Finland

Post from Kirkenes in Norway, where I arrived yesterday. One more cycle to reach the Norway-Russia border, from where I set sail from in May 2017. But the anticipated euphoria of completion has slipped away just as it was coming into reach.

Instead - since peeling away from the Baltic - my companions have been a gentle melancholy and a rising anxiety.

Finland is beautiful and the people too, and it feels like a betrayal to post this, but having highlighted trash elsewhere, I can't ignore it here. The count was two days back.

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Wow! I just checked progress and see that there is only about 1000km to go until the loop is closed. That really seems like nothing. Finland - which at first glance seemed quite enormous - already has a large chunk to the south.