24–26 September – From dinosaurs to Emerald Lake Oct 10 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

24 September

My wife Annika and I are in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The weather is nice. There is a Pachyrhinosaurus with two youngsters standing in front of us. They do not notice us at all. Perhaps that’s because they are made of plastic. They stand in front of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, and so do we.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

The Royal Tyrrell Museum holds Canada’s largest fossil collection and is famous for its dinosaur fossils. I am the first to get in when it opens. I just run through the museum to take some photographs before other people get in the there. After that, Annika and I go through the museum, taking our time. This museum is awesome! If I lived here, I would definitely have an annual pass to visit it from time to time.

After the museum, we take the car to Horseshoe Canyon. We go for a longer walk here on the countless small paths that lead through this badlands canyon. Be sure to have water with you and make sure you can find your way back, because the many hills make the place a maze.

In the late afternoon, we have another destination, the Last Chance Saloon, Alberta’s oldest operating saloon. They are about to close, but we get in and can sit in this extraordinarily cosy saloon and enjoy the delicious food. I order a “Badlands Brisket Taco Bowl” and am surprised to discover that the bowl does not contain any taco, it is made out of taco. And the smoked brisket – wow!

If you are in Drumheller, your day may start with a dinosaur and it may end with one, too. This is Tyra, the World’s Largest Dinosaur, a roadside attraction that we have passed several times over the last few days.

25 September

Today we head to Radium Hot Springs, which lies on the other side of the Rockies. It is a longer drive of about 400 km. First, we follow the grid-like roads through the prairies, then follow the Bow River until Castle Junction.

There we leave Alberta Highway 1 first and then Alberta altogether. We are back in British Columbia, where our journey began almost three weeks ago. Something interesting is happening. It starts to rain. We have had dry weather for weeks; now there is rain with everything from “I’ll drench you with a drizzle, even if it takes half the day.” to “Buy yourself an ark.” In Radium Hot Springs, we check in at the motel and take a nap. When I wake up, I see animals looking like goats on the property. I take a photo of a mother with two lambs. These are, of course, a bit cautious but not shy at all. It is only now, while blogging, that I learn that these are bighorn sheep, which are quite famous in Canada.

After dinner (goulash soup at the Old Salzburg restaurant) we take a walk before heading home.

26 September

Today we head northeast to Golden, where we’ll have an apartment for three days. It is the only place we booked well ahead, because we want to visit the Rockies and accommodation there is ridiculously expensive. It is still cloudy, but the rain has mostly stopped. To be honest, I am glad about yesterday’s rain. With the drop in temperature, it might have snowed in the mountains. Hopefully it did.

The road follows the Columbia River, which is not a single river so much as a system of river branches, islets, oxbow lakes, and swamps. Sometimes we take the main road; sometimes we take the small gravel roads on the other side of the river.

When the clouds lift, we get a glimpse of the mountains. There is fresh snow on the mountaintops.

We pass Golden to visit Emerald Lake, which lies between Golden and the Rocky Mountains. We take a hike around the lake, slightly distracted by a chipmunk running back and forth on the trail not far from the car park.

Then we start our trail. Although the first half of the trail is very easy to walk, it takes a long time. I’m to blame because I wait for the sun to shine on a certain part of the mountains on the other side of the lake. Halfway along the trail, it becomes a normal forest path with small bridges, slippery tree roots and some mud puddles. I have bear spray within reach; Annika carries a bear bell. So far, we haven’t seen a single bear, and I’m happy about that. Of course, it would be cool to see one from a safe spot, but I don’t want to meet one in its forest.

Tomorrow we will visit one of Western Canada’s most scenic routes, the Icefields Parkway, which crosses the Canadian Rocky Mountains in a north-south direction. Hopefully the weather will be as fine as predicted, and hopefully it won’t be too crowded.

22 September – Red Deer, Alberta Oct 7 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

22 September

Sometimes it is not really my wife Annika and I who choose the exact place to go next, sometimes it is just the availability (and prices!) of accommodation. We want to go to Drumheller, but while searching for an additional stopover, we have found a hotel in Red Deer. Another town, locality, or village I have never heard of. They have several places to stay and there is even a small jazz festival going on with a concert today at 16:30. Perhaps some traditional jazz played by the locals? We will try to make it in time, and we’ll see.

After breakfast with fried eggs and fried potatoes, we pack our things in the car and leave the cosy Shunda Creek Wilderness Hostel – my all-time favourite hostel. First, we visit Nordegg including the Farmhouse Local Foods store, then we head east. We drive through large, golden barley fields with one stop in mind: Markerville, a village (or a hamlet for the picky ones) that has an interesting history connected with Iceland. I love the idea that such a small settlement had a library more than 130 years ago. You can read more on the website www.historicmarkerville.com/history.html.

