Finland re-visited

Some weeks after returning from Finland, this strange video has come to light.  From the cutting room floor, Sullie has published the ‘Directors Cut’ of the husky adventures.  Despite making us look like utter incompetents, we have decided to allow her genius to see the light of day…

The Sledding Trip

Tim: Monday started with a hearty breakfast, and the main feature of the day was our first training run with the dogs.

We had a sled and a team of 6 dogs each.  Philip and Charlie were both running with 8 dogs.  All the dogs running are released from their pens and come tearing down to the sleds, milling around the sleds to ensure that they don’t get missed (they LOVE running). The noise of barking and excitement is totally encompassing. And then the moment they start running they shut up and it is pure silence. Extraordinary.

It was not a long run, about 90 minutes – but we got a good feel for the dogs.  I felt mine were a little slow…. Turns out it was my extra weight, so for the Tuesday it would be 8 dogs for me!

Back to the homestead for a salmon soup lunch and then we took the two older pups for a walk. Dinner was reindeer with mash (like Shepherds Pie, without the pie) in the evening.  The  activity of eating and drinking is definitely a rival for the husky sledding.

Tuesday had the same start followed by a flurry of organisation. We were kitting out for 3 nights out on the trail.  So 5 sleds, 36 dogs, a bunch of human food, dog food, and a change of clothes plus a towel for the sauna.

By 1pm we were on the road, or rather the snow beaten path.  After two hours and various falls (Kate and Caro = several. Tim = 0) we were at the first cabin by mid-afternoon.  It felt early to arrive but there was a lot to get done: unharnessing the dogs; starting three fires (cooker, heating and sauna – quite a lot of wood); fetching wood; unloading the sleds; drilling a hole in the ice of the lake for water (also carrying the 40 litre pail back up the hill to the cabin – I did it on my own the first time, second time Charlie and I shared the load); and chopping up the frozen block of meat for the dogs dinners.

Tim and Charlie fetching water from the frozen lake

So despite the seemingly short run, we were all pretty knackered by 4pm or so, grateful to sit down to tea, coffee, biscuits and sausages cooked on the fire. After resting up dinner was put on, candles were lit (no electricity out there) and the Finnish vodka and cards came out.

Saunaing (??) is to the Finns what hot baths are to the Icelanders, so everying evening it’s customary to have a couple of sonsecutive sessions in the sauna to sweat out all the grime from the day.  In the first log cabin the sauna was pretty damn small, but had a ferocious log stove with coals on top.  The fireyness of the sauna seemed to be measured by Philip on the number of scoops of cold water you could shovel onto the coals in quick succession.  In the sauna back at the homestead we were kicking though about 4-5 scoops but at the cabin it was a measure of steel if you could cope with two scoops!  So we started with one, and after about 5 mins of acclimitisation we revved it up to 2 scoops.

For the record, the saunas are traditionally single sex, so we took it in turns – ladies then men. Saunas are nude, you don’t wear bathers. You take a shower beforehand to stop your skin from completely perishing. If there isn’t a shower available you scoop water onto and over yourself. Finally, a sauna is not complete without a cold beer and frankly you need a cool drink inside them.

After 10 mins the first stint was over, and it was out on the open verandah to cool down with towels donned.  After a short recovery, and a fresh beer, it was back in. Same build up to a couple of scoops, then Philip and Charlie proposed that a good roll in the snow was a great experience – so there I was trotting out of the sauna, stark bollocks naked, down the cabin steps and into the deepish snow.  Fall down back first, roll onto the front, back onto the back, get up and trot back into the sauna.  Then I was enveloped with this tingling sensation all over my body as my nerve ending tried to figure out whether they were hot or cold.

After that session we sat down to food, probably around 9pm, a cracking penne bolognaise, followed by numerous rounds of 500 with red wine in accompaniment.  Great stuff.

Wednesday we began to realise that there is a sensible slow start inserted into the whole sledding thing.  When we imagined the trip we expected it might involve getting up at 6am to feed the dogs and be on the road by 8am – but fortunately the reality was that we stirred at about 9am, and slowly got going by about 10am. I say got going: we started with tea and coffee, then it was bacon butties, and the dogs were fed.  After packing all the gear away it was about midday and we were on the road by 1pm.  Our aching bones rattled a little less by then! This was a slightly longer 4hr run of 60km, including a ‘mountain’. 

It became increasingly clear that this was going to be bloody hard work, the dogs will do a fair amount of uphill early on, but when you hit higher gradient slopes and as the dogs get tired later in the run, as the musher, you have to lend them a hand.  Either by smoothly pedalling (a little like skateboarding, but on a sled pulled by 8 dogs) or you get off the sled entirely and help push it up the hill whilst the dogs pull.  Importantly, you need to remember to get back on the thing when you hit the flat at the top.  There were some fantastic runs through woods, and great views of the Finnish and Russian landscapes – stunning  stuff.

After a damn hard slog and a number of falls (not by me I may add) we reached the second cabin.  Forgivingly it had running water, electric sauna and TV, so everything was a lot easier, if a little less authentic.  Frankly though we were so knackered, it was the sort of comfort Caro, Kate and I were craving.  Thursday and Friday weren’t that different in make-up, albeit a shorter run.  I managed to fall three times on the Thursday – in a strange way, after being dragged behind the sled which had toppled onto its side for 50m, it becomes a massive challenge to try and right the sled and get back on it without any assistance.  Proudly, the third time I fell, and clung on with one hand, I manged to right it and clamber back – you do feel great.

Caro got through the last two days upright and onboard – no falls.

On Friday night word came through that Philip’s dog Hope was in labour back at the house, giving birth to puppies fathered by his favourite lead dog, Freddy. We suggested that he head back so he could be there to see them born. So at 12.30am he headed off for a 90 minute night run leaving us in Charlie’s safe hands to get back the following morning. We got back early afternoon to discover that he’d had to take her into town for an emergency caesarian. So it was lucky he’d headed back – and there were two new pups.

Saturday, our time with the sleds was over.  There are a range of other activities in the area and we decided that snowboarding would be a good idea.  Caro decided that the possibility of breaking a limb would impact too much on the camel trek we’re doing in Morocco next week, so she decided to skip – but Mira took the three of us to the local ski resort so we could grab  three hours of boarding (Caro stayed in the bar).  All good fun, if a little painful on one or two occassions.

Sunday it was all over.  An absolutely exhilirating experience and really well delivered by Philip and his family.

If you’re keen to have a similar trip you can read more of the official /sales descriptions as advertised and offered by Spirit of Adventure – though ourselves, we booked directly with The Border Inn (Philip and Mira) having read this article in the Guardian.

Puppy walking

On the Monday, we went puppy walking, and as you can see the pups were pretty lively…and liked hats!