Season’s first winter paddling in Northern Sweden Nov 21 2025

While there is a lot of snow in Tromsø, is is only round 2 cm here in Obbola in Northern Sweden. Here it is the coldness that defines the winter. Today I took my kayak and made a small tour on the Baltic Sea which is just outside the garden. With temperatures round -13 °C and a light wind it was pretty chilly. The small bay is frozen and you can walk on it and on the open sea thin layers of ice are building where the sea is calm. Here are some photos from today’s kayak tour.

Protected against the cold air and the cold water

Now the kayak is lying in the floor of the house. The kayak’s steering mechanism was frozen and is currently thawing.

Tromsø—Obbola by car Nov 16 2025

You may know that I have two places to live. My “work home” in Tromsø, where I work at the Norwegian Polar Institute and my “home home” in Obbola near Umeå, where my wife Annika works and we have a house together. Mostly we use the train and the bus to travel, sometimes the plane and occasionally even the car, although it’s a long way.

It is early Friday morning, I’m in Tromsø. My car is packed and I’ve cleared last night’s snow. It is mid-November and the conditions are wintry.

Norway

I start the trip at 6:50. In Tromsø the weather is fair, but then I experience some heavy snow showers. When it’s dark the snowflakes seem to form a tunnel that looks a bit as if a spaceship in a science fiction film were going to warp drive. Some short passages have streetlights. That makes seeing the road much easier.

Around half past eight it is bright enough outside to see the landscape, not only a fraction of the road. It is still snowing, but driving is easy. Around 9:20 I reach the border to …

Finland

The snowfall has stopped but a lot of snow lies on the road. I guess up to 15 cm with some deep tracks of a few cars. After a while a snowplough approaches, but it is clearing the opposite lane. In Kilpisjärvi I make a stop at the supermarket and buy some breakfast. The rear of my car is plastered with snow.

I continue south and it is clearing up. Even the road is in much better shape now. Easy driving.

In the Finnish village Karesuvanto I turn right, cross the Muonio River and thus the border to …

Sweden

… where I arrive in Karesuando. I turn right again and join the E45 which ends in Gela, Italy. The sky is clear and the outside temperature dropped more and more. In Övre Soppero the display in the car shows -13 °C. It also shows a lot of warnings because the packed snow in front of the car is confusing the sensors for the cruise control. I feel tired and find a parking bay where I take a nap.

I sleep less than half an hour but I feel refreshed again. I continue my car trip to Vittangi and while I’m following the road see the slowest sunset I can remember. Perhaps, because I’m driving southwards?

In Töre, where I reach the E4 I fill up the car with fuel. From there it is not far to Råneå, where I visit friends and stay overnight. I’m asleep before 9 o’clock.

Still Sweden

After ten hours of sleep and breakfast I feel fit again to continue my car trip. The day before I made already two thirds of the distance and today I’m more or less only on the E4, so driving will be easy. To be honest, it’s a bit boring. That’s also because I’m leaving winter behind. There is less and less snow and it gets warmer. The good thing – the snow on the car has melted and the cruise control is working again.

Around 14:15 I pass Obbola and drive southwards to “home home”. No snow.

And then, after driving 966.8 km I am finally home home again. Here I’ll stay for about three weeks, then Annika and I will make the return trip to Tromsø together.

The route

Tromsø—Nordkjosbotn—Kilpisjärvi—Karesuvanto—Karesuando—Övre Soppero—Nedre Soppero—Vittangi—Tärendö—Överkalix—Töre—Råneå—Skellefteå—Umeå—Obbola

Scotland NC500 – day 9 – water falls and Loch Ness Nov 12 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 21

Today is the last day of our holiday in Scotland that my wife Annika and I are spending together. We had a comfortable accommodation at An Spiris in Dundreggan. Now we are walking to the café for breakfast. On our way we pass this private house.

Back in the car we follow the road A887 which goes alongside the River Moriston. This river flows eastwards where it enters Loch Ness – Scotland’s most famous lake. Before we reach Loch Ness we stop at the Invermoriston Falls. While these are more a series of rapids than a huge single waterfall, the short walk in the old beech forest is extremely beautiful, especially now in autumn. You can also see how beautiful these stone arch bridges are when viewed from the side. You never notice that when driving over them. Nor do you notice small gems like the stone shelter at the ridge of the ravine that the river has carved into the rocks over time.

