Four Seasons in Four Months – Part 3

30 May 2017 (Tuesday) — by the E69 road towards Masi
Distance: 28.6 km

With food supplies we moved on towards Kautokeino. We have long considered the option of trying to get on to the trail that was an old post road at this stretch. However, we managed to call one of the shelters and a lady quickly dispelled our hopes, saying that getting on foot through this stretch is impossible. So we followed the roads. The traffic was heavy, but we got used to it a bit, and the farther from the city, the fewer cars there were. People sounded their horns and greeted us, and from time to time someone stopped by and offered us a ride. We politely rejected, it was a walking expedition after all :)

31 May 2017 (Wednesday) — by the 93 road, abut 15 km from Masi
Distance: 19.5 km

There was a little routine to our days now. Waking up, breakfast in the tent, packing up in snow, walking, coffee break, walking, dinner, walking, setting up camp. Marcin came to a conclusion that of the whole waking thing he likes sitting the best The landscape also became little monotonous, much less snow, however everything was brown, bronze-colored or grey. It was still cold and there was strong, icy wind which was making breaks less enjoyable. As long as we were walking it was quite OK. With hope, we looked in the south direction — towards the Spring.

01 June 2017 (Thursday) – by the 93 road, about 45 km from Kautokeino
Distance: 27.0 km

Tens of kilometres before Kautokeino, where the E1 trail merged with the road we got onto the path to try if walking was possible. The further away from the road, the more snow on the path, soon we were knee-deep in snow. It was strenuous walk, very tiring with slow progress. The snow was of the worst kind for walking, hard from top and melting from the inside. Every step was an unknown, whether the snow will hold or collapse. Our shoes were wet in no time. We did not go far, we agreed that it was impossible to walk like that, and we headed straight back to the road, taking the shortest route possible.

02 June 2017 (Friday) – by the 93 road, about 20 km from Kautokeino
Distance: 27.2 km

Difficult morning and difficult day. There was strong and cold wind, which took away all the pleasure of walking and breaks. The scenery perfectly suited our mood, it was grey, brown and very monotonous. We were walking the whole time at about the same height. The only variation was that the river or lake that we were passing was either on the right or on the left. At dinner time we stopped at a picnic site, but we could not hide enough from the wind, so we quickly ate and moved on. It was same with a coffee break. All the time we kept comforting each other that we were heading in the right direction, towards the south and summer :)

03 June 2017 (Saturday) – Adventure Camp, Kautokeino
Distance: 23.2 km

We arrived in Kautokeino in the early afternoon, but as it goes with our luck, it was Saturday, so we had to get everything sorted the same day, because next day everything will be closed. First, we went to the post office to pick up our parcel with supplies. Unfortunately, the lady searched all the shelves and couldn’t find any parcel for us! We were wondering what could have happened, why the parcel had not arrived yet and whether we should wait for it. As if that was not enough, the lady made us aware that it was national holiday on Monday, so we had two dead days in front of us. That was our luck, somehow our arrivals in the city happened on Sundays or some kind of national holiday days. Unable to sort anything, we headed to the shop and then to the campsite. After a short discussion we decided to wait until Tuesday to find out where our parcel is. We bought some food for our stay here and settled at the campsite, which welcomed us even though it was still not open for the season.

04-05 Czerwiec 2017 (Niedziela-Poniedziałek) – Adventure Camp, Kautokeino
Dystans: 0.0 km

We spent two days searching for any information about sending parcels to Norway, customs rules, how to fill in the forms, and we did not get any wiser. We could not come up with what might have been the reason for stopping our parcel. Because of Sunday and national holiday we weren’t able to get any information.

Good for us, that we had a roof over our heads — a small kitchen, hard chairs, no table, but there was small heater, which we did not hesitate to use. Nasty weather outside. We have also planned our further route and after long discussions, map browsing, we decided to get on the E1 trail, starting in Kautokeino, with the option of escape route after about 100 kilometres. Weather forecast for next days was promising.