Day 5 - 03/07/2013

Day 5 Docksta to Kolari, Finland. About 1916 miles from home. 412 miles done today. Another day of long riding, but this time on smaller roads, as we headed out of Sweden and into Finland. After quickly finding out about the effects of a very early sunrise (as a result of the higher lattitude in northern Scandinvia), we set out towards the north again, passing Umea among other small towns as we stayed on the now less boring A-roads of Sweden. The weather held out for us with it being very warm and pleasant as we approached the top of the Gulf of Bothnia. However, today's highlight was passing the Arctic Circle and the smaller roads that we chose to take towards the end of the day providing some respite for the long day we had. We crossed over into Finland at the end of the day, finding a nice campsite by a large river - the downside being it is infested with mosquitos. Had a minor panic as we couldn't find a cash point to get Euros out (German ones were all bust) and then the Finnish machine said my PIN was incorrect and rejected my pre-loaded Euro card. Luckily I have another Global pre-pay card so we used that. Finland is odd. People display no emotion and are straight to the point - a bit like us. Tomorrow, we should make it to Norway, Nordkapp, and possibly Hammerfest but the roads are much slower now. 23:00 and still bright daylight! Thank God for Virgin Atlantic blind-folds! Overall: Mosquito Aggressiveness: 9/10 Ass Pain Rating: 8/10 Hot Dog Tally: 12 (each)