{"id":2986,"date":"2018-05-21T14:59:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T14:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/?p=2986"},"modified":"2024-04-24T09:16:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T09:16:16","slug":"the-iron-awe-and-home-of-the-polar-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/norway\/the-iron-awe-and-home-of-the-polar-express\/","title":{"rendered":"The ten best places to see the Northern Lights in the Nordics – part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

IRON AWE and the Polar Express\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Scandinavia<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s most northerly railway was built to carry iron ore.\u00a0 But, as JOHN GIMLETTE discovers, it also provides easy access to a vast and largely pristine wilderness.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 540m underground, a new world appears.\u00a0 Deep below Kiruna, there\u2019s no sound, and everything smells of rock.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to forget that, up on the surface, it\u2019s -15?C and the sky is streaked in green.\u00a0 Down here, roads take off in all dimensions, and there are nine different trains snaking through the mountain.\u00a0 I remember thinking how odd it was to find a caf\u00e9 so deep in the earth, and to be arriving by bus.<\/p>\n

Had we descended another 500m, we\u2019d have been in the thick of it.\u00a0 At that level, remote-controlled tractors shovel up enough ore each day to build six Eiffel Towers.\u00a0 This is now the world\u2019s largest underground iron mine, supplying 78% of Europe\u2019s needs.\u00a0 Listen carefully, and every morning in Kiruna, at about 1am, you\u2019ll hear a reassuring rumble.\u00a0 It\u2019s the explosive charges, loosening the ore that will become our cities and cars.<\/p>\n

The iron mines of northern Sweden<\/a> have also left us with a remarkable journey. \u00a0Without them, there would probably be little access to this magnificent, watery wilderness.\u00a0 Being 200km inside the Arctic Circle, everything freezes from October to May, and there are few roads.\u00a0 In the early days, the ore had to be dragged out on sledges. But then, in 1884, an English company began a railway, and despite bankruptcy and the unforgiving ice, a lonely network eventually appeared.\u00a0 Even today, most of it is still single-track.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Known as the Malmbanen<\/a> (<\/em>or \u2018Ore Line\u2019), I could see the railway<\/a> on my map, arcing across northern Scandinavia.\u00a0 This was the way to see Lapland, I decided.\u00a0 My wife and daughter, Lucy, needed little persuading.\u00a0 Dressed in all our ski-kit, we flew to the Norwegian port of Narvik, at 68?N.\u00a0 Here, we\u2019d begin our week-long journey, linking up with the Malmbanen in Sweden.\u00a0 There would then be two stops along the way, to explore the wilds.\u00a0 Finally, from Kiruna, we\u2019d catch the overnight \u2018Arctic Circle Train<\/a>\u2019, veering south 1,400km to Stockholm.<\/p>\n

Narvik was full of surprises.\u00a0 At night, everything lit up (even the ski-slopes), and, from up on the mountainside, it looked fleetingly grand.\u00a0 But, close-up, the houses were fretted and quaint, and painted in Shaker-like colours.\u00a0 Our hotel, however, was a miniature skyscraper (called The Scandic), and from its penthouse bar, we could watch the ore trains coming in, 68 wagons at a time.\u00a0 During the night, a strong wind got up, and a herd of moose came into town.\u00a0 No-one minded them, or the fact that it never got truly light. A local guide, Paula, took us on a twilight walk through lunchtime Narvik.\u00a0 \u2018We won\u2019t see the sun,\u2019 she said, \u2018for another six weeks.\u2019<\/p>\n

The fiord was as black as ink but, thanks to The North Atlantic Current, it never freezes.\u00a0 That\u2019s why most of Sweden\u2019s ore comes this way: 25 million tons a year.\u00a0 Back in 1940, all this iron was feeding Nazi aggression, and, that April, they captured Narvik.\u00a0 The allies retook it on 29 May, only to abandon Norway a few days later.\u00a0 In this desperate struggle, 8,500 lives were lost, along with 64 ships.\u00a0 \u2018You can still see wrecks,\u2019 said Paula, \u2018out in the fiord.\u2019\u00a0 Other relics of that time have ended up in an inspired new venue: the Krigsmuseum<\/em>.\u00a0 As well as a huge torpedo (which re-surfaced in 2011), we spotted some horses\u2019 snowshoes, and \u2013 more mysteriously \u2013 a British pith helmet.<\/p>\n

