Made it to Karesuando, just

111km, ~70 miles. Rain the first 60 miles, VERY hard wind against me for most of the day. Up and down and up again all the way, knackered square. Amazing scenery though, snow covered mountains, a big river, many lakes and low (thus not sheltering from the wind) birches that just got their leaves last week.
Not many pictures because of the rain.
Bike having a rest.
Coming back to Sweden, I almost hugged the sign.

Treriksröset!!!!!

It took 53 hours to get there from my house but finally I'm there. Time to head south.

It's raining.....

Proper walking boots are to heavy to bring on a bike. Plastic bags and trainers will have to do.

Midnight sun

This picture was taken at midnight. Amazing, it's full daylight outside.

Kilpisjärvi, at last

A three bus ride took me to Karesuando, almost as far north as you can go on public roads in Sweden and certainly as far north you can go and still continue somewhere. In Karesuando I was met by Elli-Marja, the fastest taxi driver this side of the arctic circle, 45 minutes and 110 kilometres later we were in Kilpisjärvi, Finland.
A couple of pictures
The hotel I'm staying in with a 1000m mountain behind it.
A view across the lake, the mountain is Pältsan, 1445m high. As you can see spring hasn't made it there yet. Tomorrow I'm crossing the lake (in a boat) in my search of the end of the civilised world.
A picture of the main road, very busy 24/7.

I'm now off for a well deserved sauna.

For you train spotters

The strongest engine in the world (or so they say) hauling iron ore from Kiruna to the harbour in Narvik, Norway.

Sight seeing in Kiruna

Town hall with a very cool clock tower.
The church which will be moved to a new place within the next 15-20 years. The whole town will be moved due to the massive mining going on underneath.
One of the mines, Loussavaara

Brrrrrrrrrrr

Kiruna

Me and my bike have both made it to the cold North. 8 degrees and the wind from the North, brrr.

There is a festival in town, loads of people and music. Not for me though, I didn't bring my hat and gloves...

Stockholm, Arlanda Airport

I did think several times, "it'd be brilliant if I could bring less than 10kgs of stuff". Success!!!
Now four hours wait for connecting flight to Kiruna.

At Heathrow

After an unexpected £50 charge I'm through security. Only three hours sleep make everything vague and hard to understand but all I need to do is find the correct gate, how hard can it be?

Ready to go

Everything is packed, taxi has been booked for tomorrow morning at 5.15, travel clothes have been chosen. Not much point in today, I wish I was on my way already.

Bike packed

Voila!!!

Packing has begun

The time has come to pack the bike. A cardboard box has very kindly been supplied by Micycle, Islington.

Disclaimer - already....

I've just heard that there are roadworks going on for ~15 miles between Vittangi and Svappavaara in the north. I'll do my best to get thrugh this on the bike but if it's to bad I might accept a lift and make up the lost cycling distance later.
For those of you in the Sweepstake, this is all in section 5.

Getting close

The day of departure is getting closer and it feels like I got most things under control. My bike has been serviced and spruced up with new tyres, pedals etc, it's never been smoother to ride. A bike box has been given to me and I'll pack the bike at the beginning of next week well in time for travelling on Thursday the 28th.
Accomodation has been sorted for the first 6 nights, let's hope the weather doesn't force me to have to move these bookings around. At the moment it looks very cold at the starting point, 3-4 degrees, but towards next week it looks like it gets warmer.
The only thing I'm really unsure about is my own fitness but I guess I'll know for sure towards the end of next week.