I’d expected to be woken up by the light of the 05:30 sunrise, so didn’t set an alarm. Despite the cold temps, the warmth of the sleeping bag meant I slept in only my underwear. I fumbled for my hat at first light, pulled it down over my eyes and slept soundly until 8am, when Aled woke me up!

Straight out of bed, into a low light morning. Dog feeding was the first task as always. It’s gruesome but necessary…

Followed by porridge again for us…

Then we set out into the day, along the lake…

The flat light meant that I took no photos until lunch, some three hours later. The front runners saw some reindeer, but they had scarpered by the time I arrived.

Lunch was sausage on a stick, cooked over a fire…

In the afternoon the sun came out and gave the most incredible sky views. The high winds at altitude had created beautiful alto cirrus and smoothed them off into ‘lenticular’ saucers.

It was big sky country…

To get to the Sami Cabins at Killinge, we returned along the frozen river, marvelling at the skies.

Then finally we reached the deserted village and our home for the night. The guys are in one hut, and Aled and I have our own one, which has a little stove. We’ve got it going now as the wind howls around the building. Toasty.

Later, we’ll go outside and check for the northern lights, but for now, we rest…

Total Ride: 34.8km