On the road with tour leader " h "

We Left Amy , Bridie and Dom at the Helsinki train  station and were feeling a bit sad with the depleted  numbers of our tour . 

But we are excited at the prospect of a " restful " day on the train  ( no tussling with endless tourist lines we hope ) and eating our way through the duty free snacks Harley insisted we buy on the st persberg boat because we won't be able to afford to eat in Norway .

The first Train was a great place for blogging, eating, charging your phones and sleeping . H says anywhere is a good place for sleeping for moi and of course if you have been awake half the night because  your body is saying but it looks totally like day - what are you meant to do .We are also finally giving our Eurail passes a full work out ( no plane hopping scenery missing transport for us) . The First train is to Oulu then another to Kemi    ( the town where the very helpful train ticket seller in Helsinki grew up  - yes Harley did spend a fare bit of time with her trying to work out this journey determined not to turn his head and check the agitated queue building up behind him) 

Everything worked beautifully except we ended up in Kemi , Sunday afternoon with no regular bus service. Tour leader "H" was  sure  a bus was due but we met a very helpful hard rock fan (   who had just been to the " zz tops " concert in Oula ) who kindly offered to give us a lift when her ride turned up. ( Yes in some circles it's called hitching but don't tell the kids) . 

The ride turned out to be a very beaten up old Mercedes with lots of stickers holding it together driven by an 18 year old video games fanatic . He drove us the 24 k and we were delighted to arrive in Haparanda( just across the Swedish border)  safely and much earlier than the bus. 

Had some great chats with other travellers at the Haparanda hostel - There was a mother of taking her musician son to a  uni interview and another family with a son who was attending Lund university  ( near Malmo ) organising the exchange student program  ( The world is the same all over ). 

We had to catch ( according to our Helsinki ticket seller) the early morning bus to Leula. Tour leader  H wins again and it turns up exactly when he reckons it should ( there are always some nervous moments while  we wait)  but as it's the local service it does stop in every  " little hovel " on the way -

After many more of the never ending forests of scandanavia ( the musicians mum the night before told us that the Birch is the national tree ( Finland or sweden  ) and it is certainly everywhere . We eventually  get to Leula and are back on the trains ( Eurail pass works again) 

The  forest continue   ( yes we have had 2 days of them now ) and we continue to be soothed   by the rattle of the tracks but eventually when I have walked as far as I can down those train corridors, I have read all my Alice Munro Nobel prize winning short stories  ( yes I bought it at the Nobel museum see previous blog )  I have eaten all the snacks that were meant to last the whole two weeks of Norway , the greenery is starting to send me totally out if my tree  (so to speak ) . Then suddenly the land scape changes and we finally start seeing some of the spectacular gorges and lakes that have been promised  as we head into Narvik . 

We are again its seems exhausted after out green days and endless white nights and collapse gratefully into bed at a local hostel. ( converted train shed again reminded by lonely planet ) 

Last part of our current journey ( ie part 6 squillion of this holiday ) we have to find the bus station  to catch our required bus to the lofoton  Islands. After following some vague arm waving directions  and walking in a few damp circles we locate the bus station and with some help from other waiting passengers ascertain we are in right place . We grab a bus for out lofoton island destination( main town of svolvaer) . As tour leader keeps reminding me it's the journey not the destination. The road had some of the most spectacular scenery to date yet ( yes don't look down ) as we head up past another spectacular gorge with running waterfall and cute little wooden houses everywhere. Tour leader H wins again