Rick was very sad leaving Helsinki.




We met the 5 other 2CVs at Siipo around 30km north of Helsinki and then travelled north visiting a fish smokery and a barrel sauna maker. Leaving the sauna maker proved entertaining as his workshop was down a ice covered path so all the 2CVs bar the 4x4s had some difficulty getting out. We have some pictures but will post them tomorrow.

Basically extra weight was required over the front wheels so the co driver had to stand on the bumper and then bounce up and down to get traction.

2CV coping well in the snow and we are re learning how to drive. Tomorrow we have to drive the equivalent of London to Edinburgh but on ice and have to drive across 6 mile wide lake.

Ice Road 2CVers here we come...

At long last the raid starts today. Yippee!! Only left home 1 week ago.

Meeting up with other 2CVs in Helsinki around 10am today to convoy out to the start point of the raid.

More snow in the night so our 2CV looks more like a white hill in the car park than a motor car that is about to do 3000kms up in the frozen north.

Its minus 3 deg C at the mo (the coldest its been so far for us) which is good news because the snow on the roads will be much dryer and more compact. No wet slush like what you normally get in Britain.

Off to dig the car out now......

Still in Helsinki and it is snowing. There is a tradition that when I stay with my friends here, I have to make a curry so this morning saw the shopping trip to get the ingredients.

Later it wás a final check of the 2CV so Rick and I checked levels, tappits and greaced up the kingpins.

In need of somewhere to test the car we drove to Allun Grilli, a cafe on the outskurts of Helsinku which was the first sponsor of Mika Hakinen 2 times world F1 champion.




Lots of racing memorobelia was on show.

Snow has ben falling all afternoon so the drive back was interesting. Helsinki is around -1 to +1 c so there is a mixture of snow, slush and ice on the roads. At times you could feel the tyres slip on braking before the spikes dug in so it proved a good practice for what is to come.

The evening saw a curry followed by a sauna and yes we did roll in the snow. Rick was not sure if we were joking when we mentioned this was part of the routine but did partake.

Tomorrow we will meet up with 5 2CVs in the morning and then we will have a leisurely convoy to the first overnight stop. We will probably use small roads as snow driving practice will be required for some drivers especially as in the North there is over a metre in some places...

After meeting team 15 and loaning them a regulator we found that there was a small overcharging problem in their car. Luckily we had found out from Tim sf a good garage so we had to point them in the right direction and then make a dash for Stockholm.

Made the ferry with an hour to spare and then had an overnight crossing to Turku in Finland. There had been an over night snow fall here so it gave Rick a chance to have a lillle play in the white stuff.

Helsinki by 10.30 and once unpacking the car we made a leisurely tour and took in the sights.

With our 2CV behaving cheif engineer Rick was becoming a little restless but soon had a new challenge, namely getting food into small child!!



This done it was time for a trip to the Zetor to plan the final checks to the car before the raid starts...

Saw some culture today. Little mermaid, spires, and monuments...

4x4 spiked up and ready for the 700 km trip to Stockholm.



Team 15 have charging problems so we will be meeting the in the morning and loaning them a spare regulator. Failing that we have found a garage that may be able to help as we have to be in Stockholm for an evening ferry to Finland.

Good chance of snow tomorrow so the trip could be interesting...