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Treacle back on the Train
Posted 3rd October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki, Jonny, Lizz, Dan
Kiruna, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,067 miles
Hello!
There is no rest for travelling teddy bear and of couse, I'm back on the train again. I've travelled up from sunny old Sidmouth, flying to Stockholm and then hopping onto the train to go back up to the north of Sweden. I was up here earlier in the year and it was all lovely and snowy. This time I'm going on a high adventure up in the arctic circle. More about that when we get there though! Once we'd got on the overnight train we had our dinner, mmm, Toblerone and then we slept and soon found ourselves in the land of the midnight sun! I thoroughly explored our three berth cabin and narrowly escaped being stuck in the cupboard! There wasn't much view from the window as we got further and further north... There should be better views later in this trip! More soon!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle at LappDonalds
Posted 4th October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki, Jonny, Lizz, Dan
Nikkaluokta, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,103 miles
Hello!
We arrived in Kiruna and took the bus on to Nikkaluokta. Here the transport ran out and we had to walk! We walked for 5.6 kilometers until we got to LappDanalds where we stopped for a fabulous Reindeer burger, yum! Then we took the boat for another 6km and finally walked to the Mountain Station at the foot of Kebnekaise, the tallest mountain in Sweden. Time for an early night, we're going to ascend it tomorrow!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle at the Top of Sweden!
Posted 6th October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki, Jonny, Lizz, Dan
Kebnekaise, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,113 miles
Hello!
What a day! A very fantastic wonderful, but very tiring day! I climbed to the very top of Sweden, the top of the mountain Kebnekaise. It was brilliant, but boy was I tired. We started off early in the morning and climbed and climbed and climbed. Steep grassy, steep rocks, steep glacier, steep rock climb, steep rocks, steep glacier ..... summit! I was given a walking pole, but it was a bit long for me, so I leant it to someone else to use. :) The view from the top was really very, very stunning. The walk down was very long and hard, so I snuck into a rucksack and had a bit of a snooze. I know that's cheating, but I had done the hard bit! After 11 and a half hours we were safely down. Phew! Boy am I going to sleep well tonight!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle Goes To Singi
Posted 8th October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki, Jonny, Lizz, Dan
Singi, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,119 miles
Hello!
Well, after the gruelling day climbing Kebnekaise we walked on out the other side from the mountain station and westwards towards the Kungsleden the Kings Trail. I was quite exhausted, but I kept going. We stopped for lunch at a lovely stream, where I paddled my feet, splashed water and made a dam. It was lots of fun! Then we kept on going westwards until we made it to the hut. No electricity, running water was the stream outside and a hole in the ground for a toilet. It was brilliant! We saw lots of reindeer too! Brilliant! Early night tonight, quite tired!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle Makes It to Sälka
Posted 10th October 2010 - travel companions - Lizz, Dan
Sälka, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,125 miles
Hello,
We've been walking hard and we're now totally out of touch with civilization, no mobile phones work out here, the only connection you have is when you pass another walker and wave at them. We've reached another called, the Sälka hut. The sound of the waterfalls is awesome, and you just get water out of the streams with a foldable cup, called a kåsa. It's so quiet (except when the helicopter goes overhead). When the ground gets boggy there are these tracks to walk along called spång. It's great! Anyway, I'm using the secret bear network to get this message through and my time is up. I'll update again soon!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle at Alesjaure
Posted 13th October 2010 - travel companions - Lizz, Dan
Alesjaure, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,139 miles
Evening!
I've managed to hook into the Teddy secret communication network again to let you know that the hike up on the Kungsleden north of the Arctic Circle is going well. I wondered about a bit today and found what looked like a very tasty mushroom. I wasn't totally sure if it was safe to eat though, so I put it back where I found it. I'm having lots of fun walking up here though and definitely I'm not spending too much time hitching lifts in rucksacks and I'm getting lots of exercises. Some of the huts we are staying in have saunas, which are very nice to relax in at the end of a long days walk! It's wonderful being here!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle at Abisko
Posted 14th October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki, Jonny, Lizz & Dan
Abisko, Sweden: Distance Travelled = 96,156 miles
Hello!
It's been a truly magical time up here in the arctic circle. I've seen lots of new things, including reindeer and cloudberries. We stopped on the path and walked around picking and eating cloudberries. They were really tasty! I had to have some help though, I couldn't carry many, so I had to have a helping hand stash! It felt really great to have completed the hike from Nikkaluokta to Abisko via Kebnekaisa, a distance of 125 kilometers! I met up with Mini-Sven at the end and we went off to the hostel to grab a shower before heading back to the train. So, that's the end of this adventure. It's time for me to find a new one. Now which country will I go to next?
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle in Helsinki
Posted 21st October 2010 - travel companions - Jonny
Helsinki, Finland: Distance Travelled = 96,750 miles
Evening all!
I've now begun my journey back down south again. I'm in Helsinki in Finland. It's a really lovely place, it's the capital city and also the largest city in Finland. It was established in 1550 by King Gustav I of Sweden and known as Helsingfors. We're not here for long, a conference at the university and wow, what a building! I had a long look around before taking my post at the speakers table. I think I like this lecturing business, I could get used to it! More soon!
*cuddles*
Treacle
Treacle in Fleetwood
Posted 28th October 2010 - travel companions - Vicki
Fleetwood, England: Distance Travelled = 97,877 miles
Hello!
I'm back in England for a brief stop over and I've headed up north to Fleetwood. It's peninsular with the sea on three sides of the town and wonderful trams crisscrossing everywhere. I went up to the high point, called The Mount, which was originally built on a very large sand dune! There was a very nice view of the esplanade and I guess there would have been a good view of the pier, if it hadn't been destroyed by fire in 2008. :(
Ah well, time to move on, more countries to see!
*cuddles*
Treacle