Autumnal kayak trip to Grindøya
Late summer mountain hike
The forecast was correct – the sky was blue the whole day today. At 9 o’clock I meet my friend Chris on a parking place and we start a mountain hike. The morning air is a bit chilly and some leaves even have frost on them.
After we have crossed the river Tromsdalselva we follow a path and some quiet residential streets and arrive at the way up to Sherpatrappa. That’s is a stone staircase of 1,203 steps leading up the mountain. Today is Sherpatrappa Opp – a competition where people run up the stairs. We however prefer walking and are lucky, that the competition will not start before eleven.
At the end of the stairs the terrain becomes less steep and you have a gorgeous view on the island Tromsøya and its beautiful surroundings. I see the island Håkøya that I circumvented by kayak two days ago. And today there is another competition: Tromsøya rundt, a 24 km long kayak tour round the island. From 400 metres up, we spot a group of kayakers passing below.
I assumed it was too late in the year for cotton grass – a clear sign for wet ground – but by a small and shallow pond we find a field of these candyfloss like flowers.
A lake always gives an awesome extra perspective in the mountainous landscapes, especially when it is as clear and blue as this one.
A white reindeer is grazing by the trail. It is not shy at all and ignores us while looking for food. On the way back we will meet it again.
I will never loose the fascination for the Norwegian landscapes, where sea and summits meet. I paddled to Grindøya – the island in the middle – several times. In the back lies mountain range on the island Kvaløya. This island is more than 1200 times larger than Grindøya and mainland Norways 5th largest island.
The weather has become warm and summery. Anyhow you can see the signs that the summer comes to an end. The colours have started changing.
On our way back we use Sherpatrappa again and get an awesome view on the town. Tromsø in a nutshell: Two Hurtigruten ships – the bridge Tromsøbrua – the iconic church Ishavskatedralen. And in the background the mountain Kjølen, where I’ve seen the midnight sun seven weeks ago (I and II).
Takk for turen, Chris!
Kayaking around Håkøya
Yesterday I finally had time to join the Thursday paddling in Tromsø again. The weather was calm and the tour leaders suggested to take a tour to the island Håkøya. After the usual preparations I entered the club’s kayak that I’d reserved – a Valley Etain 17,5 – waited for the others to be ready and off we went. Fourteen paddlers we were, including the tour leaders.
First we head west over the sound Sandnessundet. After 3 km we reach the northern tip of the island Håkøya.
First I was a bit disappointed about the gathering clouds after the clear and sunny day. Then I realised again, what wonderful light the combination of clouds and the low sun can produce. The houses and farms on the island look extremely picturesque in this light.
We slow down a bit and go on land to take a break. While sitting, eating, chatting we decide to circumvent Håkøya. Great – a new tour for me!
We enter the kayaks and continue our counterclockwise circumvention. Since I’ve been on Håkøya before I’m looking forward to some of the attractions such as the red sail boat anchoring near the shore and especially the 330-metre-long bridge Håkøybrua, built 1961 with its prominent wooden construction.
What however comes completely unexpected are the three catamarans anchoring on the southern side of the bridge. Huge, modern and probably ridiculously expensive sailing catamarans. What a contrast to the other sailing boats and the wooden bridge.
It is half an hour to sunset. The clear sky in the southeast has turned red and the light on the mountains is spectacular. Alas, My only camera on the water is my iPhone, so no telephoto shots.
When we reach the east side of the island the sea is getting rougher and choppier. The next photo is probably my favourite shot from the tour showing the sea, the evening light and some of my kayaking mates.
With the waves comes the wind and of course it comes right from the front. Together with the waves I have to focus more on paddling than on taking pictures on the last 3½ kilometres. Just two snapshots. On the second one you may see the lights at the kayaks. We’re in navigable waters with commercial traffic and we have to be seen. I have a light on the kayak as well and a second one attached to my life vest. And by the way, the clouds are vanishing.