Inside the shelter it is quite dark. On the dark stone table lies an arrangement of lichen, a stone, two thin sticks – one with a cone – a feather and three leaves. I really would love to know the story behind this artistic still life. Was it a playing child with artistic talent? Leftovers of a pagan rite? A photographer creating a new subject? I’ll never know.

As most places on our journey this place is new to me and so is the next one: Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit. This is of course a tourist hot spot. We didn’t visit the centre, but stroll around and check the gift shops. And the surprisingly good Italian ice-cream. I like the submarine called Viperfish that was built as a private project in 1969 to search for the monster. I guess you needed a shoehorn to get into this tiny vehicle.

And then of course there is Nessie, the Loch Ness monster and you see it everywhere. Not necessarily as a living creature but as a sculpture and on countless souvenirs. Even Scotland’s famous soft drink, Irn Bru has a Nessie edition.

Some other stops follow. Some stops enforced by roadworks with single-lane traffic and some freely chosen, such as the Corrimony Chambered Cairn – a 4000 year old passage grave, or the village Cannich that has a café in an old, turquoise double-decker bus and an outdoor collection of teapots.

The reason we pass Cannich is that we want to visit Plodda Falls, our last stop on our road trip that was originally planned to follow the NC500 coastal route but became much more zigzagged – and hence much more interesting.

As many other waterfalls the Plodda Falls are a bit disappointing. It’s a nice view, but come on – we have waterfalls in Norway too.

But then we continue the circular hiking trail. We hear water falling, we enter a platform and look down into a deep chasm. And right below us, the water thunders down! That’s the Plodda Falls!

The hiking trail goes downhill, we follow. Now we have a better view of the real Plodda Falls. Truly impressive! From the photo, you wouldn’t guess that they are 46 metres high!

It is not only the waterfall, the trail itself is impressive as well with its gigantic trees with enormous roots.

At half past four we are back in Inverness where we leave our rental car. Annika has driven 1290 km the last eight and a half days to all these special places across Northern Scotland. We re-pack our things and get a lift to the train station. The train leaves at 17:20 and we arrive back in Aberdeen around half past seven.

Train door: “Stay out – Bagpipe Practice Room”

October 22

Time to fly home – farewell Scotland. I’ve been here three times and I’m pretty sure we’ll come back.

Scotland NC500 – day 8 – a hidden pass, palm trees, and a famous castle Nov 11 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 20

Today is the eighth day of our road trip in Northern Scotland, which my wife and I are taking together. Last night we slept in a hostel near Applecross. Now we want to take the road over Bealach na Bà pass, that is known for its hairpin bends and scenic views. Unfortunately it is still raining and the clouds are low. The beginning of the road is marked with several warning signs, but Annika can drive single track roads and we do not have wintry conditions, so we can take the road. But clouds we have. Soon we are in the middle of them. It is raining and the visibility is pretty bad. And so is the view of the hairpin turns from the top of the pass. Well, you cannot have everything.

We descend and slowly visibility improves. When we look back we can see the colourful mountain scenery with the summits in the clouds. In front of us we see the other clouds floating down to the sea loch Loch Kishorn, where they start hiding the coastal islands.

Two hours later we arrive in Plockton, a beautiful village by the sea. The climate is particularly mild, so that palm trees can grow here. An older chap I meet in the street tells me that he has different sorts of palms, a eucalyptus tree and other trees I never heard of in his garden.

It is low tide. Some fisher boats lie in the mud and it is possible to go to an island nearby. From the sandy tidal flat you can see the long row of houses by the seaside – sea view for everyone. We spend an hour and a half here to visit the craft fair, to go to the island, to pet a cat, to take photos and to find a geocache. A charming place with views of the sea, an island called Sgeir Bhuidhe, Duncraig Castle, hills, and steep mountains.

Finally we continue our tour. Next stop: Eilean Donan Castle. This castle is regarded one of the most photographed landmarks in Scotland, and it’s very popular with tourists. Visiting the interior costs money, and there’s even a charge to cross the bridge, so I take photos from the outside. It is not easy to take photos without too many tourists in the shot.

From Eilean Donan Castle it is not far to the An Spiris Accommodation at Dundreggan Rewilding Centre, our last overnight stay on our road trip. My highlight of the evening is the toddler in the large common room singing “Do-Re-Mi” from the Sound of Music.

November snowfall in Tromsø Nov 11 2025

When I came back from Scotland about three weeks ago snow had fallen in Tromsø. But temperatures went up again and more or less all the snow melted away, at least on Tromsøya. These photos I took on my way home five days ago.

