Lighthouse day on Gåsören Aug 18 2019

Gåsören is probably my favourite island in the small archipelago off Skelleftehamns coast. It has two lighthouses, the old house-like built 1879–81, and the new tower-like built in 1921. The latter one is still in service. Yesterday was fyrens dag – lighthouse day – on Gåsören. Annika and I wanted to go but beside of my kayak I don’t a boat. How good that Mats – active both in the jazz club and the boat club – gave us a lift from the small boat harbour Tjuvkistan. The wind had weakened but the sea was still choppy and Mats had to drive slowly against the waves. Gåsören however is not far away and soon we dock the boat in the small harbour.

There were not many people on the island yet, more were expected for 21 o’clock. Tommy, who has a summer cottage on the island lit a cosy fire, while I went around and took pictures of the lighthouses and the brick-built cellar, that I’ve never been in before.

The new lighthouse – the entrance to the cellar in the front

Inside the old lighthouse – ground floor

Round 21 o’clock the new lighthouse was lit automatically. The summer days of eternal daylight is history for 2019. The flag of the Swedish Cruising Association fluttered in the wind.

The flag of the Swedish Cruising Association

Round 21:30 Tommy lights the bulb of the old lighthouse and welcomes the guests. More than expected had come – round 30–40 people.

I take the opportunity to take some pictures from the top of the old lighthouse, where you can climb outside through a little wooden door. In the west it’s the industry of Rönnskär that gives light, in the east it’s the moon.

The people started to leave. Some of them have come by the booked tour boat, other by their own boat. Soon only a few people were left. Those who would stay in their summer cottages (there are only two on the island) plus Mats, Annika and me.

Round 23 o’clock we leave the island. Hopefully I’ll have some more opportunities to visit Gåsören this year.

Day 24–26 – a detour to Norway and travelling home Aug 5 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

July 31 – August 1 – Grövelsjön, Röros, Flatruet, Ljungdalen, Stugun, Åsele

July 31

After a tent night in Grövelsjön (temperature minimum 5.7 °C) I take a morning stroll with several purposes: enjoying the fresh air, taking pictures and buying fresh bread for breakfast. My promenade starts at the “troll workshop” where guests are welcome to build their own wooden troll and place it beside the “troll trail”. From there I can spot some “wintry things”: a prohibition sign for scooters and red crosses marking the winter trail. I follow the red signs over a bog until I come to a road from where it isn’t far to Grövelsjön’s mountain bakery.

Annika and I have breakfast in the mountain lodge. Hm, the Brötchen are extremely delicious!

Actually I have planned to take a bath in the lake Guevteljaevrie nearby. The water was very clear but the car tires and metal scrap at the ground discouraged us.

You may realise that the name of the lake doesn’t look Swedish. You’re right. We are not only in Sweden but also in Laponia – the area of the Sámi people. Therefore towns, rivers, lakes and mountains have two names, a Sámi and a Swedish one. The Swedish name of Guevteljaevrie is Grövelsjön, as the village.

A small part of the lake is on Norwegian territory and Norway is our next destination, hardly 10 km away. Soon we are at the border.

We already met reindeers on the Swedish side, in Norway however they seem to be more numerous and they love to block roads.

In the lake Femund – Norways third largest lake – we catch up with the bathing. 13 °C in the water, much warmer in the sun. A nice place to relax.

Two and a half hours later we are in Røros. In this old mining town one could stay for days and write long articles. We however stay only for two hours. Just some snapshots:

After filling up the car we follow a small gravel road that leads us to a Norwegian mountain hut – a possible accommodation for the night. 2.5 km before the hut the road stops – at least for cars. Our luggage is chosen for travelling by car, not for hiking. So this hut that even may be fully booked is out of bounds. Will we find a shelter for the night?

#cliffhanger

August 1

Next morning we wake up in a bunk bed in our hostel in Funäsdalen. Of course we found an accommodation, not in Norway but in Sweden. After breakfast we pack our things – a daily routine – and start the next daily stage.

