells and a Ferry

We were not in a hurry. We had planned our trip back to Finland so that we could, once more, meet some friends on the way. It was time to say thanks to those who helped us. Time to say farewells and give hugs to friends we might not see again in a long time. Every stop was one step closer to home. I tried not to think about it. Not because I didn’t want the tour to end but because I was afraid of some jinx Mr Murphy might still place in us.

Vuosaari harbour in Finland the morning we arrived.

We took a Finnlines ferry from Germany to Finland. The ferry trip takes 27 hours. There isn’t much to do on the ferry, it’s not a cruise ship. But there was a sauna and excellent buffets. We got massages and played board games.

We spent some days in southern Finland since most of our relatives and Finnish friends live there. It was time to have delicious dinners and pre-Christmas parties with souvenirs and good stories. It felt strange to speak Finnish all the time.

The Insane Stats

The tour took 334 days. We drove over 39,000 kilometres, through 17 different countries. We visited 66 different campsites and stayed over 50 nights on the roadside, in friends’ yards, in lay-bys and other weird locations. The highest place we drove our caravan was the Pyrenees mountains, 1,632 meters above the sea level. The lowest place was 115 meters BELOW sea level - through the Channel Tunnel.

We participated in 19 big board game fairs and 4 series of smaller events. These conventions had a total of 607,000 visitors! While on the road, our company ran 2 Kickstarter campaigns, one Quickstarter and 2 Spieleschmiede campaigns. We produced and published 2 board games and one expansion. We transported over 30 tons of board games all over the world.

Reunion by the Arctic Circle

Our car with the broken engine was in Lapland before us.

We stopped close to Rovaniemi, a bit south from the Arctic Circle. It was time to change cars. The Mercedes Benz we bought from Germany had done a good job, but it needed some maintenance. We drove to a our friend’s garage. There, already covered in snow, was our broken VW. The insurance company had towed it all the way up there.

You remember Möhkö (good ol' Lump), the Suburban Chevy we were first planning to take on the tour? I’m glad we didn’t, because the roads in Italy and the parking in Spain would have been impossible with it. We moved all our stuff to Möhkö and found out the interior was way smaller than in MB. Luckily we had only a bit over 100km left. Some uncomfortableness was bearable.

When we crossed the Arctic Circle, I suddenly realised I have never before been on the southern side of it for so long. The world is different on the other side. You learn that, once you cross it. You can follow the life above the arctic circle in my new blog. I will write new entries once a month, starting in January 2019.

Happy New Year!

This year was an experience our family will never forget. I hope you, too, have had some good moments with us. The year 2019 will give us new challenges. Timo is going to do his studies in Scotland. He is actually living in the caravan again for the next 6 months. Väinö goes back to normal school. I will continue working in our company and doing also my theatre work in Lapland.

It has been a great year. Hopefully we left Mr Murphy somewhere along the way and the next year will be even better!

Under and Over the Mountains

The tunnel was many kilometers long. We don’t have many road tunnels in Finland and none of them are in Lapland. Driving underground has been a new experience. This time we had the Pyrenees on top of us. We had decided to leave Spain while the weather was still good. Forecast promised rain and more snow to northern Spain during the weekend.

When the tunnel ended, I was again able to see the mountain wall climb high on my right side and… nothing on the left side. There was a railing though. The road even had two lanes, but it was still narrow. We were in a S-shaped tricky curve, when a truck appeared. We couldn’t pass each other – the road was just too narrow for our caravan and the truck.

The Spanish truck driver jumped out and started yelling. He determined that we need to back up. Uphill, in a curve, with a caravan that barely managed to fit in the curve. No way. The smaller cars behind the truck had also stopped and reversed some meters to make way. I listened the Spanish yelling for some minutes, lost my temper and replied in Finnish: peruuta nyt pari metriä, niin me mahdutaan ohi. That worked. The guy returned to his vehicle, reversed a little and we managed to pass, thanks to Timo’s good driving.

The Fourth Opinion

Statue in Zamora.