From here it is less than an hour to the village of Red Deer, but …

At first, I think that Alberta Highway 2 that connects Alberta’s two largest towns Edmonton and Calgary is the only major road here. But then there are multi-lane highways everywhere, and highway junctions, and slip roads, and confusing roundabouts, and six-lane traffic lights, and everything that stresses me fiercely when I drive a car. I prefer a snowstorm to that. So it turns out that Red Deer is anything but a small town. It is Alberta’s third-largest city, with about 100,000 inhabitants and we didn’t know that. Well, that came as a surprise.

My image of Red Deer while driving a car there

(The map to the left shows my image of Red Deer I had in mind before going there. The map to the right shows my panicked impression of driving a car there. Both images have been created by the Copilot AI.)

I manage to get to the centre and we find a parking bay directly at the location of the jazz festival. A guitar player is sitting lonely outside, playing and singing the blues. We listen for a while, then go to visit some second-hand shops and decide to drive to the hotel to check in. I am very grateful that now Annika is driving the car. This town is too big for me and she is by far the better driver in cities.

Matt Blais on the jazz festival in Red Deer

Now that we are in “civilisation mode”, we do something else I wanted to do since we started travelling through Canada: eating at Tim Hortons, Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain, with about 4000 restaurants in Canada. I have to admit that I liked my bowl. The chicken was tasty and crispy, and there was a lot of salad and it is always nice to get some non-burger food.

After our meal, we head to the hotel, which has a swimming pool and a hot tub. Of course, we have to try it out.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey to Drumheller, where we will stay for two nights.

16–17 September – Williams Lake—Valemount – From desert to mountains Oct 4 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

16 September

After two overnight stays in Williams Lake it is time for Annika and me to move on. Flexibility is more important to us than ticking off a list of must-see attractions. Since affordable hotels, motels, hostels and B&Bs are quite limited this flexibility sometimes leads us to places off the tourist trails. Did you, for example, ever hear of Little Fort? We didn’t either, but this is our next stay.

But first we go south to explore Farwell Canyon. On the way there we drive through hilly landscapes and grassy meadows. The cattle stand on the meadows, by the lakes, in the mud beside the road and on the road itself, too.

When you drive through Lapland you may see the sorting corrals for the reindeer. Here I see a fenced area that looks very similar, however this corral is for cattle.

While we are approaching Farwell Canyon the landscape changes. It becomes drier and you can see the eroded hills.

The road to the canyon provides impressive views of the canyon and the Chilcotin River.

We want to cross that river but first we turn back to a parking place to explore the “Farwell Canyon Sand Dune Trail” which leads to sand dunes with desert-like conditions. However, we only walk part of it because it is warm and we have forgotten to take water with us.

Time to turn again, drive down the hairpin bends to the bridge over the river and up the other side. Here the road becomes smaller and smaller and also rougher. We could follow this road to meet the highway 97 in the southeast.

The problem is that we had to cross Fraser River on the Gang Ranch Suspension Bridge and we cannot find any information whether we can cross it by car or not. Since the dirt road is narrow and rough and the drive would be long and bumpy I suggest turning again.

So we see it all again, the hairpin bends downwards, the canyon, the river, the bridge, the hairpin bends upwards, the car park for the trail and even the Toosey Band Gas Station that we passed hours ago. It had been opening by the Tl’esqox First Nation three months ago. We fill up the car and buy bannock for lunch. Normally I do not like hot dogs, but the smoked sausage in that type of bread is delicious.

Soon we are back on British Columbia Highway 20 where we cross Fraser River on a more boring but somehow also more reliable bridge.

After passing Williams Lake again we take the 97 southeast. The names of the villages: 150 Mile House, 151 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch, 105 Mile House … . The names originate from the distances to the town of Lillooet on the Cariboo Wagon Road during the Cariboo Gold Rush of the 1860s.

In the Rusty Iron Coffee Co. we get a coffee and a bun just before closing. Lucky us! My espresso is outstanding and the café is very cosy. Anyhow we sit outside enjoying the warm and sunny weather. Then we explore the 108 Heritage Site nearby with its old buildings such as a school and a church before we continue on to Little Fort, where we arrive at half past six.

17 September

Where is the North Thompson River? It was there the day before. Now it is hidden by fog that covers the whole valley. Only a slightly brighter spot reveals the position of the sun.

But it is only a matter of time until the sun wins and evaporates the fog.

Today we will head to Valemount, where our next overnight stop is located. We have only to follow Highway 5 for 200 km, then we are there. It will be a short day. Hahaha! Hihi! We already have learnt that every day of travelling in Canada is a full day because there is so much to discover, with or without detours.

Today we take a detour. We leave Highway 5 in Clearwater to visit the Wells Gray Provincial Park which is famous for its many waterfalls. The first motif however is not water falling down but a North American red squirrel. It is very busy, not very shy and I can take some photos.

