Emerging from our log cabin in Lapland on New Year's Eve with Mike, my husband, and Hazel, my friend from school days, I stood in awe and wonder. All around was white with snow. Above me, a single star shone and twinkled brightly, alone in the northern sky. Surely, this was the North Star or Polar Star, the biggest and brightest in the universe.
The silence was stunning, broken only when we began to walk, by the scrunching and crackling of the frozen snow under our feet.
As we followed the icy path through the snow to the sports centre, the reflection of the guiding lamps along the route made the snow glisten and shine as if a million fairy jewels were sparkling on a great pure white carpet spread over the land. The scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
Tall pine trees bent under the weight of snow and other trees took on the appearance of huge cobwebs woven in delicate gossamer. In places the scene resembled a vast outdoor exhibition of wonderful sculptures. We were in the Snow Queen's kingdom and we just walked through it as if in a dream.
We were in Lapland for our daughter Anna's wedding to Pasi, due to take place on 4th January.
After a hefty breakfast we joined the assembled group outside the centre. That morning's activity was snowshoeing. Entering the equipment room, I sat down to have my snowshoes fitted by a diminutive French woman named Dominick Arduin. Later I learned that in March Dominick will set out from Siberia in a bid to be the first woman to walk solo to the North Pole, dragging a sledge twice her own weight behind her.
We were to see a lot of Dominick in the days that followed, as she is the chief guide at the Kiilopaa Fell Centre where we were staying. She usually accompanied the more experienced people on their outings. Dominick is a very vital and positive person, confident that she will achieve her goal. I hope she succeeds for meeting her was one of the highlights of that holiday which for me was full of exciting and unexpected moments.
People such as Dominick keep the spirit of adventure and exploration alive, making the world a better place. I learned that not so long ago she had an operation on her knee for cancer, which makes her achievements all the more admirable. She came to Anna's wedding as a guest and I was happy to see her there. I look forward to following her progress on her web site www.arctic-dominick.com.
After she had fitted our snowshoes, and chosen the correct ski poles for our height, we all set off up the ski slope and soon we were divided into two groups. We went with the learners but still found the going tough. It was hard work, although a lot less hazardous than skiing.
I grew so hot that I began stripping off some of the layers of warm clothing. Why had we spent the previous four months worrying about the extreme cold of Lapland and fearing that, at our age, we'd die from it? I was loving it all and rising to the challenge.
That afternoon we decided we weren't yet ready to join the skiing groups. Back at home I had been repeatedly warned not to go in the sauna as I could drop dead from the heat! "Now is the time to try it out!" I thought.
Neither Hazel nor Mike would agree to join me so once the temperature had reached 70 degrees I braved it and as I sat on the wooden bench and ladled water on to the coals I felt great waves of heat enveloping my body. I didn't drop dead! That was the first of many saunas and to think that I'd never seen a sauna till I was 74 years of age made me realise how much I've missed out on in life!
For years I've suffered from circulation problems, which cause my fingers to go white and numb, and which give me cramps in my feet and toes but never once did these problems occur while I was in Lapland.
By Friday I was so hooked on saunas that I accompanied Anna and Pasi to the smoke sauna at the centre. Now that was something! The rails were too hot to hold and the benches were too hot to sit on without a towel under you but as Pasi ladled water on to the coals I knew I was going to stay there longer than I intended.
Then, to their utter surprise, I walked with them outside where the temperature was -34 degrees centigrade and down into the ice pool. I still can't believe I did that but there's a photograph to prove it! It's a very Finnish thing to do but not what you'd expect an elderly British woman to do for the first time in her life!
Walking on legs of ice, I returned to the sauna to thaw out and after a shower we walked back to our cabins and I joined Anna and Pasi at midnight to enjoy a glass of mulled wine.
Dinner on New Year's Eve was a special meal and then we were to go on a nature trail to see the Northern Lights but the sky had become overcast so the lights wouldn't appear. An evening of dancing in the bar was substituted and we learned to do the "Chenka", taught by the second guide.
Dominick was organising a tradition by the log-fire, tin-smelting. Each of us took a metal horseshoe and placed it in a long ladle like a toasting fork. We held our ladles in the flames till the metal melted and then plunged the molten metal into a bucket of water where it solidified into a different shape. This, when held against the wall, cast a shadow and from the shadow we were supposed to see our future for 2003. It was all good fun!
At midnight the fireworks started outside and thus the old year passed and the New Year was ushered in. A happy trio wended their way through the snow back to their cabin and another night's sound sleep.
Next day Anna and Pasi introduced us to our first session on skis. Salomon had given them a loan of some new ski boots and ski poles and skis. My boots pinched my toes because of my bunions and corns so I had to wear a larger pair. It took me ages to fit the toe of the boot into the restraining point of the ski. Up and down the track outside the cabins we gained confidence, but whenever I felt myself going into a slide I screamed out in panic.
"Mum!" said Anna. "That's the whole idea of skiing!"
Next day we would join the beginners on the ski slope.
That afternoon we took part in a session of ice sculpting outside the sports centre. Looking at a perfect sculpture in ice of an owl, I knew I couldn't produce anything recognisable but, nevertheless, I had a go.
In the evening we attended a slide show and talk by the second guide about the expeditions she has led to Mt Kilimanjaro. For a 74-year-old who has never been very sporty in her life I was in my element in this gathering of adventurous sportspeople!
After breakfast on January 2, we found ourselves once more in the equipment room, this time being fitted for ski boots. Mine were a perfect fit and really comfortable. For our practice the previous day we had wider skis but this time the narrower type were given to us.
With our ski poles and skis we went outside and it took me a while to fit my boots into the skis. The trouble, I learned, was the snow on the soles of the boots.
Off we set to the ski slopes but we decided to stay with Anna and Pasi and let the others go on without us. I was gaining confidence fast and would have gone a lot further but Mike wasn't too happy so we decided to go back.Then Hazel had a fall and dislocated her shoulder and fractured her arm. Anna ran back to the centre to fetch a sledge and then she and Pasi drove Hazel into Saariselka, the big spa sports centre 16km from Kiilopaa, where a doctor examined her and said she'd have to go to Ivalo for x-rays.
The doctor there wasn't qualified to treat her so she waited till after the wedding on the Saturday before being taken 240km by taxi to Rovaniemi, Santa's home, to have the shoulder treated.
That accident was the one black patch in what was, otherwise, the holiday of a lifetime for us. However, there were lots more wonderful exciting experiences to come.