On the road III – Hemavan—Sneringsvika – 296 km Feb 11 2020

From the wintry fjäll to the rainy coast

It’s only one day of travelling, hardly 300 km, but today was filled with a lot of varying great experiences and feels like a complete holiday.

After breakfast I leave Hemavan behind and again I travel to Norway, this time taking the road 73 via Joesjö. It’s just below zero and it’s snowing. I cross Norway and now the snowfall intenes. It’s snowing handkerchiefs and the visibilty is poor. Within minutes the road is covered with a fresh layer of snow.

The heavy snowfall lasts only short and soon visibility is much better. Twice I pass an open barrier. This route section can be closed when the weather is severe. If this should happen to me I’d choose to wait on the western side. What a cozy shelter the Norwegians have built there.

Through the windscreen IX – snowy road 73

Through the windscreen X – snowy road 73

Now I’m really in Norway. It’s just impossible to describe the zillions of different impressions. It’s the endless combinations of different landscapes, different moods and different weather that makes travelling through Norway so interesting and inspiring.

An example image, from bottom to top: a river rushing through a canyon. Above that a hill with a green coniferous forest. Above that a mountain with a forest covered with fresh snow. Above that a high mountain over the timber line, completely encased with white snow. Above that clouds bringing snow or rain (depending on the altitude) and the sun trying to peek through a cloud gap. And that’s one of a thousand images.

I do not even try to photo all the different scenic moods because it would take ages. And by the way: there are hardly any parking opportunities by the roads.

So I publish just some travelogue photos, mostly taken through the windscreen.

Through the windscreen XI – it’s getting warmer

Through the windscreen XII – it’s getting warmer

Through the windscreen XIII – the road 76 is snowy again

Through the windscreen XIV – the road 76 is snowy again

Through the windscreen XV – approaching the fjords

Through the windscreen XVI – spring weather

Through the windscreen XVII – spring weather

At 14:25 I arrive in Vennesund. Here I have to take a ferry to continue my trip south. An hour later my car is in the belly of the ship and I am on deck. It’s windy, but warm with +4 °C. I’m the only one on deck. The journey takes only 20 minutes.

After leaving the ferry I continue my road trip and the landscape is as gorgeous as before.

Through the windscreen XVIII – along the Lysfjorden

Anyway I got quite tired and I’m longing for a cosy place to stay. I plan to take the first opportunity. At the branch, where the 802 leaves to Bogen I see some kind of camping kiosk. I leave the car and meet an elderly man, who gives me his cabin for a night. It costs 800 NOK, but first it’s Norway and then this cabin by the fjord is a welcome luxury after travelling by car for three days.

Now I have to check the weather forecast for tomorrow. I’m in a winter mood and long for snow!

ICROSS Jan 30 2020

I walk along a forest path. The snow has become too deep for the car. In the right hand I carry a large waterproof bag, in the left hand my bright red neoprene drysuit. On the back I have an ICROSS.

Walking with an ICROSS (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

A what?

Let’s quote the ICROSS website: What is ICROSS? – ICROSS® is a new type of watercraft. It resembles a float tube, but has many characteristics of a kayak.

My friend Hans Brettschneider bought two ICROSS for his camping ground In Bureå and invited my to test them today. We want to paddle over the Baltic Sea to the near island Björkön. According to Hans the Baltic Sea is still open.

When I arrive in Bureå Hans already had started inflating the ICROSS with a motor-driven air pump. We put the rafts into his car and drive to a place near the beach where we manually inflate them until they are filled to the brim.

Me inflating the ICROSS (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

(You see the rectangular patch free of snow on the ICROSS? That’s where Hans’ iPad was before I took it away for the photo. Hans uses it as a camera and takes it into the snow, the hot sauna, just everywhere)

On the back of the ICROSS there are D-rings where you can attach belts to carry the ICROSS as a backpack. That’s what I do in the first photo. We start carrying the ICROSS until one of the plastic hooks of the belt breaks. We then realise that it is much easier to drag the raft behind like a sledge. It’s winter!

After 800 metres walk through the forest I arrive at the coast. I must laugh. The Baltic Sea is far beyond from being open. It is covered with ice and snow to the horizon! Is it just slush or solid ice? I put on my drysuit and life jacket and enter the sea ice. I splash through sludge but underneath there is ice thick enough to carry my weight.

Me testing the ice (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

Time to change plans.

Instead of paddling (or walking) to Björkön we take fika here at the coast. There’s even a table with benches. Hans has coffee and sandwiches while I have tea and a pretzel. It snows.

Hans however has a plan B in mind. Right beside his fantastic camping ground, just behind the sauna there’s the river Bureälven. And this stream is still open. After fika we walk to the car and take it to his camping ground. There we trudge through the snow to the sauna by the river.

