Day 21 - Haparanda, Sweden

We bought the makings for breakfast in Alta so did our own breakfast in our room at Gargia Fjellstue and were on the road by 07:45 as it was going to be a 341 mile ride. Once again a blue sky day when we departed and a mild 58 degrees. The weather for the ride has been beyond belief. Keep wondering how much longer we can have such good luck weather wise. Some folks that have done the Nordkapp ride complain that they have had heavy rain most every day.

As we were getting ready to depart this morning a guy on an enduro bike came over to say hello. He was from St. Petersburg but now lives in Finland. He'd seen the map on my pannier and noted that I'd crossed Russia and was interested. He spoke pretty good English.

Quite a few reindeer sightings but they don't move very fast and don't seem to be bothered by the bikes or other traffic. They don't even look at us as we ride past.

One twenty mile section of gravel today as they were repairing the road but it was well graded except for about 100 yards of soft stuff. Does get the heart pumping a bit but there is a reason we're riding a GS. Interesting that when the road was only one lane wide there were no flagmen. People just took turns.

Tonight we're staying in a hostel, Svefi Vandrarhem, in Haparanda, Sweden. Crossing from Finland into Sweden we gained one hour.

We ate dinner in a hamburger grill for half the cost of a regular restaurant and the fries were great. Don't ask what they were cooked in.

Tomorrow start South in Sweden and will take three days to reach Malmo, Sweden.