Recharge at Aneen Loma, Anetjärvi
What an end of the week it was.. couple of over 7 hour drives, five teams photoshoots, not enough sleep and my watch tells me ‘Too much stress, Your Body Battery is drained!’
So – after the photoshoot in Simo on Sunday, it was time to look for a place to stay for few nights – as the next photoshoot is only on Thursday in Sotkamo. Being in Lapland was a kind of a help when looking for a place, it tends to be quite remote around here.
Browsing online to look for places somewhere in between Simo and Sotkamo.. found few that I thought would be nice – but then my eyes fell to Aneen Loma and as I looked through their website and of the location. That was where I was heading for three nights to try to get some energy into me.
Mere three hour drive from Simo, on nice roads.. well – the one between Simo and Ranua wasn’t that nice.. but after that.
And as I wrote to the place to ask if there was space for a camper – the answer was ‘There is no one at the beach, the Easter guests are only arriving on Thursday’. Before you start to think … BEACH!!! ..let me remind you that this is Lapland, March.. and evening temperatures are about -23 celsius or below.
Get shown to the campsite and a little tour of what’s where… toilets, shower, sauna, laundry… looking like a great place to spend few days!
As I write this, it’s Wednesday morning and I am just about to head out – could have stayed for much longer, but maybe it is better to leave before this place gets all the Easter holiday makers.. I preferred this place when it was just for me 🙂
But what a three days it has been – done hours of skiing on my ‘snow glide skis’ on the frozen lake and in the forest – the forest which still has about a meter of snow on the ground.. but with the snow skis.. you just glide over it (take them off – and step into the snow.. yep.. you are NOT going anywhere but downwards).
Following some wolf tracks in the snow, listening to the sound of silence, spending hours on the frozen lake in the late nights watching the sun slowly sink behind the horizon and then seeing the northern lights light up the sky.
Put on the sauna in the evenings to go and enjoy the heat and just feel the stress melt away..
But – it has not all been just skiing, walking and feeling one with the nature – nope, with the end of the week having been so busy. There a need to edit, tag and upload over 10.000 images to the Superpesis/Ykköspesis from the last five teams photoshoots. Luckily even if this place is hours from anywhere – there is fibre optic internet here with 500MB connection speed! So the uploading was a lot less painful that in could have been. Goes to show that one soon can live almost anywhere and work remotely!
Sometimes you just hit the jackpot with the place you are staying, the weather (it has been SUNNY all the time!!), the neighbours.. just everything – and this definitely was one of those times.
My own batteries do feel recharged, of course I do know that few days of rest does not undo all the grind and hard nights that I have been doing for about 10 years… but it is better than nothing..
Now – just time to tidy up the camper, get last bits of laundry in, maybe have a little bit of skiing on the lake – and then towards the bright lights of Sotkamo and the next photoshoot!
It might feel a bit weird to actually see other people again – in the last few days, I’ve maybe seen a hare or two, snow grouse, some other birds (Sorry Kim – still not perfect identifying birds!!)… tracks of reindeer and wolf – but now, might meet some other two legged beasts.
Luckily I also filled the tank with diesel before coming here – I think the nearest petrol station on my way down might be around 200km away (there are ones closer by – but just not on the route I’ll take!)
Thank you Aneen Loma for a lovely location for my three days of relaxation in the middle of a hectic schedule! This place will be added to the ‘places to visit again’ list..