Hans trudging through the snow to his sauna

Again we put on waterproof clothes and put the ICROSSes into water. We have to rearrange the belts that hold the seat to improve the balance, then it’s fun to paddle to and fro. While my touring kayak is long and keeps direction, the ICROSS is easy to turn and very agile. Anyway I wouldn’t use it for longer paddle trips. Too exhausting.

Me paddling on the ICROSS II (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

Me paddling on the ICROSS I (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

As I said: Hans takes his iPad everywhere!

(Do you see what Hans has in his hands on the last photo? I told you that he takes his iPad everywhere.)

After a while of testing and taking pictures we go ashore. Did I mention the sauna? Hans had fired it before our winter paddling experiment. It is not hot, only 30 °C, but it’s nice to sit there and relax a bit. I go into the river again, this time for winter bathing. Then a bit of sauna again until we call it a day.

Taking a winter bath (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

Tack for turen, Hans – thank you for the tour. And thanks for your photos, which I cropped and edited for this blog article.

30 cm snow Jan 29 2020

This week finally it snows. There is 30 cm of snow in my backyard and if the forecasts are right, it’ll be 45–50 cm at the end of the week. At last it looks wintry, even though the open Baltic Sea is still free of ice.

After taking the photo above I took the car to Tjuvkiskan, another place by the sea. The gravel road was covered with snowdrifts that became higher when I approached the sea. I could easily drive through the first ones but finally I was stuck in a half-metre-high and several metre long snowdrift. My Subaru was grounded and even with the “X-Mode” program I could neither continue nor put back the car. Fortunately it took only some minutes to shovel away the snow round the tires and then I was able to back the car out of the snow drift. The last metres to Tjuvkistan I walked …

When I looked at the photo above I realised how big the tyres are. It’s really half a metre of snow around my car.

Enough about cars – I wanted to enjoy winter and be outdoors.

There’s a very nice cross-country ski run in Skelleftehamn. It hadn’t been prepared this year due to the warm and rainy weather. Now snow had come and the snow on the track will be compacted but not yet prepared for cross-country as long it continues snowing.

Yesterday I took my fjällski – my “mountain skis” and made a tour through 10-15 cm deep snow. I was really slow and it was quite exhausting.

Today I took my fjällski again and now the snow was packed. I was faster and although the tour was longer it was less exhausting. And the descents were more fun. The last kilometre the wind increased and it started snowing again.

Temperature -6 °C. Wind. Snow. Fur hood. Woollen mittens. Ski boots. Almost like winter.

Following the ski run (someone skied before me)

Finally it’s snowing again Nov 28 2019

After two weeks with warmer temperatures, rain and a lot of fog it has become colder again and last night it started to snow. 15 cm fresh snow has already fallen.

Thursday, 16:55: -7.6 °C and it’s still snowing. Looks like I need gloves and a cap for jogging. And of course a headlamp, because sunset was already three hours ago.

Addendum

One hour later. 40 minutes of (slow) jogging through the wintry landscapein the dark. Exhausting, but beautiful!

My car tracks from this morning are mostly snowed over. The latest tracks are not from a car, but a snowmobile. Now I hope, that the great people of the Friluftsfrämjandet Skelleftehamn soon prepare the illuminated ski track. I’m longing for some afterwork cross-country skiing.

Welcome, winter 2019! Oct 28 2019

Today was the first “real” winter day. Some more snow fell last night and today it was subzero the whole day with temperatures round -5 °C and a lot of sun.

Grey morning at the beach of Storgrundet

Now I’m longing for the start of the ski season.

The second image with the blue sky and the snow covered trees is a bit special: it’s made through the window of my current office. What you cannot see: behind the trees is the European Route E4. But anyway, there are worse views.

Three autumn colours of the ground Oct 4 2019

This morning on the way to work – wet snow covers the minor roads and bicycle paths.

This afternoon on my way home I made a stopover – bright and colourful the forest, bleak and dull the bog.

What are your autumn colours?

Four variations of autumn Oct 3 2019

The first autumn colours on Gåsören

21, 22 September – Annika and I are invited by Solveig and Tommy to their summer cottage on Gåsören. Tommy picks us up by boat and after a short cruise we arrive at the small harbour, where Solveig already waits for us.

We have a wonderful evening with delicious food (hand-picked porcini mushrooms!) and inspiring conversations. And the weather is just great – first a blue and sunny sky, then after sunset a starry night. After a short nightly walk to the lighthouse – built in 1912 and still active – we go to bed.

The next morning I wake up early and take photographs of the splashing waves at the eastern shore. It’s a bit windy and the temperatures are near freezing. A lot of trees still have green leaves but some of the birches and rowan trees have become colourful, especially when illuminated by the low morning sun.

