This short documentary follows two young women as they bikepack along the old Arctic Post Road in Scandinavia’s far north. Friends Henna Palosaari and Sami Sauri (and an unseen cameraman) set off on their mini-adventure from Yllas in Finland to Alta in Norway, hoping to knock over the roughly 430km in time for Sauri’s flight back to Spain a few days later.
Their journey follows the remnants of the old Copenhagen-Alta post route and the cyclists hop between gravel tracks and mountain bike trails.
“When the gravel route goes on a road, we are not going to ride it…we both don’t like riding on the road, that’s the worst,” Palosaari explains. “We’ll go then on the mountain bike route and do a bit of a bike hike.”
Rough terrain and unique snacks
The Scandinavian Arctic holds some of Europe’s last true wilderness and the route to Alta isn’t always easy, whether they are on the gravel or the mountain bike trails. At times, the bike-packing is literal: Rocky, uphill sections force the pair to shoulder their bikes and carry them to easier ground. There are streams to ford and muddy trails to struggle through. The crossing from Finland to Norway is particularly rustic and involves creating a hole in a barbed wire fence and squeezing through.
Villages are few and far between, but when they do run into people, they make the most of it, trying some reindeer tongue and getting some piping hot food.
They arrive in Alta with time to spare for a final “dinner” of bread and cheese.
