A swim under the midnight sun

Matt Newbury travelled to Lapland with his husband Aaron and friend Queenie to take part in a truly unique swim across the Arctic Circle…just after midnight!

When you tell people you are travelling to Lapland to swim across the Arctic Circle, it provokes a satisfying reaction from friends and colleagues. This is mainly down to a bit of geographical naivety, as people presuming you will be swimming past polar bears sat atop icebergs, while dodging between penguins and killer whales. In fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth. While it is an epic experience, it is one that is achievable by most swimmers, with the real challenge being how you get to the somewhat remote starting point.

What really attracted us to this event was just how unique it was. The swim traverses the Torne River between Finland and Sweden, crossing both the international date line and the Arctic Circle. And as the swim starts at 12.05am, if you can swim the 3km in under 55 minutes, you arrive the day before you set off. This area is also known as the “land of the midnight sun,” meaning even though you are swimming in the middle of the night, it’s light all the way.

There are two villages of Juoksengi, divided by the river and the one hour’s time difference between Sweden and Finland also means that the villagers can celebrate New Year’s Eve twice. In fact, in the winter, they create an ice road, so you can drive from one side to the other, which shortens the driving distance between the two villages by about 60 kilometres. In the past the villagers have held an event called “We Do It Twice” where they see in the new year from a party in the middle of the frozen river.

The 3000m night swim (there’s a 2000m daytime swim as well) involves taking a coach from the Swedish side around to the Finish bank of the river for the start. Which is confusing in itself. All three of us had decided to do the swim in skins, which is allowed if the water is above 16 degrees Celsius. On the evening we were there, it was a positively balmy 18 degrees.

One thing we weren’t expecting though was mosquitos. I mean, why would you, it’s the Arctic Circle, for goodness sake? But if you are planning to do the swim, do bring lots of spray, especially if you are standing around not wearing a wetsuit. Then we were off, all three of us avoiding those that wanted to race by entering the water last.

One of our team, Queenie, had a frozen shoulder, so took full advantage of Europe’s longest free-flowing river by holding onto her tow float and kicking. The relatively strong flow makes the swim really enjoyable, although it the light and stunning setting that makes it really special. The midnight sun remains low on the horizon, but still lights up the night, keeping it perpetually dimpsy, as we say in the west country.

One of the organisers of the event, Kai Metsävainio, explained that “the river is known for its relatively unspoiled natural environment, supporting a rich variety of flora and fauna. It’s particularly noted for its salmon and white fish populations, which attract fishing enthusiasts.”

However, the water itself is a peaty brown, not unlike the River Dart in Devon and we didn’t catch sight of much wildlife. But stopping to look around you every so often along the 3km route is a must. Lapland is absolutely beautiful, with its wooden red buildings dotted along both banks of the river.

Thanks to the flow of the river, all three of us easily made it within the 55 minutes, meaning that we all travelled back through time. We then all enjoyed hot tubs and saunas, before the prize giving at 2am. While none of our trio even vaguely bothered the medal table, Queenie did win a lovely carved wooden drinking vessel in the raffle, which we have somewhat juvenilely dubbed her moon cup.

If you do decide to do the swim, Kai recommends taking a day or two extra to admire the scenery from the mountains of Aavasaksa and Luppio. “In summer, the midnight sun and the light of summer nights is an experience for many, while in winter you can see the dance of the Northern Lights in the sky. Tornionjoki is famous for salmon, so salmon in its various forms is a popular food, including whitefish from the river. Here you can also easily taste reindeer meat as well as locally grown local food and forest berries like cloudberry.”

I’ve now been fortunate to swim here in both seasons, at the World Winter Swim Championships at nearby Rovaniemi and the Swim Across the Arctic Circle event. And they are both magical in their own way. At one you get to swim in freezing cold water and if you are lucky, see both the Northern Lights and Santa Claus. And at the other, you get to swim across a border, the Arctic Circle and travel back in time. Which is not your usual Sunday morning/ Saturday night out…

Photos by Lotta Nyberg

The next competition takes place on Saturday 12 July 2025, with registration opening in January. Find out more: swimac.eu. The website is packed with information about the event. How to get there and where to stay.

You can find out lots more about this truly beautiful area of the world on the Heart of Lapland website: heartoflapland.com