The Sami people are amazing.  These indigenous people from northern Scandinavia and north-western Russia, probably numbering about 140,000 or so, have lived for thousands of years in some of the harshest conditions on earth.  Known as being semi-nomadic and famous for herding reindeer across these northern spaces in search of seasonal food, the Sami today have their own language, flag, national anthem and land.  And it is this land in northern Norway and Finland that we were travelling through.

After revelling in one of the true highlights of our Follow the Sun journey when we reached the northern tip of the European continent at Nordkapp Norway we now had to turn Tramp south and begin the long drive through Finland and parts unknown.  Our first morning started off inauspiciously as foul weather moved into Nordkapp from the Arctic Sea and we had to deal with howling wind, dense fog, low temperatures and rain as we left this memorable cape.

We were loyal to the E6, or the Arctic Highway, for another couple of hours, even after it left our last fjord behind and headed inland towards the Finland border.  It was only a few kilometres before crossing into Finland that we finally left this highway, which had been our guide and companion for almost two weeks, and veered south into a new country.

Finland, part of the EU and the Schengen countries for our visa, uses the euro and speaks a garbled and guttural language with long words and letters in an unpronounceable order.   It was our 25^th country on this trip.  Finland is probably one of the least known countries in the EU, shares a 1,300 km (800 mile) border with Russia and with only 5.5 million people spread across its vast area it is mostly a trackless and uninhabited land.

Having said goodbye to Norway we camped our first night in Finland on the banks of Giella River amongst the pines and birches, march flies buzzing everywhere, the evening a balmy 22C (72F).  The Sami call the month of July, which is when we were there, Rakka which is when the bugs are at their absolute worst.  We were visited by a potpourri of bugs including horseflies, mosquitoes, black flies, midges, normal house flies and an in-between sized insect that buzzed around all night.   Get used to Finland, we were told.  Our campsite was called Giellajohka which our Sami host said means Giella River in Sami.  So now we know more words of Sami than we do of Finnish.

We were told this part of Finland is in an unprecedented heat wave and we hit the road the next day with the temperature already up around 30C/86F.  Finland has been described as a continuous string of forests and lakes with a few rivers thrown in.  In fact, they have the most extensive coverage of forest of any country in the world.  And so we settled in to an enjoyable day of pine, spruce and birch mixed in with lakes, rivers and swamp.  We saw reindeer occasionally, often times perilously walking on the road, but traffic was light, towns almost non-existent and signs completely unreadable.  Welcome to Finland.

In the small town of Inari we visited the fabulous Sami Museum which provided a lot of details about how these amazing people have lived and prospered in such a difficult land.  Their traditional nomadic life took them across what is today four countries and in addition to their reindeer herding, for which they are most well known for, they were also accomplished fishermen, hunters and gatherers.  Today only about 10% of the Sami people live off reindeer herding and most have moved from the small sod-roofed homes to more substantial structures and even into towns and cities but the language, dress, customs and traditions remain.  We loved this stuff.

But Finns, like the Norwegians, are sun-seekers and we saw every available swimming hole clogged with locals trying to cool down in the heat.  At one place by the side of the road we came across a small herd of reindeer, some with enormous antlers, laying down in the shade, panting heavily, trying to survive the heat.  It was that sort of day.

We camped that night in another pine forest, one of our recent favourites, the easiest night to collect firewood I’ve had in years on a hot night when a fire is completely unnecessary, and the next morning headed further south through the heart of Finland.  The scenery of thick forests and sparkling blue lakes continued as we drove down to the large regional centre of Rovaniemi, the ‘official’ home of Santa Claus, where we crossed the Arctic Circle again and visited the Santa Claus post office.

All letters addressed to Santa, even those addressed to: “Santa, North Pole”, are said to eventually end up here and on the weeks leading up to Christmas the post office receives about 32,000 letters each day.  We sent post cards to our granddaughter and our nieces’ and nephews’ kids, as you do, and explored the town of Rovaniemi before heading eastward towards the Russian border.

Our goal was the Oulanka National Park which claims to have some of the best short and long walking trails in Finland.  For the first time in Finland we saw a little agriculture squeezed in between the forests and lakes, even some strawberries, and we camped that night in another pine forest next to someone’s neatly stacked pile of firewood.

The Finns have a concept called ‘every man’s right’ which is very dear to their culture and probably has roots in the Sami’s semi-nomadic lifestyle.  Every man’s right means that all people, including visitors, have the right to basically go almost anywhere and – within reason – do almost anything, as long as you aren’t infringing on someone else’s rights.  For instance, with the exception of people’s yards and cultivated land there is no such thing as private property.  These privileges even extend to hunting and fishing, fossicking, any sort of walking or driving or camping as long as you are doing nothing more than ‘minor damage’. Crazy, huh?

So we had every man’s right to camp next to someone’s private firewood piles, even if it was on private property.  But…news flash…quite unexpectedly the owner of the land showed up and in clear and strong terms he said we could not camp here – “not this place”.  We politely argued the toss, even pulled out the Australia card, but there was no moving this guy.  Not this place.  We reckoned he must be hiding something in these woods but in any case, we packed up and moved on.  That’s the first time in nearly 400 nights we’ve been asked to move from a camping spot – and in friendly Finland, no less!

The next day we went into Oulanka National Park, nestled up against the Russian border and one of the country’s most popular parks.  It features a famous 82km trail running through the guts of the park but we opted for the 12km loop trail called Pieni Karhunkierros, or Little Bear Ring, in the southern part of the park.

We hadn’t been walking much lately but this beautiful trail made up for lost time.  The Finland heat wave continued and we started early but the temperature was already 29C/84F as we made our way up and down the modest fells, as the Finns call mountains, between small lakes and over the rivers on high suspension bridges.  The sun speckling through the tall pines, the sound of the racing river and the well-maintained trail made for a fabulous morning.

It was a popular trail and the Finns were out with their families, some with dogs, most wearing what seems to be the national colour of black, not all looking too fit but everyone enjoying the beautiful setting and the warm weather.  It was a great way to see another aspect of Finland and enjoy this magnificent setting.

But Finland is a big country so we pushed on in the afternoon, headed south through more forests and lakes, through more unpronounceable towns, never tiring of the raw beauty of this land, the occasional reindeer meandering along the road.  We camped that night in another pine forest – the lakes and rivers are enticing but the insects near the water are devastating – and enjoyed a beaut night around the fire.

Sadly we had left the Arctic Circle and Lapland and the land of the Sami people, now it was time to make tracks southward through central Finland and eventually cross over into Russia.  More adventures await!