I woke up at 5.30 because something was biting my heel. Yes, biting my heel. To cut a long story short, motel Big Bug got to me. Don't know what kind of bug it was. But I did understand its message: get the hell out of Dodge. Which I did, with due haste and motivation.

So I got an early start. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After fixing some kind of breakfast (don't ask, don't tell), I went on my way and finally left the Bothnian coast to ride up to Laponia. The road to the land of the Sami (known also as the Laps) cuts through long swathes of forest and is considered by some to be somewhat dull, but not by me. The surroundings steadily develop into a more northern landscape; lower trees, iceblue lakes, dark mountains, rockfields, moss and lichen instead of grass. It's captivating.

About 100 km's inland I ran into a great lake. I heard a thundering noise above the motorcycle's roar. It turned out to be coming from the Storforsen Falls about 3 km's upwards. I've seen some impressive waterfalls, but the sheer power of this one is something else. It looks like a tsunami coming over the mountain. The rickety woodbridge that led to the ridge next to it felt quite feeble. Luckily Storforsen decided to let me live.
Take a look for yourself at:
https://youtu.be/qXJClnnNHdg 

After that definite highlight I went on to join the Inlandsvagen, the main road that crosses Sweden south to north. Basically a B-road, it's mainly used by the huge logging trucks that carry timber to the ports down south. It's not that busy and you can stop and park on the road for a while without anybody passing you by. Which I did almost instantly, because a small herd of wild rendeer decided to cross the road. What a wonderful sight. The big male stared me down while the others crossed over. No worries mate (as Australia has taught me), just passing by.

And then on to Jokkmokk, the Laponian market town. But before that, I made a short stop to mark ... passing the Arctic Circle! I know, it's just a line on a map, but for me personally it was a special moment. I mean, how much more northern can you get? That is, until Nordkapp of course.

While I quietly celebrated this milestone over a cup of hot coffee in Jokkmokk's only coffee house, I realized I'd reached another milestone as well: 3000 km since I started out from Edam. Almost halfway then, give or take a few thousand km's. I instantly decided to give myself the rest of the day off. The bike can wait.

I spent the afternoon visiting the Sami culture centre and museum: www.ajtte.com. 
The Sami are unique in the sense that they have lived in northern Scandinavia since the end of last ice age, some 10.000 years ago. So their tradition has been continuous, even though it has been under pressure from christianization and Swedish nationalism.

Much of that continuity seems to be owed not only too the fact that the Sami homeland is considered to cold to permanently settle (or should I say colonise). It also comes down to the Sami being the main suppliers of the fur mantles that European elites have been wearing since the Middle Ages. Actually, the fur trade made them quite rich for a while, which accounts for the silver jewelry that the Sami are known for. But of course the Swedish king wanted a piece of the action as well, so he started to tax the Sami heavily. In the meanwhile, Christian missionaries came in and took away the shamanistic family drums that were considered (extremely) sacred by the Sami. Recently the Swedish government officially said sorry for all this. But after 400 years it all sounds a bit shallow. The Sami cultural centre was funded by the European Union, by the way.

Yes, that was quite a long story, I know. It's the historian in me. I promise tomorrow it's back to roadtrippin'. And you'll meet the technician in me, because it seems my new windshield has finally arrived, somewhere 150 km's up north!