Shit - ice cream

As we hear, the black ice chaos broke out in Austria because it got cold. Here it is exactly the opposite! This morning it rained after the heavy snowfall - that means the temperature rose quite suddenly to around 0°. The weather warning “heat record” is on my cell phone 😁! For today that means: the grippy snow cover has softened, ice ridges and chunks of ice make driving difficult and lead to real stress for both of us in the morning. After a few kilometers on such an icy road, there is suddenly a very violent, unpleasant rattling and banging on the right front of the car, which only stops at low speed and starts again at around 50. Since the road is currently one lane with no way out, we can only stop after a while. We inspect the car but find nothing unusual. So: new try! Same thing again after 50! Oh dear! What is that?? Look for an alternative again and get under the car... Wilfried bravely lies down under the driver's cab and after a few minutes he finds the noisemaker: obviously a chunk of ice has destroyed the lock on the plastic cover of the alternator. The wind moves the whole thing at a certain speed, hence the rattling! The cover is first temporarily attached and then screwed on. We were lucky we didn't lose it, because there aren't many Fiat workshops here!

We visit the Ice Castle in Oulu, which is quite atmospheric at times, but doesn't seem as great to us as it is advertised.

Finally we end up as the only guests again at a campsite in Kemi by the sea (which is just a large, white, frozen area). We eat reindeer soup (very good), chicken wings and Lapland cheese (similar to halloumi) in the small, cozy restaurant. We will definitely have a quiet night and continue on to Rovaniemi tomorrow. There we will cross the Arctic Circle.