My Nordic Adventure - Part Two: Snow and more snow

I have a strange need for snow. When I try to explain, I usually say how snow can light up the darkest of wintry days, how a blanket of newly fallen snow is like a rebirth of a landscape: everything looks new, clean and fresh. Of course snow also reminds me of my childhood.

Growing up in Tampere, central Finland, I couldn't wait to lie down on newly fallen snow and make angel shapes with my outstretched arms and legs. When I got my first pair of skis for my 4th birthday I decided to try them out on a field where just a few patches of slush remained on a sunny spring morning in late April. I think I would have ruined them, had  my father not stepped in to save the birthday present. As a school child, I'd cross country ski every weekend in the winter with my friends to a coffee hut near our home. We'd spend our pocket money on a cinnamon bun and a mug of hot berry cordial and ski back home. Cross country skiing was the one sport I was ever any good at - for once my long limbs were of some use.

So it's no wonder I was quite emotional when I was saw these beautiful wintry scenes on my first morning in Äkäslompolo in the Finnish Lapland.

As you can see the weather was gorgeous. Sunny and barely below freezing (-4 C). I was staying with my Finnish friends who are as mad about skiing as I am. As soon as we'd had breakfast of rye bread with ham and cheese and coffee (naturally!), we decided to start the holiday week with a cross country hike on a nearby track. The first leg of about 7 km took us to one of the many huts that the system of ski tracks has scattered around the area of Ylläs.

I was kitted out from my friend's more than adequate ski store. She even had a suitable ski suit and boots to match for me to borrow. I looked the part but once on the track felt anything but a pro.

When used to the old feeling of the narrow skis, I could appreciate that the kit she'd lent me was of outstanding quality. It didn't, however, make up for my lack of fitness. It'd been over two years since I'd cross country ski'd.

This is me two years earlier - spot the narrowness of the skis.

I struggled with the efforts of the uphill 'giliding' (instead I crawled up the snowy banks) and once fell over on a downhill track. Taking on a descent on the narrow planks could not be more different from slalom where all the control is in your legs and skis. Here you just have to keep to the prepared downhill cross country track, bend your knees, keep your balance (!) and hope for the best.

Drenched in sweat and panting, I made it to the first hut and was able to pretend I'd have no problem with the return trip. To my surprise this turned out to be right - fortified by the coffee and laskiaspulla (a cream filled bun served around Ascension Day in Finland and Sweden) I got into a stride and even got up some speed. Still, I was glad when I spotted our turning and could look forward to a hot sauna and a well deserved glass of white mulled wine.

Later in the evening over a delicious supper of 'reindeer temptation' (stewed reindeer steak, onion, carrots and potatoes cooked with cream in the oven), our hostess said, "That was good. Shall we try a longer tour of 20 km tomorrow?"

Something for the weather in the UK

This just seems so apt tonight.

It's a packing nightmare

I'm off to Helsinki for a long weekend. But what to pack?

It's always the same problem. I want to travel ligth but also want to have a choice of what to wear. Which brings the sub-problem of having to take several pairs of matching items of footwear, bags, scarves, or gloves. Which all increase the amount of luggage.

Then there's the additional worry: the weather. This time of year it's very cold in Helsinki, but it can be dry cold or wet cold.

I bought a gorgeous down coat by MaxMara in Rome. It seemed far too sunny and summery at the time to be wanting something for cold weather, but now I'm extremely glad I have it.

But though it's wonderfully warm, it really, really doesn't tolerate rain, or any wet weather at all. The alternative to keep warm and cosy at temperatures below zero is my woollen coat by Joseph, with a really nice collar. But I have worn (and worn) it for two winters already. I could take a dark grey military style wool coat which I bought from the Jill Sander collection for Unqlo in October. Problem is, neither of them are any good if it's pouring down with cold rain.

It seems that I still haven't learned that what I need most of all is a boring, boring, rain proof warm coat. Something like this:

OK, this is Philip Lim at Net-a-Porter and actually rather lovely. But I'd never consider paying £920.00 for a practical coat. It'd be a stretch for a impractical one.

I don't have that coat so I could take the lovely MaxMara one, which does pack into a tiny bag, as an in-case-of-snow-coat (which is forecast) and wear either one of my woollen ones. And keep indoors in case of heavy rain. Or just not go anywhere but Stockmann's department store, which just happens to be opposite my hotel. What brilliant planning on some-one's part...?

During the time I've been living in the UK, the store has grown and grown and now has everything you could possibly want. Ever. So much so that when a few summers ago I was desperate for a haircut, I just walked into the hair salon on the top floor of the store, got a time some hours later, and had the best haircut ever.

But back to the packing. The weather forecast, which I've been following avidly through my daughter in the local newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, is far too vague and inconclusive. It could be rain, it could be snow.

Helsinki is quite a smart city where people dress nicely to go shopping (at Stockmann's mainly), and I'll be seeing old friends, my daughter's friends and possibly visiting my Father. So a 'good daughter' outfit as well as 'sensible mother', and something snazzy to show off with are all required.

To further add to my packing nightmare, I've just been told by a friend who more or less commutes between Helsinki and London that the Finnair ground staff have staged a walkout at Helsinki airport. And that the luggage handlers will be on an unofficial strike at Heathrow at the weekend.

Oh dear, think I'll stay at home then....