From sea to tree.

The weather was rotten yesterday morning for our push north.  Foggy, wet, cold and miserable. However, as we were on motorway for about 400kms at least we made good progress. The last, more interesting 100 Kms was on a mixture of gravel and Tarmac and through beautiful countryside and, the rain had stopped. The Bristol is behaving beautifully and eats up the miles with ease.

We are now officially in Swedish Lapland - too thrilling! 

Then we arrived at the famous Tree Hotel.  Oh boy!  What can I say?  It's the most amazing and unusual place that I have ever stayed in.  I'll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Our home, for two whole nights, is called UFO.  It couldn't really be called anything else, could it? A button, on a tree, lowers the hatch and a ladder comes down.  We half expected little green men to walk out. Within, it is very comfortable; has a "Cinderella" burning loo - slightly disconcerting, but functional, and is warm and cosy.  The spaceship is completely suspended in the trees and sways gently.

Lots of different activities were on offer this morning.  Fishing, canoeing, horse riding -and my chosen one, hiking.  Well, more a walk in the woods than a proper hike.  It was pouring with rain and so the four of us, Jose, Maria, Birgit and me donned endless waterproof layers and felt like Michelin men.  Our guide, the lovely Jorvik, drove us to a remote spot where we walked through the forest learning much along the way. It was beautiful.

We ended by sitting by the lake, on reindeer skins, around a little fire where he made us coffee, lingonberry juice, and we ate local cheese, dried reindeer (yummy)  and cinnamon rolls he had made himself.  Magical!

Tonight, if it ever stops raining, which looks unlikely, we will have an outdoor dinner by a lake. Then tomorrow we get back in our cars and cross the Arctic Circle which is only 70kms. We may be rain sodden; but downhearted?  Never!  This is a fabulous trip.