Whilst today is a rest day. It is anything but, as there is much housekeeping to be done to keep the show on the road. 

  Washing , topping up provisions, checking bikes and running through next weeks route plan all have to be done. 

However whilst the cycling and covering the route is the main purpose, it is also key to get to know a bit the lands and people whose countryside I peddle through

Rovaniemi has been a great stop as it is near to the home of Samta Claus, who lives on the edge of the Arctic Circle 6 miles away. 

After a short motorbike ride and some delicate negotiations with his elves, Santa was able to break off working for a few minutes to give Nigel, Monica and me a private audience ( What a really nice guy)

  
A visit to the Arctic Museum and great chat with some locals about living this far north, whilst looking round the old knife factory, revealed that they add vitamin D in milk to make up for the lack of sunlight and that the best shops have UV lights to cheer customers up and help make them buy more! Tesco and M&S take note. 

Unlike winter, we were not suffering from a lack of sunlight, as clear blue sky was still the order of the day. Along by the river a military band held a very varied concert of all types of music from Glen Miller to disco but what was equally impressive was the fact the the majority of the audience got there by bike and parked them up around the venue 

  
As well as Santa, Rovaniemi also claims to be the worlds largest city by area and home to the most northerly McDonalds in the world as we are considerably further north than Anchorage, Alaska. To save his embarrassment I have not added the photo of Nigel munching his Big Mac!
  
This is our last day in Finland and once again we have been spoilt by the weather but also impressed by its cleanliness and good nature of the famously taciturn Finns. 

As ever trying to be polite in striking up a conversation with the locals, I asked for the Finnish for please. It turns out that they do not really have a direct translation, so often forget to use it when speaking English and other languages, hence one of the reasons Kimi Raikkoinen and his Finnish racing and rally driving predecessors, always seem so rude even when trying not to be!

  
This floatplane just dropped in next to the campsite. 

Tomorrow we are back on the road with the border crossing to Sweden where I will be peddling for the next two weeks as Nigel ably manages the logistics.