Of course, the quality’s nothing like the real DVD, but here’s a web version:

But not being able to do much more than sit on the sofa and ensure I’m in easy reach of a toilet has given me plenty of time to write up the story of our magical arctic adventure. I wonder if anyone will ever read it?

A little way into the journey and we were doing a comfortable 110kph (about 70mph) when I felt the car decelerate rapidly as Sophie gasped. Looking up I saw that a couple of reindeer had decided to casually step out into the road. Our driver braked hard and with complete control and brought the car to a halt some way in front of the reindeer. I was astounded at how well the car braked on the icy road. This wasn’t a 4X4 or anything special, just a Peugot 407. But with studded tyres. It certainly calls into question all those 4X4 drivers in the UK who claim that they ‘need’ a 4X4 because it sometimes snows where they live. What they need is the right tyres.

The reindeer stared at us. It didn’t seem keen on getting out of the way, so we carefully drove around it whilst it watched us bemused. And on we went to the airport.

Everything went smoothly from there. We checked straight in. Got on the flight almost immediately. Arrived at Birmingham on time and walked into the baggage collection area just in time to see both our rucksacks emerging on the first carousel. The bus to the car park arrived quickly and we were back at home within 1¼ hours of touch down. And very ready for our own bed.

We felt at a bit of loose end on Saturday and Sunday—our flight wasn’t until Sunday evening. Having finished the mushing adventure I think I was ready to go home. Sophie and I did take advantage of the jacuzzi and sauna down by the river on Saturday evening. The jacuzzi was actually a little disappointing—not particularly warm. But the sauna was great, and having tried the rolling in the snow thing earlier in the week we felt obligated to check out jumping into a hole in the ice on the river. Surprisingly, this didn’t actually feel as cold as rolling in the snow. I suppose if the water is still water it can’t be colder than 0°C, where as the snow could be well below that.

On Sunday we had a bit of a play on the the toboggan run, which was fun. The big inflated inner tubes were particularly exciting as you have absolutely no control over which way they are pointing and can quite easily end up coming down backwards.

After that it was a siesta in the comfy chairs in reception for me!

We stopped for lunch at a hut on the edge of lake Vuontisjävi. Reikka prepared reindeer soup over a fire in a wooden Kota. Around the roof above the fire where the rails where fishermen smoke their fish in the summer.

After lunch we set out down a short, steep bank to the lake and took a sharp right out onto the frozen water. The sharp right was too much for me and my now rather lightly loaded sled and I capsized, falling off into the deep powdery slow. I rolled over to see sled and dogs heading off fast. Raikka was shouting at Sophie to catch the dogs as they came past, but underneath two balaclavas and a big furry trapper hat she couldn’t hear a thing! Fortunately Raikka managed to catch them and I ran back across the ice pick them up again.

As we drove along the edge of the lake I managed to get this snippet of video on Sophie’s camera. The wind across the microphone made a truly awful sound that simply didn’t convey the quietness of this way of travelling at all, so I’ve removed the sound from it.

Later, crossing another lake, we saw some reindeer walking steadily towards our route. They seemed almost unperturbed by us, looking inquisitively but carrying on regardless towards the spot I would shortly reach. I thought I was in for a real close up view when I heard the buzz of an engine behind me. The reindeer bolted as two snow mobiles shot passed us at ridiculous speed and I realised that Finnish expletives are a serious gap in my knowledge. Along with pretty much all Finnish words of course, but just at that moment there was something I really wanted to shout at the arctic boy racers who had just disturbed my tranquillity. You could tell we were nearly back.

When we got back to Hariniva the dogs were clearly pleased to be home and set about the important business of scrapping with the neighbours. After a quick look at some of the puppies we picked up our packs and headed to reception to check in for our final two nights in Lapland.

It seemed colder than previous days, and several times Sophie managed to develop icicles on her eyelashes! Lunch by a frozen lake was fried salmon in potato bread. The late afternoon brought stunning views of a softly shrouded sun setting behind the trees.

Our destination for our last night out on the trail was an old reindeer herder’s hut at Juutilainen. With the wooden walls darkened by wood smoke this basic cabin had the most character of any we stayed in. We dragged water up from a stream on my sled, got the fires and sauna lit and fed the dogs as usual. The sauna here was in the main cabin, unlike everywhere else we’d been where the sauna had been in a separate building. Apparently it was a particularly good sauna that evening, but I crawled up on to one of the top bunks and fell asleep without even managing to get to the mattress!

We walked across the lake for about fifteen minutes and then started to climb up a short trail to meet an almost surreal sight. In the middle of seemingly nowhere, in this vast arctic wilderness, was a bright yellow sign with bold red letters announcing

Coffee and a doughnut 50 cents

When we walked into the Arctic Knife a small, rotund woman with broad rimmed specs and a big smile greeted us like we were old friends, hugging each of us as we came in and enthusiastically welcoming us in her best English. Inside the shop was a veritabe emporium, with something for all tastes. I was very tempted by a trapper hat, but resisted. Sophie found a pair of lambs wool lined boots to replace her ageing Ugg boots, and a carved wooden cup. The woman who had greeted engraved Sophie’s name on the bottom of the cup beautifully. It wasn’t just the goods for sale that met with our approval though—at least one member of the party took advantage of the opportunity to use an inside loo that flushed!

By lunchtime Freya had a blinding migraine and was being sick. There was discussion about whether she could sit with the luggage on another sled whilst her sled went on top of Raikka’s and her dogs were redistributed through the teams. But Freya is not the sort of woman to be beaten and insisted on carrying on driving. I think the thought of being that much closer to the dogs’ bottoms was quite a strong motivator—their ability to poo and fart on the run was extraordinary and a little off putting even if you’re not feeling unwell to start with.

Arrival at Kuukkelinpesä (Siberian Jay’s Nest) didn’t go smoothly either. My two lead dogs, Desperado and Finger, decided to each go a different way around a small tree near the edge of the trail, and they weren’t the only ones. I think three of the six teams managed to get tangled in the same tree.

By this time Raikka was understandably stressed and this started to take its toll on the rest of us. Things started to look up shortly afterwards though, when we walked into the cabin to find the long wooden table in the centre had been graced with a 12 pack of beer!

It had been a bitter night. Down by the lake the dogs lay curled up in the holes in the snow that their body heat had formed, their fur covered with a thick frost. It seems incredible that they can survive sleeping outside in these temperatures.

On my way back to the cabin two birds with striking red brown flashes down each side of their tails alighted on one of the birch trees in front of me. They were Kuukkelis, Siberian Jays. We’d seen a lot of references to Kuukkelis in Lapland—the restaurant in Hariniva was named Kuukkeli, as was the “department store” in Saariselkä when we were in Lapland last year—but I’d never seen one. Raikka explained that in much of middle Europe it is considered unlucky to see Kuukelis, but in Nordic countries they are considered lucky. They are often seen at places where travellers rest in the winter and the folklore is that they are the spirits of old hunters come to visit.