Finland – Ruka

Date: 25 January 2018

Distance: 8 miles

Today was a big day out to the ski resort. I don’t downhill ski and today didn’t seem the time to learn but there was a walking trail, so I brought my snowshoes with me and off I went.

There was something rather disconcerting about striding off on my own onto a trail that hadn’t been walked since the last snowfall, but I kept heading on following a line of wooden poles with green markings on them (albeit ones camouflaged in snow, just to add to the excitement of not knowing where the heck I was or where I was going!).

You can’t hear a huge amount above the sound of snowshoes stomping through the deep white stuff, but as I paused close to what I hoped was the top of a hill, a group of friendly locals appeared on their way downhill, and told me I was 200 metres away from a hut where they had left a fire burning in the hearth (sensibly, the huts here come equipped with wood piles, axes, etc). Fantastic! After pausing to catch my breath in the hut I headed back downhill, following my own tracks this time, and walked back into Ruka for a celebratory pizza.