Safari, so goody

Oh yes, a snowmobile safari. Half an hour after arriving, we're in the changing room of Lapland Safaris (www.lapinsafarit.fi) being issued with the thickest, most insulated boiler suit I've ever seen, and huge protective boots with what appears to be a family of chinchillas inside each to keep our feet warm.

A balaclava, crash helmet and huge mitts complete the transformation from frozen tourist to Arctic explorer.

We spend the next hour or so hooning through forests and across frozen, snow-covered wastelands, all having an absolute hoot and all offering silent praise to the god of heated handgrips.

We end up at a log cabin, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It's a restaurant. Step inside and there are our civilian clothes, which have been brought there for us to change into.

We strip out of the super-heated boiler suits and take in our surroundings there are a load of trestle tables, a help-yourself buffet up one wall, and in the middle of the room a huge open fire onto which staff regularly throw logs. Now that's proper central heating.

We tuck into a meal of elk sausages, slow-cooked moose, and various salads. After more food than we can eat and a couple of beers, it's on to the bus and back to the hotel for some much-needed slumber. It's been quite a trip already.