Murmansk Winter Expedition: Day #9 – How we almost managed to conquer the Arctic Circle

Daily distance: 624 km
Distance from home: 3171 km

In the second half of the day our goal was to consciously cross the Arctic Circle.

We were armed with a photo from Google Maps, gps coordinates, signpost by the road pointing to the village of Polarny Krug, the off-road car and memories from Rovaniemi (Santa Claus, a line on the pavement, key rings, T-shirts, the most expensive claudberry jam, a souvenir pen drive with photos of northern lights).

We turned into the forest into a side road according to the signpost.
After 7 km of off-road we saw a tiny railway station Polarny Krug and three drunken natives on it. The obligatory sticker landed on the platform board 3rd.

We drove all 4 crossroads of the village using all the features that Lada Niva provides for the ride in the fossil snow. And nothing.
An undangled Russian, unsuccessfully trying to stick to the snowmobile, waved his hand to the north when asked about the polar circle.
For the next half hour we visited the northern part of the village, wading in the snow as befits off-road. In an act of despair, dropping it on a calculation error, we combed the area on the other side of the railway tracks. After all, this plaque must be somewhere here!
Like a race-tracking dog, we increased the circle of searches. Finally we found ourselves on the main road to Murmansk, where there was also no signboard.
At this point we found out that something is wrong here. And we went on.

The mystery will be solved.