It started snowing in the weekend and so it looked like, when I waited for the bus yesterday morning:

During the day another twenty centimetres of snow fell down and at 0:00 we had 29.7 cm of snow at the weather station. I however think, we have even more snow, where I live. Weather can be quite local in Tromsø.

This morning it had cleared up and temperatures were round -2 °C, when I went out for a walk. It takes only a couple of minutes, and you are in the nature of Tromsøya with its forests, bogs, lakes, and hiking paths. This way will soon become a ski trail, if the weather stays wintery.

Scotland NC500 – day 7 – a rainy day Nov 10 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 19

According to the weather forecast it will be pretty rainy in Northern Scotland the whole day. So, today we may interrupt our road trip less often than the other days. We will drive to AppleCross, where we’ve got a room in the Hartfield House Hostel & The Bunkhouse. If we arrive early, we may get a nap in the afternoon, which sounds tempting given the weather. We have breakfast in the hotel and take it easy. When we leave, it is half past ten. It is raining.

We make a stop at the visitor centre of the Beinn Eighe National Nature Reserve. There’s a small museum and a cabin, from where you can spot birds. There are also lovely spots outdoors, but – it is raining.

Next stop: The lake Loch Clair, where I go for a short walk. I put on rubber boots, waterproof trousers and a rain anorak, because – it is raining. Annika prefers to stay inside the car to read. A smart choice, because the trail is just a rather dull gravel road and – did I mention it? – it is raining.

No noteworthy stops after that. We arrive at the bunkhouse at three o’clock. Beside the house there is a fenced in pasture with Scottish highland cattle. They look pretty soaked, but I guess, they are used to this kind of weather.

After an afternoon-nap (we got one!) we take a small car trip southwards. On the photos it looks like the weather has finally brightened up a bit.

But if you see a photo taken from inside the car you realise – it is raining.

Landscape – as seen from the inside of the car

One of the last photos I take today is of the seafront of Applecross.

As Google has already told us, the pub is closed. So we head back to the bunkhouse and have our dinner there.

Scotland NC500 – day 6 – a long breakfast and palm trees in the evening Nov 9 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 18

Annika and I are sitting in the comfortable kitchen of our hosts in Badrallach having breakfast. Cereals – bacon – fried eggs – mushrooms – toast – homemade jam – homemade ketchup – tea. The breakfast is very delicious, but it’s not the main reason we’ve been sitting here for hours. It is the wonderful conversation about life, us, and the wider world that we have with our hosts. Breakfast had long turned into brunch when we finally prepare ourselves to leave.

Behind the house is a pasture with dark, horned sheep. They are curious and all of them are looking at us. In the background lie the mountains and in front of them a narrow strip of blue – the sea loch Little Loch Broom.

Soon we drive over the moorlands of the Scottish Highlands with their intense colours. We haven’t gone far when we make a spontaneous stop at a car park by the sea. It is the small, bright red three-wheeled vehicle with labels such as “coffee” that catches our eyes. The owner is a local and he seems to know all the other customers. The two old ladies just leaving and the man with moustache, who – so he tells me – has worked in the Arctic and Antarctica. While Annika enjoys her hot chocolate I get perhaps the best coffee I’ve ever had. I’m not a big coffee consumer but this stuff is addictive.

As the weather is fine today, we stop at another beach – Mellon Udrigle Beach – where we meet another local playing with his border collie. I take the first and only bath on our Scotland holidays. The water is crystal clear and warmer than expected. It’s a shame I only bathed once.

This day is about the people we meet and it is the only day where we haven’t booked any accommodation. We make a stop in Gairloch, a village that I quickly fall in love with. It is not just the location by the sea or the beautiful houses. Many Scottish villages have that as well. It is the alternative book shop, the community-driven pub, the restaurant with Caribbean food that makes Gairloch special. After we have bought some books we continue our road trip, but we have hardly left the village when we decide to stay there overnight. Annika turns the car, we enter the Gairloch Hotel and the receptionist gives us a big room with a sea view. Later we go to the pub first and then have Caribbean food for dinner. That kind of food matches perfectly the palm trees that grow outside the pub.

Scotland NC500 – day 5 – fog, castle, mountains and forests Nov 8 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

October 17

My wife Annika and I have left Lairg where we stayed overnight and head west on the A837 through hilly farmland. Some places are covered with patches of dense fog which give even the more common views a magical touch.

