Day 16 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Muonio – Kolari

Another rainy day. It started yesterday evening before falling asleep, and it went all the way to Kolari. The only positive thing was tailwind, which let me keep the pace to almost 20 km/h. I had a quick trip in the morning through Muonio, with a picture in front of the Shell gas station, which has been a historical stop for the bus that brings us to the Tromsö International Film Festival every January. As I needed someone to take the picture for me, I noticed that there were some Italian riders refueling (on their way to North Cape, surprise surprise), so I just asked one of them. And the other ones suddenly started clapping, thinking that I made the whole way from Italy to Muonio by bicycle. I told them that it didn't go that way, but it sounded good anyway 🙂

Apart from the annoying rain, the road was smooth and easy, even though a Russian lorry tried to take me along by overtaking me at a few centimetres of distance. Going such a long way by bike I realise now how important is to be at least half a lane away when you overtake a bike by car. And especially with a lorry.

Reaching Kolari I met Marja, who is going to host me for a few days. I really need a break, I have been cycling for eight days in a row, and it seems my legs need some rest for same strange reason. Marja's dad's house is 20 km south from Kolari, on the smaller road to Pello, which goes along the Muonionjoki river. It's a very beautiful area, and also at this time of the day if you go out you can hear the sound of fishermen boats looking for salmon.

I just hung the tent outside to dry up. This morning it was raining when I left, so I had to pack everything as it was, that is, wet, dirty and with a lot of mosquitoes in it. Hopefully the weather gets better tomorrow, as I'm going to spend the weekend here, which is going to be full of events. And I have also to plan what to do next. The Lappish part of the journey is ending soon, and there are two third of Finland still to be explored. In these days I'll also try to add some pictures also to the previous posts, now that I've got a faster connection.

Day 16 – Tour de Finlande 2010: Muonio – Kolari

Trip distance: 104 km
Actual trip time: 5 h 20 m

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