In Mittådalen we take a spontaneous stop. We have just crossed the river Mittån and spot a Sámi resort with souvenir shop. Beside the river there’s a kåta, a traditional Sámi hut. The word kåta is Swedish. The Sámi have several related languages and so their names for this type of dwelling vary: goahti, goahte, gábma, gåhte, gåhtie or gåetie.

We buy some souvenirs and continue. Soon we reach Flatruet, a place I’ve been especially looking forward to. Flatruet is a plateau above the tree line with a gorgeous view to all directions.

The last photo above shows the Helags massif with the Helags summit (1797metres above sea level).

I’ve been there in winter 2006 on a ski tour with J. and T. . It had been very stormy for two days and one of the huskies was so scared that she hid under the bed. We decided to abandon our ski tour. We skied to Ljungdalen where T. waited for a lift to Fjällnäs where he parked the car. Hours later he came back and we took the car over Flatruet. I had never experienced anything that looked as arctic as this snowy road leading through an infinite white void. Here’s a photo that I took from the car 12½ years ago:

That’s the reason why you should visit all Scandinavian places at least twice. In winter they are completely different than in summer.

Back to present: I hardly can tear my eyes away from Flatruet but we have to leave. It’s at least 400 km to Åsele, our today’s destination. Some more stops on the way – some of them caused by reindeers again.

In the evening we arrive in Åsele. Here we will visit M. and F. and stay overnight. Before dinner there’s time to cuddle some sheep.

Now we’re almost home. To Annika’s flat in Umeå it’s only 164 km and another 130 km to my house in Skelleftehamn. “Peanuts” compared with the long distance the last days.

Next day Annika will be home again and the day after me, too. What a wonderful journey!

Day 13 – sailing Jul 23 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

20 July – Figeholm and Baltic Sea

Saturday, the last day in Figaholm. Hein and Astrid take Annika and me for sailing. First we motor out of the skerries then they the sails are raised and we sail – first between the larger wooded islands, then between the smaller islets and rocky skerries. We anchor in front of an island and have lunch – several kilos of shrimps. Then we continue our cruise, this time farther away from land where the wind is stronger and the waves higher. We can see the island Öland in the distance. After several turns we reach the skärgård (archipelago) again and Hein and Astrid manage to sail back the whole way, even though the wind is very calm and constantly changes direction.

Ten hours later we are back on land – me with cold, wet feet (I wore sandals) and sunburnt, but richer in experience. Thank you, Astrid and Hein for the sailing trip.

Day 11 and 12 – Figeholm and Kalmar Jul 22 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

18–19 July

Three days Annika and I stay with our Friends Astrid and Hein in Figeholm in the historical province Småland. The first two days we make day excursions.

Astrid recommends to visit Stensjö By, an untouched village with houses from the 18th and 19th century, surrounded by an old cultural landscape. We stroll around the wooden houses, where chicken are picking and scratching for food and follow two of the round trails along dry-stone walls or the typical braided fences.

Stensjö by II – braided fences and sheep

From Stensjö by it’s not far away to Figeholm, where we take a stop (and ice cream). A small channel branches from the sea. It looks like a “gracht” in the Netherlands and makes the town look a bit Dutch.

Home again we take a long bath in the lake Frisksjön right behind Astrid’s and Hein’s house together with their children. The photo from the water lilies is taken while swimming.

In the evening I take some photos of another building on the property. It is the old residential building but it has gone to rack. At least it is not in danger of collapsing and I can enter it. Hein, who is a professional carpenter wants to rebuild that house, probably a large-scale project … .

The next day Annika and I drive to Kalmar, a beautiful town on the sea with roots in the middle age. We park by the sea and walk to the cathedral which is open.

After lunch we walk to the old water tower, which contains private flats nowadays. From here we head to the castle grounds, where there is a variety of old trees. I love especially the huge leaf trees and admire them; we don’t have such in Northern Sweden.

Kalmar – in the background the old water tower

Soon we approach the “main attraction”, Kalmar Castle, one of the best-preserved renaissance castles in Europe. Beautiful in the sun!

We go along the castle moat until we reach the sea. Here’s a long bathing jetty – what a pity that we do not have our bathing clothes with us.