We had returned the rental car in Spain after 1599 km trip to Portugal. On our way back we had stopped in the old city of Zamora. Timo had booked us a hotel room. We found it was a hotel with a single room. Actually just an apartment. But it had shower, washing machine and WIFI – exactly what we needed.

Due the car repair we had to skip our planned vacation in Valencia. We had agreed a business meeting on the French side close to the border for next week. Even though the car was thoroughly fixed, the brakes in the caravan did not work properly. Perhaps something had been damaged during the towing? Thanks to the long tunnel, crossing the mountain area was surprisingly easy. Anyhow we needed to get the brakes working as soon as possible.

For important issues it is always good to have several opinions – just to be sure. For the brake problem we got many. First place noticed a bent bolt on the caravan coupling. That might prevent the brake system in the stabiliser coupling for working. But fixing it requires an expert. So we went to see caravan repair guy who announced the whole coupling needs to be changed. It would take two days and cost nearly 1000 euros. We didn’t have neither, so I googled another place near Toulouse. They noticed that the bolt had nothing to do with anything – it was not physically connected to anything! They tested the brakes (read: pumped the caravan to the back of the car several times) and announced that the coupling itself was ok, but the brakes not. They didn’t have time for fixing, but booked us a time to a caravan garage near Lyon, for the next morning.

So we drove 600km through the Massif Central. We spent the night somewhere between. I woke up during the night because my nose was cold: we had run out of gas – again. Come on Mr. Murphy, we dealt this already! Caravan batteries and electricity heating kept us warm even the night was very cold. In the morning we had to scrape the car window!

Our navigator didn’t recognize the garage address, but with Google Map we made it there – just 10 minutes delayed. So – in French culture that would be just in time. We left the caravan there and went to buy food and gas. The supermarkets in France are amazing combinations of services. You can find bakery, gas station, and laundry machines in the area. This time we found also a circus with lions, a tiger, monkeys and a zebra.

After two hours the caravan was ready. I paid 78 euros and we were back on the road. This time heading to east, to Switzerland, to La Chaux-de-Fonds where Ludesco is held. And afterall, it was not the brakes that were at fault, but the brake cable support strut had bent during the towing in Spain.

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”We have plenty on time, it takes only one hour to drive there.” Timo announced when we started next morning from a camping place. It was pouring rain. He soon noticed a weird sound. The car didn’t feel right. Could it be that one of the brakes is jammed? Or worn out? He seemed very worried so googled the closest garage – only 1,5 kilometer ahead.

We stopped in a tiny village. Right after we stopped, a truck was honking a horn and the driver yelled: ”It went off about a kilometer ago!” And then we noticed the caravan had only 3 tires left. I stared at the empty place. There was still some marker paint after yesterdays repair. They must have forgot to tighten the bolts! It felt surreal. Yesterday, after the repair I drove us to the camping. On a highway. What if this would have happened then?

We disconnected the caravan. Timo and Väinö drove back to look for the tire. My job was to explain to the carage owner why we had blocked his yard with our caravan. I had to use hand signs and my theatre skills because no-parle-angle.

It feels stupid to repeat in situations like this that ”we were lucky”. But we were. Timo found the tire, intact. It hadn’t hit any other vehicles or people. The only misfortune was that we didn’t have any bolts to install the tire. Two wise men – some local road workers – came to help: take one bolt from all the other tires, so you will have 3 bolts in each. Solutions for tricky situations can sometimes be simple!

Murphy Go Home!

Next bigger village had a garage which sold us the missing bolts. They also checked the brakes of our car. Now that the vehicles were working all right and had all parts with them, I was able to relax a bit and enjoy the scenery. The road we were driving – from Pontarlier to La Chaux-de-Fonds – followed a small river. It had eroded an amazing canyon to Jura mountains. All of a sudden Timo stopped the car. There where signs to a cave.

The cave was quite large, eroded by water. There were several small waterfalls in it. Signs announced it was a holy place. It served as a chapel. To whom, I don’t know. We were in the middle of nothing. There was only one restaurant next to the parking place.

I’m not a religious person. But after all these events I’m convinced we have several guardian angels, -fairies and/ or -dragons with us. Obviously very much needed. I thank you all for sending those to us. Could you also please call Mr. Murphy back home?