Thursday, May 21, 2009

Travel in Finland - part 16

11th September 2009

I woke up at 6 in the morning. After I packed what I needed for trekking in my backpack, I went to the restaurant to eat breakfast at 7. A lot of elderly people were in line at the restaurant. Maybe they were in same group. I drank two cups of coffee and ate a lot.

When I passed the reception, a lady asked the receptionist for something with her bottle. So, I brought my bottle from my room and did same thing. Then, the receptionist poured hot water into my bottle.

At 8:50, I rented a bike and left the hotel.



It was cloudy and very cold. After 30 minutes ride, I reached the start point, which was 5 km away from the hotel. It was getting much colder, so I put on rain wear pants. I thought I should have bring more clothe. Actually, I wore warm ski wears, though. When I saw cameras in my backpack, I couldn't help think that clothes were more important than cameras.

Anyway, I started trekking. The beginning of the trail was a little bit difficult. After a few minutes from the start point, there were several ways, and all the paths looked safe. However, I chose the driest path. After a while, I felt a little relieved when I found the sign.

But I still felt uneasy. I met only one person until I reached the sign of '2km.' This trail was mysterious. I could see a soft sunlight in the far distance. Though this scenery made me restless, I also felt holy. Come to think of it, the brochures in Kilpisjarvi used pictures in the cloud weather. They don't use those in the sunny weather. Maybe they try to put an emphasis on this holy atmosphere.

After 2km walk, there was a sign and I met husband and wife. I confirmed that the route was right. 45 minutes passed.

The trail after that sign of '2km' was quite different. The fair view continued for a while. Vegetation in red and yellow was spread both sides of the trail. Although sometimes I saw trees, they were very short because the climate around here is very severe.

I met a group of two Finnish at the highest point of this trail. I tried to speak Finnish using Finnish words book. This time I could!

When I saw the sign of '5.8km', it passed 1 hour and half. Here I found two people smoking. I hurried forward. The numbers of people I met was increasing from here. Every time I happened to see a person, I said, 'Hei, Hei.' After a while, I noticed that the weather was getting better. I could even see blue sky! Blue sky was really beautiful. Though the holy weather was good, blue sky was much better for me. That's why I walked with light steps.

The sky was completely blue when I walked along the border line. No clouds any more. The contrast between the blue sky and the yellow vegetation were really something. I had walked 3 hours since I started walking when I arrived at the hut near the three countries border.



(to be continued)

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