On our second day, we set off for Sweden.\u00a0 Like all the other stations, Narvik didn\u2019t seem to have any staff, just a large stuffed wolverine caught in mid-snarl.\u00a0 Once aboard, however, the train was thrillingly old-fashioned and Nordic.\u00a0 The \u2018bistro\u2019 was panelled in art deco, and there were separate compartments for people with dogs.\u00a0 Outside all was black, so the staff settled down with a phone to watch the ice-hockey.\u00a0 But then, as we climbed into Sweden, the sparks from our wheels lit up the frozen forest, a brilliant stroboscopic blue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A little over an hour later, we arrived at Bj\u00f6rkliden.\u00a0 Our hotel was perched on the mountainside, just above the track.\u00a0 A resort since 1926, the Hotell Fj\u00e4llet would become a refugee camp for Norwegians in 1940.\u00a0 Then, after the war, it was burnt down and completely rebuilt.\u00a0 Although still true to its log-cabin roots, it\u2019s now as opulent as ever.\u00a0 As well as huge log-fires and a lavishly-pelted lounge, it enjoys 24km of ski trails (both downhill and cross-country) and its own little fleet of snow-mobiles. With Arctic char for dinner and deliciously tart lingonberries for breakfast, the Fj\u00e4llet is like a modern-day Valhalla, a place to unleash your inner Swede.<\/p>\n

Best of all, during the brief episodes of daylight, a magnificent lake appeared.\u00a0 Frozen solid, Tornetr\u00e4sk was like a sweep of petrified sky, constantly changing colour.\u00a0 From our cabin, we could see the ore-trains clanking their way carefully round the edge.\u00a0 One morning, we padded down through the woods and onto the ice.\u00a0 It seems that, as the freezing waves had hit the shore, the spray had solidified, creating enormous Medusas and monsters, perhaps 6 metres high.\u00a0 The opposite shore was 12km away, and was said to be a last resort of bears and wolves.\u00a0 It was an intriguing idea: this fabulous Arctic landscape with another wilderness \u2013 ever wilder \u2013 deep within.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Each day, we\u2019d set off on a mini-adventure.\u00a0 Twice we put on snow-shoes, and joined a guide, pounding over the foothills of Mount L\u00e5ktatj\u00e5kka.\u00a0 These hikes would end with a campfire and coffee, brewed in the style of the local herders (boiled like tar, and stirred with a burnt twig).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Another time, we took the snow-mobiles out.\u00a0 At 13, Lucy was too young to steer, but was happy riding pillion.\u00a0 It was like flying round the mountain on a plane without wings.<\/p>\n

Our second night was the most spectacular.\u00a0 After dinner, we borrowed snow-boots and set off up L\u00e5ktatj\u00e5kka, which had somehow come alive.\u00a0 In the moonlight, the trees sparkled like chandeliers, and we saw plump white grouse and a fox stalking through the drifts.\u00a0 But then, just before midnight, we reached a plateau, and the sky changed.\u00a0 Great smudges of colour appeared, and a brilliant halo of green.\u00a0 It was, of course, Aurora Borealis, putting on the biggest and most mysterious lightshow on Earth.<\/p>\n