After breakfast we take a stroll round the small island together before we get a lift back to the mainland. Tack så mycket, Solveig and Tommy. We are looking forward to meet again!

Fog by the river

28, 29 September – I’m with Annika in Umeå. On Saturday we make a trip to Strömbäck-Kont, one of our favourite locations by the sea. Again the weather is sunny but due to the frost of last week’s nights a lot of more trees show coloured leaves. Especially the bright yellow birch leaves look wonderful.

On Sunday I wake up early as usual and take a promenade along the Umeåälven, one of Northern Swedens largest rivers. The morning air is damp and chilly and the landscape is fog-shrouded. The fog muffles all sounds and noises and gives me the impression of being completely alone. Half an hour later the fog goes away and the magic is gone.

Nightly squalls

Yesterday, 2 October – at 3:00 I’m awakened by storm squalls shaking the house. I almost expect that my house is lifted up and lands on the Wicked Witch of the East. But the gale is no tornado and my house resists the squalls.

The weather doesn’t come completely unexpected, both wind and enormous amounts of rain have been forecasted. But as usual the forecast was – ahem – imaginative but at least the wind speeds are quite accurate.

Wind gusts measured on the island Gåsören

Forecast for Skelleftehamn, published 28 September by SMHI

Hail, sleet and snow

Today, 3 October – again I’m awakened at 3 o’clock, this time by a hail squall drumming on the window. It’s round 3 °C and even colder at 7 o’clock on my way to work. Between my home and the town another rain squall buckets down. It is mixed with wet snow. Beside the road I can see white patches. Is it snow or last night’s hail? When I arrived at the office at Solbacken outside of the town of Skellefteå I see, that it’s snow grains – tiny frozen white balls.

At 8:33 I look through the window of my current office room and it’s snowing. The first snow on 3 October – exactly the same date as last year. Now I’m longing for winter even more ❄︎ !

Mushrooms at eye level Sep 8 2019

The weather has got colder and wetter and when you stroll through the forest you can smell earth and mushrooms. According to the calendar autumn already has started last Sunday and this weekend it even feels like autumn.

Cycling home Aug 29 2019

At time I have a project which is located at Solbacken, Skellefteå’s shopping centre outside the city. Normally I take the car because the public transport is quite poor. Yesterday however I took the bicycle. On the way there I chose the straight way. That’s 16.8 km, which took me 54 minutes.

On the way back I chose a longer and slower route. As forecasted the weather was warm and sunny, round 26 °C.

In short:

+++ unlock the bicycle +++ pass the recycling yard (Yuck, it stinks!) +++ follow the forest road +++ gaze at the first autumn colours +++ notice the crossing ski track +++ slow down on b-bum-bumpy passages +++ feel a bit lost +++ look at the map +++ realise that I’ve come longer than thought +++ pass the go-kart ground +++ follow the asphalt road leading away +++ know the sandy shortcut +++ approach the stugområde (area with summer cottages) +++ observe the largeness of some these cottages +++ spot a bathing place +++ take a bath in the Baltic Sea +++ drink +++ continue the gravel road +++ cycle along the small, winding forest path +++ pass Harrbäckssand +++ do not take a bath there (too shallow and too muddy) +++ follow my lengthening shadow +++ push the bike down the bumpy, sandy slope +++ follow the forest path +++ see the barbecue hut +++ realise that I’m in Skelleftehamn and almost home +++ taking a final “spurt” +++ home +++

This way was only 3 km longer, but took more than 30 extra minutes to cycle due to the bumpy roads. Beautiful anyway, but not the route I’ll choose regularly.

Just started the tour back – recycling yard

A broader gravel road – partly leading steeply downhills

Taking a bath (the camera is waterproof)

Barbecue place in Skelleftehamn – a quite ugly place

Almost home – I already can see my green house

A marvellous bathing place Aug 12 2019

Last Saturday in Gagsmark, a village one hour away, where Annika and I visited our friends T. and J. . First past the curious cows, then through the spruce forest and there it is: A lake with a beautiful sandy beach and blue water that invites you to take a bath.

There’s a playground, an open hut for changing clothes, two anchored rafts you can swim to and much more, but hardly other people. Mostly we were alone although it was a sunny Saturday afternoon. We spend a nice time there together, taking a bath or two (17 °C) and enjoying the sun. Then we walked back another way. No curious cows, but beautiful wooden buildings painted in the typical dark falun-red.

Soon the temperatures will drop and the water in the lake Ytterträsket will cool down. If the water is colder than 10 °C it is called “winter swimming”. And one day in autumn – hardly more than two months away – the lake will start to freeze over and you have to saw a hole into the ice to do some ice swimming.