Inari to Sandnes by SUP
I accepted the income that summer tourism brings, rented out my home, and flew to Norway somewhat depressed about the carbon footprint these choices would lead to. It is difficult to be green.
At least the real journey started by bus. That delivered us to Inari in Finland, and the south-west corner of an enormous lake system that I had passed on the final leg of a previous journey.
In the back of the bus we each had an O'Shea 13' Explorer inflatable paddleboard. We had a pump too, and were soon ready to head away into what promised to be wilderness.
With the paddleboards we journeyed through lake and forest to river and sea. ~1.5 litres of petrol covered all needs for cooking and hot drinks. Phones for navigation were charged by solar. Food had been carefully chosen to minimise packaging waste and weight. Fish and fresh berries supplemented our diet and kept scurvy at bay.
Helene was new to SUP, although we had done a three-day warm-up trip the week previous. Even so, it was a steep learning curve!
For me, in retrospect, there are many highlights to speak of: re-'discovering' routes that previous dwellers of the region would have known well, Helene's transition to competence and confidence, the fun of descending the river, the first taste of sea air after many days inland...
With the air travel and new paddleboards to offset, it can't be claimed that this was an eco-friendly trip. But at least once underway it did minimal environmental harm, and that is a highlight too.
Overview of the complete track
Departure photo from Inari (the settlement)
The sandy islands were in a small minority, but well worth paddling for
This is more typical. A thunderstorm followed soon after
Drysuit weather
To cross to the middle chain of islands we waited for the calm of evening. The sun dipped below the horizon briefly but it never got dark.
Dinner on an island of the central archipelago
A shortcut - the Kuuvi Canal - dug with a shovel over a period of 10 years by a local who hoped to charge people for passing through
Moored up next to a moraine outcrop
SUP siesta, north end Inari lake
From Inari we climbed from lake to lake. Between these two we took the train.
The wooden track here would have been used for pulling boats across
This long and narrow outcrop is an esker, probably formed from depostis of a sub-glacial stream
Other times there was a longer hike. Each hike was in triplicate (boards first, then back for the gear)
Ghosting through a grey morning
On day 9 we reached a road, and crossed it. We had organised a food drop here.
Next (after waiting out a day with bad weather) came lakes and rivers descending to Neiden River.
We went several days without the fins (and were lucky not to have broken them with earlier rock strikes!)
Neiden river. Bigger, wider and longer stretches with gentle paddling.
Camp spot on an island in Neiden river
Surveying the river from a sandcastle
If we paddled sections like these we crossed them in no time, and it was super fun, but the boards took too many scrapes for it to be an advisable strategy
Neiden falls (one of several sections that were walked!)
We went past a strawberry farm and had to stop
And that evening reached the sea
Beyond perfect this camp spot
That's a minke whale mid-fjord
Final camp spot of the journey. Nights darker now.
A headwind to reach Kirkenes
Sandnes bridge (Sandnesbrua) - the finish line of the paddle
And the final ascents home for a cup of tea.
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