Awakening from 6 AM, cleaning the place and packing of equipment. Resting was over and the next night was planned to spend at Oulankajoki at a distance of 480 kilometres to the south. This would be the most serious riding day of Allroad Tour 2000 Guhtur…

First in the morning the whole unit of 43 Tourists visited on the top of Kaunispää fjeld (438 m ASL) for a coffee and doughnut. The temperature was around +4 C and thick fog prevented the looking of landscapes. The patrols started from there in familiar order heading to Kuttura road. From Kuttura road it was turned off to the south to new groove called Sotajoki-Nälkämaa circuit. After slipping and sliding 100 meters on veeery wet and soft road it was decided to turn back. It was certainly not a cosy place for a 250-kg bike! 

A long ride on E75 that splits the wildernesses of Lapland seemed as blunt as earlier. A little variation to it brought the passing of French and Japanese tourist buses. At Vuotso shop one of the bikes refused to start. There were only some strange noises from the motor when trying to push off (later it was found that the clutch had exploded). So DR650 had to be pushed into the service truck and on top of everything else the unlucky rider was forced to sit behind the steering wheel. 

After Lake Porttipahta the patrols turned east to the direction of Savukoski and Tanhua. Apparently the tiredness began to press mans shoulders already in the afternoon in spite of previous two rest days and several harmless droppings was seen even though the forest roads were not very difficult. Somewhere around Salla the first patrol reported by GSM fine news about the route, it has turned to messy again. They were already 50 kms ahead of us in the middle of “Vilmatunturi Boulevard”, a boulevard through several swamps and over a couple of deep dikes with time ago collapsed bridges.

Indeed after half an hour we found ourselves there, and it was a special place to see 10 PM in the evening. Now if ever I blessed the pair of Michelin T63 tyres on my Africa Twin. Next couple of hours was perspiring. Heavy enduros were pushed, were drawn and were raised even by four men and all the bikes were finally passed through. At the end of a midnight one rider found a three-inch nail. Not a very nice discovery, because it was stuck deep in the rear tyre of his bike.

When the warrior of the hard luck repaired his tyre under the midnight sun, the others tried to enjoy the break. Some-body wanted to try how many mosquitoes could be killed by one slam on the shoulders of a colleague. Eighteen crea-tures stayed under the palm in one go! Motors, which radiated heat and a flock of sweaty Tourists made those guys se-riously feel happy with us. In the camp we were still waited when we arrived there 2 AM as the last patrol. The other patrols had been busy too. The chain of a one bike had break in the speed and had torn the hole to the side of the motor. In the tow of another bike it had been got to the camp, 30 kilometres only. A 17-hour riding day was now behind and there were three hours until wake up.