We are quite eager to bath, but we decide to choose another place. Just some kilometres east in the Baltic Sea there’s the island Öland. It is 137 km long and has almost 26000 inhabitants. From Kalmar there’s a 6 km long bridge to the island. It takes us just a quarter-hour to reach Öland and another ten minutes to reach the bathing place Präskviksbadet in Lökenäs. Finally we kan take a refreshing bath at the small sandy beach, while we look on the coastal line of the main land.

Prästviksbadet – a bathing place on Öland

Day 9 – Ystad and Österlen Jul 17 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

16 July – Bjärnum—Ystad—Mälarhusen

After some wonderful relaxing days in Bjärnum Annika and I continue our tour through Southern Sweden. Today we will reach Ystad, our southernmost destination on our journey. From Ystad to Kilpisjärvi in the north it’s almost 2000 km by car.

From Bjärnum to Ystad however it’s less than two hours. Ystad is a beautiful medieval town. We strolled through the streets and alleys and I only took some snapshots because we looked for a place for lunch.

We found a restaurant near the boat harbour where we ate fish and looked at the sea, the small sailing boats and the big ferries. From Ystad you can take the ferry to Bornholm (Denmark) and Świnoujście (Poland).

Next stop: Ales stenar (Ale’s Stones), a megalithic monument east of Ystad. It consists of 59 large boulders formed in a shape of a boat, probably 1400 years old.

Next stop: Sandhammaren. Dunes, a long sandy beach and the clear Baltic Sea invites us to take a bath. Or two. Summer holidays.

We decide to look for an overnight stay. We pass a small wooden sign by car. It says “Stuga for 2” – cabin for two. We are lucky. Although it’s main season the stuga is free and we can stay for a night. It’s in Mälarhusen in the corner of a garden, incredible cozy and the beach is not far away.

We take the car to the next ICA to buy food. After a dinner with pasta and salad we take another promenade along the beach. At the horizon we spot land – the Danish island Bornholm. Finally a reason to fetch the tripod and the huge 150-600mm telephoto lens from the car and make a photo of Bornholm, where I have been more than 40 years ago.

A barely field on the way to the grocery

Day 4 – a day on the ferry Jul 13 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

11 July, Turku—Stockholm—Jogersö

After our side trip to Finland we are sitting in the car and waiting to be allowed to drive on the car ferry Amorella, that connects Turku with Stockholm. Soon we enter the car deck.

We go up the stairs until we reach the upper deck. The journey takes eleven hours. While we wait for the departure another large ferry leaves Turku.

At 8:43 the ferry leaves. We drive through the Turku Archipelago that consists of more than 20000 islands and skerries. The large islands are wooded. Impressive wooden villas are hiding between the trees and small huts that look like carved are by the sea.

After a while we reach more open water. The islands nearby are smaller skerries, some wooded, some rocky.

While the islands pass by there’s a lot of entertainment inside. Bingo – minigolf – dance band – face painting for kids and much more.

At lunch time we enjoy the extensive buffet on board. Here is an expert of the menu. Although it’s Finnish some of the words like paprikaa or palsternakkaa are understandable.

The ferry makes a stopover in Mariehamn, capital of Åland. Here several ferries meet. They connect Åland with Sweden, Finland and Estonia.

Åland is an autonomous territory. Although it lies under Finnish sovereignty it is Swedish-speaking. At the terminal nine flags are fluttering in the wind. From left to right it’s:

Sweden, Norway, Greenland, EU, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Finland and Åland.

After the stopover we continue our journey to Sweden. Sometimes it’s cloudy, sometimes it’s sunny and we can sit or lie on the top deck. There’s a small wooden platform right in front of the huge chimney that is perfect for sunbathing. We say goodbye to the islands of Åland and an open water passage lies before us.

After a while we see the first rocky skerry, the first trees, the first houses. We have reached the Stockholm Archipelago, that consists of ca. 24000 islands. We are back in Sweden and slowly we are approaching Stockholm.

Before we dock in Södermalm, we have to leave the top deck to enter our car. It’s Annika who is going to drive. I’m too scared to drive in Stockholm.