\"Bjorkliden---watching-the-N\"<\/p>\n

We were sorry to leave, but there was still Kiruna to come.\u00a0 Ninety minutes down the line, it may not have sounded much (a mining town, despatching eleven gigantic trains a day).\u00a0 But Kiruna had its charms.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t just a hub of wilderness life (with shops selling rifles, camp-kettles and Arctic workwear); the older parts were also often painted and pretty, and our hotel, \u2018Camp Ripan\u2019, had an alluring spa.\u00a0 Meanwhile, in the dark, the mine \u2013 now a blaze of lights \u2013 looked like some great, Supergalactic cruise ship, moored in the snow.\u00a0 Naturally, we followed the wagons back to their source, and took a tour inside.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny to think that much of this town will soon disappear.\u00a0 Thanks to subsidence (caused by the mine), old Kiruna has a journey ahead.\u00a0 Many of the buildings will be bulldozed, but some \u2013 like the church of 1912 \u2013 will be dismantled and rebuilt 3km out to the east.\u00a0 At the mine, they told us that some 3,000 homes would be relocated (at a cost to the company of around \u00a3320m).\u00a0 But the new Kiruna, it seems, will be a Space-Age place.\u00a0 Already its outline is taking shape, beginning with the kerbstones and sewers.<\/p>\n

Half an hour down the road by taxi, we came across a rather more enduring community.\u00a0 These days, the village of Jukk\u00e4sjarvi is best known for \u2018The Icehotel\u2019 with its short-lived and deliciously zany sculptures (think astronauts and mermaids).\u00a0 But, for the semi-nomadic S\u00e1mi<\/em> people, Jukk\u00e4sjarvi signifies permanence, and they\u2019ve been meeting here for centuries.\u00a0 The little red church that the Christians sent them in 1608 is still there, as alluring as ever.\u00a0 Next door is the S\u00e1mi museum.\u00a0 Its exhibits suggest a gruelling existence: wooden mugs, tiny larders, and suits made of skins.\u00a0 Round the back, there were even a few reindeer.\u00a0 They looked edgy and querulous at first, but, as Lucy discovered, they\u2019ll do almost anything for a mouthful of lichen.<\/p>\n

Our last evening, we spent with a dog team.\u00a0 It\u2019s an exhilarating moment, setting off through the moonlit forest on a torrent of huskies.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure who loved it more, us or \u2018Chunky\u2019 and \u2018Patch\u2019 and the rest of the team.\u00a0 There was a collective squeal as we hurtled along, and, whenever we stopped, we were smothered in affection and doggy licks.\u00a0 Their English \u2018musher\u2019, Gaynor Leeper, owns forty of these gorgeous creatures, and races them hundreds of miles, across Sweden. \u2018But they\u2019re all pets,\u2019 she said, \u2018I even moisturise their paws.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Late the following afternoon, we\u2019d catch the sleeper to Stockholm, a journey that would begin in Arctic darkness and end in temperate greens.\u00a0 But before leaving Kiruna, we called in at our hotel\u2019s spa.\u00a0 \u2018Camp Ripan\u2019 offered a full range of pampering, including an outdoor hot tub (which could somehow function at -20).\u00a0 Slightly stranger was a footbath, filled with magnetite nodules.\u00a0 In Lapland, it seems, iron ore has much to answer for: bankruptcies, battles, booms, disappearing towns, a bold railway and an unforgettable journey.\u00a0 And now, here it was, in one final service to humankind, beautifying feet.<\/p>\n

DETAILS<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Gimlette was a guest of the Baltic Travel Company (0208 233 2875; www.baltictravelcompany.com. A 3-night package costs from \u00a3935pp (based on 2 sharing), including return flights from London, and train fares from Narvik to Kiruna.<\/p>\n

For details of skiing, tours and the War Museum in Narvik, click on www.visitnarvik.com<\/p>\n

John Gimlette is the author of \u2018Elephant Complex: Travels in Sri Lanka\u2019<\/em> (Riverrun \u00a312.99)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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IRON AWE and the Polar Express\u00a0 Scandinavia\u2019s most northerly railway was built to carry iron ore.\u00a0 But, as JOHN GIMLETTE discovers, it also provides easy access to a vast and largely pristine wilderness. At 540m underground, a new world appears.\u00a0 Deep below Kiruna, there\u2019s no sound, and everything smells of rock.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to forget…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,96,16,80,137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nordic","category-northern-lights","category-norway","category-scandanavia","category-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2986"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3065,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2986\/revisions\/3065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baltictravelcompany.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}