This morning we woke up to clearer skies and we were able to see the beautiful views of the mountains and the frozen lake below the hotel!

Our luggage was transported to the station but we had to walk down which was great on such a lovely morning and a bit of exercise before our 5-hour train journey to Boden.

NB - these were a lifesaver and so reasonable. We couldn't have walked anywhere out here without this compact bit of kit and so easy to slip on and off and pop in our bags!

The easiest way to get to Finland from the Arctic Circle was to go back down to Stockholm and then take a ferry across the Gulf of Bothnia.. From Narvik/Abisko to Boden, the Arctic Circle Train joins the legendary Iron Ore Line, the railway that crosses the wilds of Swedish Lapland, passing the mining towns of Gällivare and Kiruna. Most of it is single track and we often had to sit and wait for oncoming trains to pass. Once again we passed through Kiruna and I managed to take some pictures of the mine from a distance.

The Kiruna mine has an ore body which is 4 km (2.5 mi) long, 80 metres (260 ft) to 120 metres (390 ft) thick and reaching a depth of up to 2 km (1.2 mi). Since mining began at the site in 1898, the mine has produced over 950 million tonnes of ore - an 'ore'-some fact!!!