15-Jul-2024 -- This is the last out of 10 reports visiting confluence points during a 10-day bicycle trip from Rovaniemi to the Norwegian Sea and back. The story starts from 67°N 26°E and continues from 67°N 24°E.
After wild camping near Rattosjärvi, I followed the remote road with hardly any traffic up to a turnoff to this confluence. From the turnoff, I had to ride 15 km on a gravel track and back, to visit this confluence. But I had enough time, because my flight back home from Rovaniemi was only the next day.
At the nearest distance from the road, I had 400 m straight line distance left for a hike. On the right side of the road was a spruce forest that invited for a pleasant hike. But unfortunately, the confluence was on the left side, which meant again I hike though the swamp and dense undergrowth. I tried to keep my shoes dry by hopping from one tussock to the next, but succeeded only partially: the left foot remained dry while the other got wet by a wrong step. The confluence itself was also in wet and mossy ground with spruce trees in all sizes.
I returned the same way to my bike, rode back those 15 km on the gravel track. Another 100 km later I was back in Rovaniemi, where I rented an apartment and dried all my gear.
CP Visit Details:
- Distance to a main road: 15 km
- Distance to a track: 400 m
- Distance of bicycle parking: 400 m
- Time to reach the CP from the road: 10 minutes
- Time at the CP: 9:08 AM
- Measured height: 150 m
- Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
- Position accuracy: 3 m
- Topography: mostly flat
- Vegetation: spruce, pine, moss
- Weather: overcast, 22° C (felt temperature)
- Given Name: The Unfortunate Side Confluence
The story finishes here.