Our plan is to leave the greater Stockholm area as fast as possible and look for a campsite. Annika masters the chaos on the road behind the ferry terminal, where’s a big pushing and shoving. Priority rules? Who cares …! She masters the huge four-lane motorway, too.

South of Södertälje the traffic decreases. Now it’s only one hour left to Oxelösund where we want to look for a place to stay. We drive to the island Jogersö and arrive six minutes after the reception of the campsite has closed. Luckily the receptionist is still there and we are allowed to come in. All small cabins are occupied but there’s always place for a tent. So we put up our tent, eat bread and cheese and finally I have to take a bath in the sea before going to sleep.

Tent night number 3 – this time in Jogersö

When we lie in our sleeping bags ready to fall asleep it starts to rain. Just gemütlich!

Day 3 – a day in Turku Jul 11 2019

This article is part of the series “2019-07: Southern Sweden”.

10 July, Turku

Our second (and last) Finnish stay is Turku, about 300 km south of Majors, our last stay. Here we meet Karen and Family. Karen is an active blog author and it’s the first time that we meet her in real life.

Annika and I arrive in the afternoon and have a nice and relaxed evening. The only thing we have to do is to put up our tent in the garden. The garden is small but our tent fits.

Karen and the children have summer holidays, but the daughter is away. Her husband has to work, so it’s Karen and her two sons with whom we spend the next day.

After breakfast we take the vesibussi – the water bus, part of the public transport system. We take the normal bus into town and walk along the river Aura until we reach the pier for the small boat.

I love to explore a new town by boat or ship. The weather is warm and sunny and Turku looks beautiful which its combination of new houses and old castle – old sailing ship, restaurant raft and modern racing yachts.

We take the boat to the island Runsala were we take a long walk. We cannot access the whole island because of a music festival a week ago. The area is still fenced, but there are many other ways and paths leading back to the boat stop. I really admire the tall leaf trees with their huge barky trunks, especially the oak trees. We do not have such home in Västerbotten.

We take the boat back to town and the bus to the china restaurant Yangtze. Great, delicious food and some dishes I never tasted before. Recommendation!

Later that day we take the car to Vähä-Joumo, a nice bathing place with a sandy beach, a bathing raft and – most important of all – a Finnish sauna. Countless times we jump into the water, swim to the platform and back or warm up in the sauna.

It is quite late when we finally return to our host’s home, where we eat dinner – fresh bread with a huuuge bowl of salad – and talk until Annika and I crawl into the tent again were we quickly fall asleep.

Thank you Karen, Vidal and children for a nice stay! It was great meeting you and you’re warmly welcome in Västerbotten on the other side of the Baltic Sea.

Karen’s blog: Suomalainen Päiväkirja | Live aus Turku (German)

A kayak trip shorter than expected Jul 4 2019

About neoprene suits, the post-glacial rebound and changed lunch plans.

Today I wanted to paddle to Själagrundet, an island 1.6 km from mainland. The air may be warm but the water is still cold and that’s the element you should be prepared for in case of capsizing. Today I decided against the bulky drysuit and chose a thin neoprene suit for the first time.

The suit is very tight (especially if you each too much chocolate …) and hard to put on. After I managed to squeeze myself into the suit and to close the back zipper it felt quite comfortable. Until I started paddling. It was much harder to move the paddle than usual because of the tight neoprene sleeves. Every paddle stroke felt like training with a rubber band. I got used to it after a while, but neoprene will probably not become my favourite choice of kayak clothing.

I passed the island Storgrundet and headed northeast. The waves came exactly from the side which is the worst direction regarding stability. So I zigzagged a bit to avoid the waves rocking the kayak too much. Nevertheless the island came closer and closer and soon I got out of the kayak and dragged it ashore. The seagulls didn’t like my arrival. Screeching loudly they rose in the air, sailed in the wind and didn’t dare to land as long as I occupied their private property.

There are many islands whose name ends with -grundet. From Skelleftehamn for example you can paddle to Storgrundet, Norrskärsgrundet or Nygrundet. The Swedish word grund means (among others) shallow, so the translations of the islands mentioned above are: the Large-Shallow, the North-Skerry-Shallow, the New-Shallow.

