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Michael Portillo continues his journey from Stockholm to the Arctic Circle. On the way he decorates a Dala horse and learns how Sweden created a welfare state.

Michael Portillo continues his scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle, steered by his 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide.
Heading north away from the cities aboard Sweden’s 1,300 km Inlandsbanan Railway, completed in 1937, Michael discovers why Sweden built this strategic inland line. In Mora he learns to decorate a Dala horse; in Östersund he learns how the nation created a welfare state. He joins traditional Sami people for lunch in Vilhelmina and checks into a chilly hotel in Kiruna, made from ice. He finishes deep in the Arctic Circle at a research station, where scientists are building on data recorded at the time his guidebook was published.

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 22 Jul 2024 18:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Michael Portillo
Director Ben Rowland
Series Editor Alison Kreps
Executive Producer John Comerford
Production Company Fremantle

Broadcasts

Steam Railways

A collection of programmes from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ archives on the beauty of steam locomotives.