5:40 bus to Jokkmokk. Studying the churches. Buying a clock in a caravan of women with breeding cat. Go in detail through Ájtte mountain museum, interesting. Walk around the Lake Talvatis on footpaths. Stay overnight at the hostel.

Yes, I wake before the alarm clock rings. I am well in time to the bus stop at the church. The Norwegian lady is already there. Even the bus driver has woken up in time. The bus serves as a school bus, this is why it is so early morning. Children are picked up, the bus runs a few small detours into the narrow roads to isolated houses, farms, small villages consisting of a few houses. Nice to see more than mountains and main road.

In Jokkmokk, I leave my backpack on the bus station, the hostel opens at five o'clock in the afternoon. Want a breakfast and go to the Conditori City on Storgatan. My usual cafe in Jokkmokk. Eat a simple breakfast consisting of ham and cheese on French bread, with coffee and blackcurrant juice. Then I go to the tourist office. Asking if I can have my backpack in there until 17, but they close at lunchtime today. Ask if the inland railway is still running, would like to take the train to Gällivare tomorrow, but it ended the 30th August. I get a map of Jokkmokk.

With the map can I find the old church, originally from 1753 and which burned 1972. It was rebuilt as a reconstruction of the original. A red painted timber church with shingles, which is located in a pine-wooded site, with a separate bell tower. The church is locked. Two men come and photograph the church. Apparently popular. I continue to the new church, constructed 1889. A large white wooden church on a site with birches. In the park at Storgatan is a sculpture in bronze, of a man who raft timber on a river. On the pedestal is a relief of a governor from 1873 to 1885. On a sign, it is told about the man who stood model for the raft. What a job to raft timber, today's comfortable man (ie me) could not manage it.

Passing the bus station to see if the backpack is still there. It is. The Norwegian woman is waiting for the bus to Murjek, and from there take the train to Narvik. Although the season is over for trains on the inland railway I go there. The rails are manufactured by Krupp, "KRUPP 1936" it says on them. Nearby is a memorial inaugural stone from 6/8 1937, in memory of the last completed section of the Inland Railway.

Talking to a nice man with a dog. The man has lived in my hometown. Has been a carpenter and is now craftsmen in wood, including making birds of wood which are sold at the museum Ájtte. Also he has had problems with his back, common problem, he got it during a mountain hiking. Not at all fun. He recommends trying Suovas (lightly smoked reindeer) on Ájtte as dinner. At the former railway station building is the clock an hour off, so trains must have ran as if it was winter time.

Talking about clocks, I need a clock. Ask at the bus station, "the paper trade may have". "Unfortunately, we do not sell clocks any longer". Hope for the photo store, no. "Perhaps the Statoil petrol station?". No, not there either, but they tell me that on the parking lot is a lady with a caravan that has been on the market this weekend and sold watches. Knock on the door. A woman opens up, a naked cat looks out. The cat is a breeding cat that she has temporarily. He meow a lot, perhaps after cat girls? She, i.e. the woman, sell watches. She runs a shop in Umeå and also drive around and sell at markets. I have a nice chat, and selects an appropriate clock.

I fetch my backpack and goes to the hostel. In the garden sits a man and relax with a brandy after several weeks of hiking. Leaving my backpack on the veranda and goes to Ájtte museum for lunch. The man with the birds recomended Suovas so I'll take it. Expensive but good. Devote many hours to go through the Museum, Mountain and Sámi Museum. There is permanent exhibition called Sápmi - about the country and people. Structured in place around a central location. How they lived, culture, landscape, people. Can not be described, must be seen. Another exhibition is mountain Information, for those who feel they need it for their hike.

I leave the museum for a visit to Jokkmokk stone center, which is closed for today. The Alpine Botanical Garden is closed for the season. My new watch shows 16:00. Then I have time to walk the trail south of the lake Talvatis, and come to the hostel in time when it opens. The man with the brandy is still there. We talk in the meantime we are enjoying the blackcurrants from the bushes at the hostel's backyard. The time is now five, I can check in. Take a shower before dinner. In the cabin next door are a couple, they seem to do more than to shower. Resting after eating, doze off, wake up in time to go to bed.

Links
City Konditoriet
Jokkmokk tourist information
The Inland railway
Inland railway - history
Klockshop - clock seller
Ájtte - Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum
STF hostel in Jokkmokk