Who is to blame? The post-glacial rebound! After the last glacial period the glaciers started to melt. Slowly the land, that had been compressed by the huge weight of the ice sheet started to expand. It is still expanding and rising – round 8–9 mm a year. Therefore some islands are quite new. Själagrundet for example is hardly older than 100 years. They got their names from the old times when they weren’t islands yet but shallow underwater-banks that the fishermen had to take care of.

Today Själagrundet still is mainly a large gravel bank. Only on the higher eastern side plants had started to grow. Mostly it’s flowers, but two small bushes and a small willow tree have settled there as well.

I walked around and had a look at the 260 meter long island until I got hungry and wanted to eat my lunch – salad and a chocolate bar. When I looked at the dark grey clouds that seemed to approach the island I changed my plans. Did I hear the rumble of thunder? When I would be hit by a thunderstorm on this flat island without any shelter I could get into serious trouble. I checked the speed of the clouds and decided that the best option was to paddle back to mainland, now and quickly.

I had a fast start and paddled quicker than usual until half of the distance lay behind me. It was quite exhausting –remember the neoprene suit? When I realised that there was no immediate danger of thunderstorm and lightning I slowed down. I took my dinner on the island Storgrundet. A save place with summer houses and hardly 100 metres from mainland. Then I paddled back to the small beach at the mainland, took off the neoprene suit and had a refreshing bath in the Baltic Sea in the sun.

White nights Jun 30 2019

Since the summer solstice on 21 June the nights are slowly getting longer again. Last night sunset was 23:21 and today’s sunrise 01:56. At this time I usually sleep.

I was extremely lazy photographing the last weeks, so I decided to ignore my tiredness and drive to the coast. This time I chose a new place I’ve never been before. I left my car at the side of the small gravel road that I had followed for some kilometres. I took my camera bag with the tripod and crossed the hilly forest until I reached the coast.

While photographing I decided to publish at least two photos in this blog, whether I like them or not. I have to admit that I’m not so content with the result, but anyway, here are two shots of last night. Both pictures are taken in the last minutes before sunset, the first 22:59, the second 23:12.

#escapism – an overnight stay on an icebound raft Apr 11 2019

Thanks to Facebook I saw yesterday afternoon, that my mate Hans planned to have a sauna in the evening. I took the opportunity to invite myself. Hans answered I should take a sleeping bag with me when I wanted to stay over.

Half an hour I had packed sleeping bag, warm clothes, camera and food and took the car to Bureå. Here in the bay of the marina Hans has parked his rafts. Two rafts are equipped with a cosy cabin with two beds each, the third raft has a toilet and the sauna. In summer the rafts are floating freely and you need a boat to get there. Now it’s possible to cross the ice. When I arrived Hans already had fired the sauna. But first we took an ice bath.

My taking an ice bath (Photo: Hans Brettschneider)

We warmed bread and grilled sausages directly on the sauna oven, the only source of heat. After our third ice bath we warmed up in the sauna and then went in the left cabin. Soon we wrapped up ourselves in our sleeping bags because it was quite chilly. Outside -5 °C, inside only slightly warmer.

I slept well although I woke up several times because the ice cracked loudly. Either it was the frost expanding the ice or the rising water level. Already at 5 o’clock it was so light that I went out to take some photos. Brrr, -10 °C! I could hear the ice crack and the hooting of the whooper swans. Far away some of them swam in the water of one of the few ice-free places.

Birches and whooper swans in the morning sun

When I came back it was still early morning and Hans was sleeping. I thought that looked like a good idea, went into my sleeping bag and slept another hour.

When we stood up I was curious about my food for breakfast. The water in my large plastic bottle was partly frozen but still drinkable. To my surprise my yoghurt hadn’t turned into ice over night. Cheese and bread neither. Since it was almost warmer outside than inside we had an outdoor breakfast under the blue morning sky.

After breakfast we called it a day, crossed the ice to our parked cars, said hejdå and left this nice place. Tack så mycket, Hans – thank you, Hans for a relaxed evening and a wonderful spontaneous experience.

Back to land – Hans dragging a transport sledge

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