Santa Claus Village
Alexis , snowmobiling guide at Wild Nordic Finland . Image © copyright Matthew Brace occasionally by a light breeze , and above us was a vast , ice-blue sky . We spotted a small herd of reindeer making its way along the lake ’ s edge by the trees , over what in summer must be the shoreline . They picked their way deftly , stopping every now and then to inspect the ground , pawing it to check for anything edible .
“ We are just north of 66 degrees here ,” said Alexis , “ so , we ’ re almost exactly on the Arctic Circle .”
To move across this land in winter at speed in any kind of comfort we needed all our thermal layers plus the full , insulated ski suit each of us had been loaned by Wild Nordic , the excellent local company that runs these Arctic Circle snowmobiling tours .
As we were getting kitted out at their base near the Santa Claus Village — yes , it ’ s a real place ; more about that in the fact file — the Wild Nordic crew had said it was going to be a fairly mild winter ’ s day with a high of -14 º C predicted . “ It has to get below -20 º C before we think it ’ s really cold ,” General Manager Ana Vouk told us .
We headed north across the lake , which had been frozen for so long there were metres of solid ice below the surface . After a kilometre or so , Alexis guided us back to the woods and along a narrower , slower path that wound up a hillside . He led us to a small wooden shelter almost at the top of the low hill , where we gave the engines a rest . Alexis poured us mugs of hot fruit juice and grilled vegan sausages on a birchwood fire as we
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