After 13.5 km we arrive at the boat houses of the Tromsø Sea Kayakers Club at half past nine and it is pretty dark. Soon the kayak season will be limited not by temperature but by available daylight. Until then I’ll hopefully can join some more “Thursday paddlings”.
Here is a map of our route (including some zigzagging when taking photos.
I want to thank my paddling mates for good company and our tour guides for guiding and guarding. Takk for turen!
Just a pick-up at the station…
When Annika travelled to me last weekend, her train from Boden to Narvik was cancelled and the next and last train was heavily delayed. Unfortunately train problems have become common in Northern Sweden over the years. I had to use the airplane several times because trains didn’t run at all for days or it was impossible to buy tickets.
To keep Annika from being stranded, I drive to Narvik to fetch her. From Tromsø it takes me about three and a half hours plus some breaks.
Meanwhile Annika has booked a hostel in Bogen where we stay overnight. Our plan is not to drive back the direct route, but to visit the islands Andøya and Senja.
Monday, 21 July
The next morning starts sunny.
However it soon gets foggy. After crossing the Tjeldsund we are on Hinnøya, the largest Norwegian island (when we ignore Svalbard). We decide against a swim in the sea due to the fog and continue to Refsnes. From here go ferries cross the Gullesfjorden to Flesnes. On my trip to Narvik yesterday it was often 28 °C, now in the fog it is hardly 15 °C.
We have missed the 10 o’clock ferry, but they run hourly and we don’t have to wait for long. The journey itself takes only 20 minutes.
From Flesnes we continue to Risøyhamn. Hurtigruten travellers may know this place not only because it is one of the stops but also because of Risøyrenna – a man-made underwater channel that allows larger vessels to pass between Andøya and Hinnøya. The Hurtigruten ships has to go quite slow there.
We take the bridge over the Risøysundet and drive through Risøyhamn. Twice. Because I didn’t know that it is so small. Only round 200 people live there.
The weather is sunny again and we become more beach focussed. The first beach is for having lunch. We share it with a flock of sheep.
The second beach is for bathing. 16 °C in the water – surprisingly warm for the region.
We continue north. To the west the Norwegian Sea. Next shore westwards is Greenland, more than 1500 kilometres away. Our next stop is much closer: a public toilet at Bukkekjerka. But what a one! It is a designed block of concrete and mirrored glass. From the outside you cannot look in, but from the inside you can switch the huge glass windows between being transparent or opaque.
Around this place – a lighthouse on a peninsula, interesting looking rocks, a baaing sheep and of course the sea.
We follow the coastal road further north to Bleik. Here you can find beaches and turquoise water as well as ridiculously looking rock needles.
After refuelling my car in Andenes we drive south again to Marmelkroken, where we will stay overnight. With an additional photo stop.
Midnight sun on the Stor-Kjølen
Yes, I was tired Saturday evening after travelling back from Obbola to Tromsø. But the weather was so nice and I already had started thinking about going up the mountain Stor-Kjølen for experiencing the midnight sun up there. Finally I made a decision. Let’s go. I packed water, a camping mat, a sleeping back, but most of all my camera equipment and went off. It is only a twenty minute drive to the lake Finnvikvatnet on the island Kvaløya where I parked my car. From there it is round 5½ km to the top and a good 500 metres of elevation gain.
When I start my tour at around 10 o’clock the sun is low. The sun is low, but it won’t set tonight – and not for the next twenty days either. The landscape glows in warm colours. The ground is dry, but soon I cross the first tiny snowfield.
The path winds its way through grassy terrain scattered with stones and rocks. Stray snowfields lie on both sides of the path and the radar station on top of Stor-Kjølen has come into view.
The first lake flanks the trail. Slowly, the terrain is becoming rockier.
I look back and already now the hiking tour was a success. Lakes, hills – some grassy, some rocky – and at the horizon a mountain range. So beautiful in the warm light of the low sun.
For a while, grassy patches and rocky ground alternate …
… then the altitude takes command. Only snow and rocks are present and the vegetation is reduced mostly to mosses and lichens. I have to cross a large snow field but the ground is not slippery.
