For our next day’s hike we team up with a group of Swiss visitors describing themselves as avowed Lapland fanatics. “These rolling hills are quite different from our Alps,” says David Perniceni. “We’ve been here several times on ski-trekking tours, and learnt that you can be sure to find snow here all winter; but this is the first time we’ve come with no snow. The sense of Lapland’s vast empty spaces is the same, but the colours of the landscape are really beautiful at this time of year,” he says.
Over a packed picnic lunch by an old reindeer-herder’s shelter Hannu Rauhala explains how the Village to Village scheme helps businesses in Lapland by attracting visitors to discover local services outside the popular Christmas and skiing seasons. “August and September are really the best months for trekking trips here,” he says.