We cross the River Oykel. North of the A837 another bridge spans the small river. These stone arch bridges are quite common, but here we can park so that we can take photos. We even get a bit of sun.

Half an hour later we arrive at the Knockan Crag National Nature Reserve. We park the car and have a view of the lake Lochan An Ais and the mountains behind. At least on those parts, that are not covered by fog.

Anyway, we hike the Crag Top Trail, a circular route. It starts drizzling as we follow the path and learn about the geological history of Scotland. Have a look at the seven photos of the stones.

While we continue our hike clouds approach and most of the view vanishes into a white void. But not for long, then lake and mountains are visible again.

Our next accommodation is in Badrallach in the south. However, we have time and first take the road north to Loch Assynt where Ardvreck Castle is located. We already visited this place three years ago.

As we hoped, the weather forecast was correct and it cleared up more and more. The silhouette of the castle ruins looks as impressive as last time, but now the water level is much lower and you can reach the peninsula with dry feet without wearing high rubber boots.

Not far from the castle there is a little waterfall, that is surrounded by birch trees. Now the leaves are bright yellow – one of the reasons why Annika and I love to visit Scotland in autumn.

Back in the car we follow the same roads that we already used three years ago. The same A837 to Lochinver by the sea where we take a light lunch in the very same guesthouse we stayed overnight three years ago. The same ridiculously small and bent single track road, that leads us further south to Badnagyle. Perhaps this is my favourite Scottish road (as long as Annika is driving and not me).

We turn left and reach the highlands again. We pass many mountains, amongst others Stac Pollaidh, that we climbed last time.

And we finally find a parking place where I can take a photo of a gorse bush, that is still in bloom.

Last time we spent a lot of time in Ullapool, now we do not even stop. (Or did we? I don’t remember.) We have to drive around the Loch Broom, a sea loch that cuts deeply into the land. But finally we can leave the main route and take the small road to Badrallach where we will spend the next night. Left and right there are some of the most beautiful trees I have seen for a long time, but again this road is single-track and it is not possible to stop without blocking it completely. Only once we can leave the car to admire the beech forest and to have a curious look at the two fenced in tombstones.

Then Annika and I arrive at our tonight’s accommodation where we get an extraordinarily beautiful room with a Scandinavian wood-burning stove and a large double bed. We take an evening walk to the end of the road and back again. Then we’re winding down the day in our room.

Scotland NC500 – day 4 – the highlands, a beach, a cave and back to the highlands Nov 7 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

16 October

My wife Annika and I have just left the comfortable Altnaharra Hotel. As on the whole road trip Annika is driving while I am trying to guide as well as I can. We cross the River Mudale and turn left onto one of the many, many single track roads.

A single track road is a road so narrow that two cars cannot pass. Therefore there are passing places marked with signs at more or less regular intervals. As a driver you have to be constantly alert, especially when the road is bending or the terrain is hilly. And especially if you have a rental car without a rear-view camera ;-). For obvious reasons it is prohibited to park in any passing places.

Luckily there are spots where you can stop, so that I can take photos of the moorlands in the Scottish Highlands. I wonder whether they always have such intense red-brown colours. I’ve been in Scotland three times, but always in October.

We stop at a broch. I learned this word just a couple of days ago and I cite from Wikipedia to explain it:

In archaeology, a broch /brɒx/ is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. […]

This tower-like ruin is Dun Dornaigil Broch. It dates back at least 2,300 years. It is impressive that parts of it still stand.

Actually we chose this street to see Ben Hope, Scotland’s northernmost Munro (that’s the Scottish name for mountains higher than 3000 feet). But it is too cloudy and we can only guess where the top might be. Following the road however is an attraction itself. The views on the moorlands, the patches of grass in the middle on the road, the stubborn sheep that refuse to move, often it is the small experiences that form one’s memories.

But eventually even the most stubborn sheep step aside and the longest single track road comes to an end. We are on the A838, drive round the sea loch Loch Eriboll and park our car at the Ceannabeinne Beach. Time for a walk. And photos. But still I haven’t bathed in the sea even once, the weather is just not very inviting.

Our next stop is the car park of the Smoo Cave. We go down the stairs, cross the river that emerges from the cave on the wooden bridge and stand in the vast opening. Here there is another bridge leading into darkness.

Following this bridge leads to a jetty. At the end of the jetty, there is a ladder. Below, a dinghy is moored. But straight ahead a waterfall is visible, illuminated from above, where there is a hole in the cave ceiling.

