We wandered out of Ounaskoski Camping last night to try to find somewhere for my birthday meal which would accept dogs. Luckily not far from the campsite we found a pub with outside seating next to the river. The menu was only burgers and pizzas (again) but it looked better quality than our anniversary disaster. We were pleasantly surprised. Beer was a mere €6 a pint (I managed to afford one) and the food was very good. My choice was a proper modern top quality burger and Sarah had a very good veggie burger with real draft cider. Samuel L Jackson would have had no hesitation in saying “sure is a tasty burger”.

Ounaskoski Camping deserves special mention for being both the most expensive, but also worst value campsite we’ve stayed on during this trip. Full price, with electricity, would be €38.50 a night. We managed €30 by not taking electricity and having a Keycamp discount card. For this I would expect, as a minimum, good facilities. Unfortunately they were totally inadequate. Two mens’ and two women’s toilets and three shared showers for a site which would accommodate fifty plus vans, is ridiculous. However, they are getting away with it because the site was packed. I’ve got no idea why, because it is in the middle of Rovaniemi which, as far as I can ascertain, has very little of interest to detain anyone.

Regular readers will remember that today was the day Basil was due to have his two year service. A long saga I hoped was coming to an end. We arose with the larks. Well that’s not strictly accurate because any larks probably don’t go to bed seeing it is light 24 hours a day. Anyway we were up and away by 8.30 am as if we still worked for a living.

We arrived at Wetteri Oy fifteen minutes early, but they were all ready for us. Basil’s details were on their computer and everything looked set. I asked what the likely cost would be and the service agent said labour would be about €200 but he didn’t know the cost of the parts. I said that was OK. An oil filter, air filter and some oil couldn’t amount to much, could it? He said Basil would be ready in two hours. Sarah, the dogs and I waited in Basil until the mechanic arrived, only he didn’t. After an hour I went to ask why Basil had not been seen yet, because the big chap was getting nervous waiting. They said they had a problem with one of their lifts and so everything was taking longer than expected.

Shortly afterwards they took Basil to the operating theatre, sorry I mean workshop. Sarah and I took the dogs for a walk to calm our nerves. After we had exhausted all the industrial estate had to offer, we went and sat in Wetteri’s reception, drank coffee, looked at new cars, drank coffee and repeat until 1.15 when Basil was finally ready.

I sat at the service desk and the service agent printed out the bill and passed it over the table. I could not believe my eyes €782.35!!! I was in shock. He had been vaguely right about the labour, which came in at just short of €300, but the parts were over €400 for an oil filter, air filter, some oil and not a lot else. They said Finland was expensive, but that is on another planet. Lesson for the future, get all servicing done at home when at all possible, where you can ring round and get a competitive quote, not at the only game in town in a remote settlement north of the arctic circle. At least Basil got a clean bill of health.

Following that we took another financial hit at LIDL, filling up with all our staples for Norway. Basil in now full to bursting. We spent more than four times as much as at our normal LIDL shops and no alcohol this time.

Finally Basil hauled his stuffed carcass a few miles north of Rovaniemi to Santa Clause’s village. This is the place to which kids of all ages travel in the winter to see the “real” Santa Clause. However the place is open all year round. This is not my cup of tea but Sarah was keen to buy some souvenirs for Christmas presents and so in we went. It was full of motorhomes from all nations, including one British couple from the Peak District with whom I had a chat while Sarah was shopping.

Santa and his little helper!

There is a post office, where all the letters to Father Christmas get delivered and there are various other “attractions” but it is mostly tat shops housed in log cabins. I found the whole place rather depressing and even Sarah had her enthusiasm knocked out of her when she could find nothing worth buying, because, even in Sarah’s words, it was all tat. It doesn’t help that the weather has turned grey and drizzly. I think I lost my inner child some time ago and am now officially a grumpy old man!

If you still send a letter to Santa every year this is where it ends up.

We will stay here free overnight (66.542649, 25.842000) along with a large number of other motorhomes and tomorrow we push on into the heart of Lapland. Reindeer ahoy!

Oh look Sarah, Mabel and Melek have crossed the Artic Circle. Mabel and Melek look nervously at what might be yet to come.

The Artic Circle again!