Storuman - 20 June 2018

Geoff 

Woke up to a blustery, wet morning, quite wintry, in fact, and we are just about at mid summer.

Continuing along the Vildmarksvägen, the road began to climb and it rained on and off. We gained the highest point on the Stekenjokk plateau and a road sign indicated we were entering Lappland. In fact, contrary to what I wrote yesterday, it's only the part of the Vildmarksvägen over the plateau that is closed from October to June. 

I braved the elements to take a few photos. The landscape was quite barren with patches of snow.

We had a longish detour to the Sami church town of Fatmomakke, where we wandered along paths surrounded by Sami huts, cabins and a wooden church. The church was so light and peaceful inside. It is still a living community and is one of Sweden's sixteen preserved church towns. Fatmomakke has been a Sami meeting place since the 1700s. Such an amazing place to visit.

A photo stop was necessary at one point to take in some very wide rapids at Trappstegsforsen. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon meandering along the Vildmarksvägen towards Vilhelmina back on the E45 and thought about where to stop for the night. A couple of possible camperstops weren't up to scratch and we ended up driving further than intended to just a few miles south of Storuman but we have found an idyllic area amongst trees alongside a fast flowing river. There is  one other van here but out of sight. 

At the latitude we are at now, it isn't getting dark at all at night which isn't actually a problem as we have the camper blinds down and it's rather nice to look out at our surroundings when getting up for a call of nature in the early hours. I'm not sure I'd like the long winter nights and dark days, though. 

Amanda

We were very snug last night, despite the pouring rain and wind outside, both of which were still going strong this morning. We have gone from shirt sleeves to four layers of clothing in as many days. We set off at our usual time of about 11 regardless, heading for Stekenjokkplatan, the highest point on the route, and the rain continued intermittently. Now we were properly in the Swedish mountains, above the tree line, and with swathes of snow still by the roadside and on the rough moorland either side of the still excellent wide road.  Along the plateau it was pretty bleak, the icy cold wind and rain adding to the bleakness while we were there, but still stunning enough for the first of many photo opportunities today. 

The next was a bit further along the road where Geoff insisted on stopping to fill a water bottle from a fast running mountain stream. And then drink some. Well he would, wouldn't he, because he could, and it was there, and old habits don't die.

As we descended from the plateau some warmth returned and the top layers of clothes began to come off.

Next stop, a few kilometres off route, was Fatmomakke, a Sami Church Site. A walk, this time in the sunshine, across two bridges and through lakeside trees brought us out in the Church Town. This is a cultural heritage site, and the history is fascinating. The need for such sites arose because of the requirement to attend church a certain number of times a year, and because of their nomadic lifestyle that might entail travelling a long distance, so they would have a cabin in the vicinity of the church to use when visiting. The site was dotted with the same little tepee shaped wooden huts we have seen before. We were able to wander around, up and down stepped paths formed from tree roots, and across boggy patches and streams on wooden plank bridges, and found our way via a circuitous route to the white painted timber church, built in the 19th Century, just in time to shelter from the worst of the rain which had returned.

The church was simple and beautiful inside, all white painted walls and benches, with a lovely wall painting of the Transfiguration which looked quite modern. All very well cared for and obviously regularly in use. There will be big celebrations here on Friday for Midsummer, it being a perfect spot with maypoles in place.

We lunched back in the car park, after a chat to the English couple in an Autosleeper Camper parked beside us, who are heading back south after having first travelled north along the Norwegian Coast.

We then completed the rest of the route to Vilhelmina, to rejoin the E45, taking in a stop to admire the spectacular rapids at Trappstegsforsen, and another for a quick nap followed by a cup of tea and a cinnamon bun.  Back on the E45 we started a hunt for somewhere to stop for the night, and eventually found this very pretty wooded rest area just off the road, with a tumbling river just below us and a picturesque bridge, just after 7pm. It is now just after 9, but it still feels more like mid-afternoon because of the light. But it has been a long, very full, and very enjoyable day.