Walking in snow…

As I predicted we had a slow start this morning.  However after a delicious breakfast we managed to make it to Cambridge Station for the 11:15am train.  It was sort of a reverse of Thursday – train from Cambridge to King’s Cross and the short walk to St Pancras International from where we caught the train to Luton Airport Parkway.  As the weather was indifferent, we opted to take the airport shuttle bus which goes past the airport hotels.  The hotel is fairly basic but clean and close to the airport!  We are spending our last afternoon in the UK relaxing at the hotel.  We did consider all sorts of places we could go to as this is the last day of our train pass, but decided that relaxing sounded good.  We have to pack tonight for our morning flight to Paris.  We put our packs, poles and other paraphernalia into a cargo bag for the plane trip.

However this is a chance to fill in a few gaps in my blog.

The only snow we have seen in the UK has been on the top of mountains in the distance.  However there was plenty of snow in Lapland and some great places to walk.  I did spend a lot of my time at Abisko talking and planning our UK itinerary, but did venture outside occasionally.

Anna walked considerably further than I did.  I was very happy that she had our fellow Australian Emma as a walking companion for a couple of the longer walks.  Although we had reasonable mobile reception in the area, I felt it was much safer to walk with someone.

One day Anna and Emma walked to the mouth of the river, where it enters the lake, Tornetrask.  I didn’t get far before I decided to return, although I had my second ‘ice encounter’ before I got back to the hostel.  The river was very beautiful.

Where I fell over was only just below the hostel.  Anna hadn’t gone far and came back when I phoned, although I only needed her for moral support and managed to pick myself up.  This is the path down to the lake from behind the hostel.

The next day Anna, Emma and I set off on the ‘The King’s Trail’ (Kungsleden), however I decided that I would return after a short while.  This is what I saw before I turned back.

Sadly the next day Emma was leaving for Narvik, but we decided to go to the Sami camp before she left.

There is a recreation of a Sami camp behind the station at Abisko – the other side of the highway from the hostel.  The buildings form a reconstruction of a typical spring and autumn camp used by nomadic Sami reindeer breeders.  The reindeer have an instinct to migrate between the eastern forests in the winter and the mountains in the summer and the Sami people do the same.  Because of the migrations there has been a need for permanent camps where winter equipment could be stored during the summer and vice versa.

This is one of the buildings

After we farewelled Emma, Anna and I walked to the area from where Friday evening’s aurora photos had been taken.

  

On our last full day Anna and I went for a walk to the lake.  I looked again at the river before we walked on past the scientific station to the lake.

The day we were leaving for Kiruna, the sun came out and the sky cleared.  But of course we did see a fantastic aurora display that night.

A final photo.  This is the so-called ‘Gateway to Lapland’, which was the view from our bedroom window.