Total MX-5 – July 2019

54 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019

[ ROAD TRIP ]

Above: Starting point, the Scandic Hotel in

Honningsvåg. The Finnish border was only about 135

miles away, but the journey took hours and there

was still a very, very long way to go, most of it in

the dark; progress further hampered by large, slow

moving trucks

car team nips around the back of the

garage for a pee and steps into a drift up

to his chest.

From here the landscape starts to

change. It’s no longer barren. The road

winds through rocky hills; there are

forests and lakes. And then we start

finding towns. Proper towns with

supermarkets and schools and industry.

But always snow. Everywhere. We see

kids piling out of a high school with

cross-country skis strapped to their

backs, while older students apparently

are allowed to drive covered ATVs on

the road, complete with a passenger.

There’s lots of pointing and thumbs

proffered in the direction of our MX-5,

and it dawns on us that we haven’t yet

seen anything that resembles a sports

car. And nor will we...

All too soon the light starts to fade.

Meaning the temperature is dropping.

The windscreen begins to ice over and I

have to stop to scrape it clear with a

supermarket loyalty card. Again and

again. The headlights have iced over, too,

but their diminished illumination is less

of an issue than it might be, given how

slowly we’re going. In the gathering

gloom we spot the Finnish border and

stop for more pictures. I’m also on my

knees in the snow, clearing big chunks

of the white stuff from the rear faces of

the alloy wheels – there’s such a large

accumulation that the wheels are out of

balance by a massive margin and the

steering wheel is shaking in my hands.

Darkness is now eating away at the

wider view, but in the tunnel of light

provided by the headlights we’re treated

to Christmas card scenes of small

villages with houses dotted between the

trees. Strangely no people, though, but

later that night we’re to discover that one

of our number has driven alongside wild

reindeer in the same locale. It all seems

very quaint and we’re enjoying the

sights, but we then realise there’s still

250 miles to go and it’s pitch black

outside.

Luckily the mk4’s cabin is comfortable

• for me, at least – because it’s now a
  case of knuckling down and pounding
  away the miles. Which is easier said than
  done. There’s more traffic now, almost

exclusively large trucks that trail in their

wake an impenetrable blizzard half a

mile long, making it impossible to

overtake. Despite the increasing

frequency of towns and villages, the

roads remain narrow and every time an

oncoming truck thunders past we’re

enveloped in a blinding snowstorm:

sitting on the ‘wrong’ side of the car

Sharron can’t help but gasp audibly as

the white-out strikes us, but my entire

focus is on the roadside poles, the only

visual aids to prevent us inadvertently

spearing off into the pine forests.

We’ve been on the road for about 13

hours now and I’ve driven the whole

way: I’m concentrating so hard on the

road and the trucks that I miss the fact

we’ve now entered Sweden. We plough

on. After so many miles of roads little

better than tracks, a dual carriageway

comes as a surprise, only it’s actually a

single carriageway, the outside lane

piled high with snow. Our spirits are

raised as we realise that Luleå is now

only about 20 miles away, and then

dashed almost immediately when we

have to stop for a truck that has slid on

the ice, crashed, and blocked the road.

But in Sweden there’s no waiting hours

for police investigators to determine the

cause of the accident – it’s bloody

obvious – and a large digger swiftly

shunts the wreckage out of the way and

we continue the journey.

Luleå has street lights and McDonald’s

and roundabouts: it’s also covered in

snow. But after 500 miles we’re used to

that and can nip about with the

confidence of the indigenous population

• well, sort of, as we notice the local taxi
  drivers seem very fond of drifting right
  through the middle of town.
  We left the Scandic Hotel in
  Honningsvåg at 9.00am and arrive at the
  rather grander Stadshotellet Luleå at just
  gone 11.00pm. It’s been a long day.
  The MX-5 has behaved impeccably
  and has never felt overwhelmed by the
  conditions. I occasionally see forum
  posts with owners enquiring if it’s OK to
  use their roadster all-year round. To
  those folk I say, if it can survive the Arctic
  Circle, you’ll probably be OK when it’s a
  tad chilly in Britain. 5

My entire focus is on the roadside poles, the

only visual aids to prevent us inadverently

spearing off into the pine forests

“

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