But then I arrive on the stone-covered plateau of Stor-Kjølen, where I can see a small cairn in front of me, a tall cairn marking the summit and the radar station. And if you look closely you can see a small cabin in front of the station. It’s a shelter for hikers. I’m alone, so I can use it for the night.
I want to take photos of the midnight sun, so I start experimenting with some sun-facing shots. These photos are much darker than reality. While the light is warm, it is still bright daylight.
The mountains and the sea all glow in hazy orange hues when I look against the sun.
But I have a mission – taking a photo of the midnight sun. Here it is. Unfortunately there is a small, transparent cloud in front of the sun that makes it look like a white splotch instead of a circle. Bad luck!
Bad luck? Not really. We have summer time, so the lowest position of the sun is one hour later – or a bit more accurate 0:48 due to local solar time. So I had some spare time to take more photo from the stone-covered flat top.
Then it was time: The sun as its lowest position. Ok – I was three minutes late, but the solar path is so flat that it doesn’t matter when taking photos. The light is the same. And eventually the little cloud was vanished.
Just a selfie with my mobile phone, then it is time for bed, at last. (A down hoodie? Yes – it is windy and only +5 °C.)
I enter the shelter, roll out my sleeping mat on the floor and lie down, using my sleeping bag as a blanket. Cluck-cluck, cackle-cackle! What’s that? I peek out of the door and see that the hour of the ptarmigans has started. All around, these galliforms dart about, filling the air with their typical clucking. I am too tired to start another photo hunt so I just take some snapshots. (These photos are heavily cropped.)
But then it is finally time to sleep. The shelter is filled with light, the camping mats (I found another one in the shelter) are thin and the ground is hard. But then I doze off and …
… sleep. At least for a couple of hours.
Travelling through worlds
Some of you may know, that I live in two places. In Tromsø in Norway, my “work home” and in Obbola in Sweden, my “home home”. Travelling is not so easy, since the distance is 940 km by car. Normally I take the bus Tromsø—Narvik and then the train Narvik—Umeå, but I happens frequently, that the Swedish train does not operate this route. Yesterday for example I took the plane. It’s like travelling through different worlds.
Tromsø
Friday 11:00 – I am taking a promenade in the forests nearby. While the snow in the forests will soon be soon, the mountains will stay white much longer.
Airplane
Friday 17:00 – I am sitting in the airplane to Stockholm, now watching the snowy mountains from above until it gets cloudy below.
Airport Arlanda
Friday 21:00 – I am waiting for my plane to Umeå, one of the last planes for today. Less and less people are present and the shops are closing.
Obbola
Saturday 08:00 – I am home home. Compared to Tromsø everything is much greener . The weather is rainy and everything outside is soaking wet.
It’s June in Tromsø
After a week in my hometown Bremen in Germany I returned to Tromsø yesterday. This morning I took a tour through the nature of the northern island. The landscape is mostly wooded hills, with a few bogs and lakes dotted around. I was curious about two things: how much snow is left and have the birch trees got their leaves?
More and more snow is gone. However some of the forest floor is still covered with dirty snow, sometimes up to half a metre and more.
You can still see last winter’s cross-country ski trails. The pressure of many thousand skiers has squeezed the snow making it more compact. Like white ribbons, these paths wind their way through the forest.
Other paths give no hint that winter ever touched that place.
The moorland with its spongy ground is completely clear of snow. And so are the lakes.
However, although it is already 1st of June the colours look more like late October. But if you look a bit closer you see the signs of springs such as the blooming marsh-marigold and the birch leaves that finally start to grow and unfold on some of the trees.
Fremdriftstak
Monday 19 May
On Monday I joined a kayak training on fremdriftstak. That’s Norwegian for forward stroke, the most basic kayak stroke. We had two experienced trainers, one for the euro paddle, one for the Greenland paddle. I joined the euro paddle group and learned some new details that hopefully will help me kayaking a bit more effortlessly in the future. The weather was a mixture of sun and clouds and the last hour it rained. Doesn’t matter, we are fully waterproofed when on the sea anyhow.
