Ranua - Rovaniemi, Finland

Tuesday 24th August 1999

We were continuing north but we started with a visit to the Ranua Wildlife Park. The undoubted highlight amongst the various arctic creatures was the polar bears. Incredibly large when seen close up.

In the afternoon we continued another 100km or so to Rovaniemi, gateway to the Arctic. We stopped in for a couple of hours at the Arcticum museum, devoted principally to the various traditional peoples living above the Arctic Circle.

After stocking up on food and petrol we travelled another 5km before reaching the Arctic Circle, taking the obligatory photos next to the roadside sign. Unfortunately Santapark was shut so we couldn't place our orders for Christmas.

We stopped for the night a little further up the road, in another wonderful spot by a delightful river. Our first night in the arctic.