To our delight, tours into the caves are still available and we add our names to the list. I run upstairs to the car to fetch my waterproof mobile phone case and down again. Soon after we enter the jetty again. We are eight “cave explorers” including us and a guide, all wearing helmets. We climb down the ladder, enter the boat and are rowed over the underground pond. More than once we have to duck, when the ceiling gets low. Then we exit the boat and continue exploring by foot. We reach a water-filled hole in the bottom and the guide shows a video of a diver going down there. Diving down small and deep holes, digging oneself through the narrowest cracks – the stories we are told about the still ongoing exploration of this cave are not for people with claustrophobia!

The guided tour is not long but I enjoyed it very much. If you want to participate, take cash with you. There is no internet in the cave.

Near the cave is Durness, the north-western tip of the scenic road NC500. Here we do not stay long. After buying provisions at the shop and filling up the car we continue a bit further west to Balnakeil. We visit the cemetery and then have lunch on the grass looking over the beach and the sea.

Then we head back to Durness and drive southwards. Annika has to drive us another 90 km to Lairg where we managed to find affordable accommodation – not an easy task off-season in Scotland. But the road leads to the highlands again and so the day ends as it began: with impressive views over the red-brown moorlands and a grey sky.

Scotland NC500 – day 3 – from kayak surfers to the inland Nov 6 2025

This article is part of the series “2025-10: Northern Scotland”.

15 October

My wife Annika and I have stayed in a hostel in the center of Thurso. If you took a ship from here and head north you could reach the North Pole without crossing any land mass. We however have no ship, but a rental car and after breakfast we continue our road trip westward.

Our first stop is Melvick Beach, where we go for a walk. The beach is embedded in a bay. At the eastern end Halladale River flows into the sea. In this section of the beach it smells bad, because large amounts of rotten seaweed cover the sand. Maybe it was torn from the sea by Storm Amy a fortnight ago.

Our next stop is Bettyhill, just 20 km to the west. While there is a beach here as well – we come to this later – there is something else to see: Erected in the Bettyhill Cemetery there is an ancient Pictish symbol stone, the Farr Stone. It is dated to around the year 800. Little is known about the Picts. That makes this carved stone all the more mysterious.

The old tombstones from the 17th century are pretty impressive as well with their pictogram-like symbols: The hourglass, the bell, the coffin, the skull with crossbones and grave-digging tools. When this tombstone was carved, Johann Sebastian Bach was still alive.

Back to the present. And time to visit Farr Beach nearby. We are not alone. There are kayakers out in the sea with short surf kayaks. I wish I had a tenth of their skills. On the beach, we strike up a conversation with a man. We learn that it is his friends being out there playing in the waves. Among them are some of the most skilled kayak surfers in Scotland. The waves are not high, they are just playing around and it is fun to watch them while chatting. I wish I had a twentieth of their skills.

Back in the car we continue west but we make a detour. We follow a small road lined by trees. Sometimes the treetops touch each other so that a tunnel of trees is formed. That makes these single track roads look even narrower. Luckily the road is pretty empty.

We see the island Eilean nan Ron from above. The road rises, then descends nearly to sea level and we come to the main road, where we reach the Kyle of Tongue, a shallow sea loch. Before we cross it using the bridge, we have lunch on the car park by the loch. Each of us has a “meal deal”. That’s a cold meal such as sushi or salad, combined with a drink and a snack. Available in most supermarkets.

It has been pretty grey today, but there are holes in the clouds and the sun illuminates different parts of the mountains in the south.

Our original idea was to follow the NC500 further to Durness further west, but we couldn’t find any affordable accommodation. Therefore we had booked a room in Altnaharra the day before. After the booking we learned that there are many accommodations in Scotland, which are not on booking.com, but today’s room is already booked. So let’s head to the Scottish highlands!

We take the bridge over the Kyle of Tongue and turn left to follow the bay southwards until it looks more like a shallow slough with mudflats sticking out of the water. A pity, that the light is quite dull.

And then we cut through the moorlands in the Scottish highlands. The red-brown colours of the grass are intense – these are the colours of Scotland in my humble opinion.

Forty minutes later we sit by the open fireplace at the reception of the hotel in Altnaharra.

Soon we are given a comfortable room upstairs. To my delight it includes a bathtub. After dinner I’m having my first hot bath in years. Oh – so delightful!

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