Thursday 22 May
Yesterday was the regular Thursday paddling with eighteen eager kayakers and fantastic spring weather. I joined the group kayaking to the island Grindøya as the week before. While the tour leaders told us about their plans and checked, that we all know the basic communication signs, the colourful kayaks had already been brought to the shore.
My own kayak is in Sweden so I always rent a kayak from the kayak club. A good opportunity to finally test another model. I had used the same on Monday, now I checked it a bit again while waiting for the others to join.
We paddled to “Monsterbygget” – a large cuboid building that is one of the favourite orientation marks for kayakers. There we split and our group of eleven headed west to the island Grindøya.
It is round 2.5 kilometres to the southern tip of the island. A good opportunity to recap my learning from the Monday training. It went well but it will take time until it is in the muscle memory. At the small bay with the sandy beach we parked our kayaks. This is one of the two locations where you may enter the island during the bird breeding season. Time for a break, enjoying the sun, drinking water and eating chocolate.
On our way back we paddled along the western shore of the island. We saw a lot of eider ducks and other sea birds that I cannot name. After two kilometres we had passed the northern tip and were heading back to Tromsøya crossing the strait Sandnessundet.
This is a great season for paddling, especially on such a sunny day. The coast is green, the sea is blue (and very cold) and the mountains are still covered with snow.
In the south we could spot a ship. Where will it go? We decided to wait. The ship was sailing along the strait and since ships are not only much bigger than us but also much faster we decided to paddle back a bit and then to a sea mark north to wait for the ship to pass.
First the ship’s movements were hardly visible but when it approached it seemed to become faster and faster. While it was passing we spotted another ship in the distance, this time in the south and decided to cross the strait instantly. I took two photos, then I had to keep up and since we wanted to cross the strait quickly I didn’t make any further photos.
At half past nine we were back at the boat houses. Takk for turen – thanks for the tour!
Today
I’m proud. I paddled 11.3 km yesterday and I don’t have any pain in my right arm as occasionally after other tours. Just for that the training on fremdriftstak this Monday was a full success. Thanks, B. for your tipps and advice.
These are the two recorded tracks from kayaking to Grindøya. The first one from last week, the second one from yesterday.
Watching birds and enjoying the sun
Today my friend Chris and I took a road trip to the island Kvaløya, Norway’s fifth largest island. It was snowing, but the weather forecast was promising. Our first stop was “Eidehandel” – a local grocery store – in Eidkjosen. The second stop was Tisnes to check for migratory birds. They weren’t many, it may be still too early, but we saw small groups of greylag geese and some Eurasian curlews. The latter ones are recognisable by their large bent beak. When I took some photos I realised how beautiful they are when flying.
We continued following the southern coastal road where we spotted a flock of smaller birds. Two friends on Facebook confirmed it: These are snow buntings.
We saw Eurasian oystercatchers on different places. At the bay Austeinvika I used the opportunity to take some photos. The forecast was correct. It had stopped snowing and the sun had came out.
From there it was not far to the island Sommarøya where we took a lunch break eating the food we bought at Eidehandel. The sky was blue but in the wind it was still chilly. I was glad about wearing a woollen sweater plus a winter anorak. When we were full we left the rest of the food in the car and took a stroll over the hills. Sommarøya is incredible in all seasons because of the combinations of shallow bays with turquoise water and sandy coral beaches and the view of the high mountains of Kvaløya and the islands around.
And if you send your drone into the air and take a photo from above you see, how ridiculously turquoise and clear the water is. Like in the Caribbean as long as you ignore the water temperature.
When I came home in the late afternoon it started snowing again.
