It is midnight and the cats are fighting. My cat, who has her own door,
sit inside and her opponent outside. They shout impertinences to each other
through the door, in the way only cats can. I try to intervene, but this
is not your bussiness they say and continue their fight. I do not get much
sleep before I have to get up at four. Then my cat sleep deeply, satisfied
with the fight. After a quick breakfast, do I say goodbye to the sleeping
cat, put my luggage in the car, and drive towards the rising sun and Sturup
airport. I leave the car at the long time parking place, and walk to the
gate, where I wait for my friend. We will take the plane at ten past six
to Arlanda, and then further to Gällivare. To Arlanda is it a half
full jetplane, while it from Arlanda to Gällivare is a smaller propeller
driven plane. We land at eleven at Lapland airport. We start to look for
the bus to Gällivare, but we are told that there is no longer any
bus. Instead one must take a taxi, so we call for one, and wait. In the
meantime do we get time to admire the aerobatics of the swallows.
The taxi cost 120 SEK, and it takes ten minutes to Gällivare railway
station. We leave our luggage at the taxi office, since the driver claim
that the left-luggage office at the railway station is closed. We do not
need to pay for it. The bus will leave at twenty past three, so we have
four hours to spend. We start with buying the fuel for our kitchen, this
we find in the ICA-shop. Nearby, everything is nearby in Gällivare,
is the China restaurant. Here we eat Beijing rice, tastes rather good,
and the plate is full. On the way back to the railway station, do we visit
the new church. A wooden church built around 1880. Back at the railway
station, after having fetched the luggage in the nearby taxi office, do
we repack and redress such that we can start walk when we arrive at Saltoluokta.
It turns out that the travel agency and the luggage office is reopened,
it is now a private railway company that operates the train to Norrland
and it took them some time to get into bussiness. Then we wait for the
bus outside the station.
The bus leave on time, with us is the bus half full. Just before the
village Porjus do we take right, on a small road along the lake Stora Lulevattnet.
The road is miserable, and it need to be improved. At five do we turn left
down to the landing stage at Kebnats. The boat from Saltoluokta is approaching,
and the bus from Ritsem arrive as well. The place is full of life for a
moment. Much supply is to be transported to the fell station, it takes
some time to move it from the bus to the boat. There is no wind, the lake
rest in peace during the ten minutes it takes to get across. We sit outside
and watch the steep mountain Lulep Kierkau. The fell station is a few hundred
meter away, uphill through a birch forest, a broad track show the way.
We can here music, four folk musicians entertain when we arrive. This week
is devoted to swedish folkmusic. That is not our interest this time, at
six are we on our track up towards Autsutjvagge. The first part is uphill
through the birch forest, soon one reach the bare mountain region. Looking
back have we a nice view of the glossy surface of the lake Langas. To the
west is the peak Lulep Kierkau (1139) most prominent. In front of us is
the wide valley Autsutjvagge, our broad and stony track lead further into
the flat northern part of it. The valley continue west to tha lake Pietshaure,
between Lulep Kierkau and the small peak of Rasek (1092). The clouds descend
on the slopes of the hillsides, in east are they gentle, while in west
is the vertical wall of Sjäksjo (1250). The daylight start to
disappear, and after have passed a few brooks without good camping grounds
do we find an acceptable place at a small brook. The darkness embrace the
tent. It has been a long day, and we fall a sleep at once, the rain fall
and the sound it makes on the tent sounds as a cradle song.
|