Translations:
| English | German | Norwegian |
|---|---|---|
| graylag goose | Graugans | grågås |
| Eurasian curlew | Großer Brachvogel | storspove |
| snow bunting | Schneeammer | Snøspurv |
| Eurasian oystercatcher | Austernfischer | tjeld |
I can’t ski, but I do
Let’s face it. I am a lousy skier. My technique is mediocre when I ski uphills and reduces to ε > 0 when I ski downhills. With the lack of technique there is empty space for panic that settles in when I’ve got too fast. But I do love skiing so I do it anyhow. And that’s a thing I’m slightly proud of.
Today I wanted to used the beautiful winter day to do something with skiing. I take the car to the neighbouring island Kvaløya with two destinations in mind: Kattfjordvatnet or Finnviksdalen/Krabbelvdalen. On the bridge to Kvaløya I make up my decision: Finnviksdalen/Krabbelvdalen. More possibilities. So I turn right.
At 10 o’clock I start my tour from the car park by the road 863 and head in the usual direction. Well, that didn’t work, the mountain stream is open. So let’s take the bridge by the car park. That works. I have to cross another mountain river but that is easier, since it is covered with ice floes easy to cross.
I realise, that I already have made up my mind: Going up the mountains to Kraknesaksla (335 m) or to the Jerremaš (467 m). It’s the mountains massif behind these trees:
I check the avalanche situation in the Varsom app. Looks good! So I continue the tour although I am surprisingly bad prepared: I have forgotten the sun blocker and something to drink. The sun has come out and I use my anorak hood to protect against the radiation although it is a bit too warm. And water I can drink from the next stream, although I do not get a lot using only one hand for scooping.
The terrain descends a bit, I cross a ski trail. Then it ascends and I am skiing uphills. Mostly I zigzag because I do not have climbing skins with me either. That is working better than excepted. When I look down behind me I get a bit nervous. Every metre I climb up I’ll have to ski downhills later. Did I mention, that I am a lousy skier? I think so.
But I feel always so rewarded when I am above the timberline leaving all trees below.
I pass the small cabins by the two small lakes whose name I do not know …
… and head to the mountain top Kraknesaksla. Since I have been above the timberline I have beautiful views on the sounds east of Kvaløya. First Sandnessundet, then Kvalsundet. That’s so fascinating, this together of sea and mountains. Down there – the island Tromsøya where I have my “work home”.
At the cairn on the summit of Kraknesaksla I have to put of my skis. Too icy and too many rocks. But what a view!
I continue my tour. For a while I can see the Kvalsundet, …
… then I leave the eastern slope behind and head to the next mountain. While I have been alone for a while I now can see some other skiers in the distance. The weather is constantly changing and so the light. Sometimes it is cloudy that the snow is without any contrast at all. That makes it impossible to tell if the ground slopes up or down. And then, minutes later, the sun comes out, the sky is blue and I can “read” the snow again.
I reach the top of the Jerremaš (also called Austeråsfjellet) but here I’m not alone. Three skiers are sitting by the cairn enjoying the sun. So – no photo here. Anyhow I’ve got quite thirsty again and decide now to take a break. Now comes the part where I have to ski down and it wouldn’t have been so hard because the slope is not so steep and there is plenty of space. However more clouds have been gathering and it even started snowing a bit. Visual terrain information: not available. Colours neither.
Hmm, I don’t like skiing downhills in these weather conditions. When I finally reach the first sparse birch forests I am relieved, because now I can estimate how steep the slope is. Slowly I continue skiing down, passing another stream that is mostly snowed over.
After more zigzagging down I reach Finnviksdalen, the other valley. This looks pretty different from Krabbelvdalen because of the prepared cross-country ski trails. There are also more people around. From now on it is a bit more about skiing and less about taking photos. The last ones I make show the trail and the hexagonal cabin where skiers use to take breaks.
I however am very thirsty and quite exhausted and so I continue to the car park where a bottle of water awaits me. 17.5 km skiing and – according to the Runners app – 603 metres in altitude later todays skiing has ended. As always: I’ve never regretted being outside and this was another example of having a great day.
The following events: buying sushi and a coke · driving home · eating · taking a hot shower · taking a nap · being pretty lazy · talking to Annika on the phone · editing today’s photos · writing this blog article.