Then the waterfalls: we do not visit them all, some need a hike to get there and some do not sound so interesting. So I’ll show two of them. First, Dawson falls, not very deep but broad. You can access the shore of the Murtle River and watch it from there while listening to its constant droning.

Then Helmcken Falls, where the same river falls 141 metres into a canyon. Equally impressive, but from the viewing platform you are pretty far away.

We take the dirt road to the Green Mountain Trail. We were not alone at the waterfalls – here we are. It’s only we two and a lot of butterflies – probably from the genus Polygonia – fluttering around the viewing tower.

On our way back we spot an ice cream sign by the road. That’s always a reason to stop. The ice lady is kind and funny, the ice cream is delicious and the scoops enormous. And I like the sign which says: “It’s never too cold for ice cream.” So true.

Just another stop to the picture of the ranch entrance …

… and we are back on the highway. Or we could be, if the weather weren’t so nice and Clearwater didn’t have this bathing lake, Dutch lake. Time for a stop, time for a dip. We bathe and swim in the fresh, clear, but not really cold water. Many recreational sites are community-driven. Bampton is one of them and does not only have a wonderful swimming jetty but also provides life jackets for kids.

Bampton Recreational Area – bathing jetty

Now it is 6 o’clock in the afternoon and we still have 174 km to go. The sun is setting while we drive and the higher mountains that we are seeing for the first time on our trip lie in the shade.

When we arrive at the Summit River Lodge, our accommodation for this night, it is already dark. A pity, since this lodge is so beautiful, both outside and inside! And the drinking water is great, it is taken from a well and doesn’t taste of chlorine as the ordinary Canadian tap water.

Before going to sleep, I go out and take a photo of the mountain as seen from the house. It has a glacier on it and its name is Mount Albreda (3029 m). That’s higher than any mountain in any country I have lived in: Germany, Sweden, Norway.

The next day we will see more mountains, because we head to Jasper which lies in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

15 September – That’s Likely Sep 30 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-09: Canada”.

15 September

Today, my wife Annika and I plan a day trip to Likely. We start in Williams Lake. We do not take the main road, but instead take a side road via Horsefly. According to the British Columbia paper map, there is a way to get there, according to Google Maps, there is no connection between Horsefly and Likely. So we are not sure whether this will work, but we have a full tank and we can turn around anytime.

The road to Horsefly is paved. We make a short stop to buy some provisions in the little shop and to use the toilet, then we continue to Likely.

After a few hundred metres the road turns into an unpaved one. Soon it gets a bit rough and pretty small. Still, it is good to drive on if you take it slowly. The issue is more the navigation. One thing is that Google Maps does not know the way but the main issue is that mobile internet access in British Columbia’s rural areas is more or less non-existent. So, offline maps are your friends, even with some missing routes. We miss a turnoff and land in an active mining area, but we find back and get onto the right road.

Finally, we arrive in Likely and it is a great place. The village is located on the Quesnel River and has an extremely cosy pub. We decide to eat there and sit outside to enjoy the warm late summer weather. We are not the only ones. Three Canadians join our table. We immediately start chatting about this and that and in the end, we get a lot of tips about which places we “must” visit. The man even offers to show us around in Edmonton, where he currently lives, although in his opinion it’s not worth a detour :-D. At the same time I eat a delicious burger with poutine, a very Canadian dish consisting of French fries topped with gravy. Unfortunately, the wasps enjoy the warmth, too and especially anything with sugar in it.

The Canadians tell us about salmon jumping up the Quesnel River and while we cannot see them jumping up the small rapid, we see them idling in the water from the bridge. On the other side of the bridge – there is a pair of common loons.

Near Likely at the confluence of the Cariboo River and the Quesnel River is Quesnel Forks, a preserved ghost town from the Cariboo Gold Rush founded in 1860. In the 1870s most of the residents had left, but the town was still inhabited until the 1950s. Here we spend some time looking at the old buildings as well as the place where the rivers meet. A place with an interesting history and a beautiful landscape. We even met an old lady looking for gold. She tells us that you can still find a bit of gold, but you won’t get rich.

On our way back we took the main road to Williams Lake. It is easy to drive on, easy to navigate, but also a bit more boring than the way via Horsefly.

A late summer overnight stay at Bjuröklubb Aug 22 2026

Thursday afternoon. It is just before the bus stop that I discover the first fly agarics of the year. I have walked about 3.3 km from our home in Obbola to the nearest bus stop. From here it’s half an hour’s bus journey to Norrlands universitetssjukhus, the hospital where I meet Annika.

We take her car, heading north to a well-known place: Bjuröklubb. The first time I went there was 25 April 2010, just three days after I moved to Sweden. The last time I was there was with Annika on 28 June 2024, when we rented the cabin Spanarstugan for an overnight stay.

Since we both have Friday off and the weather forecast looked promising, we have hired the cabin again at very short notice. Luckily it was free. After a 120-km drive, we arrive there, carry our things up the last 250 metres on foot and there we are again: at one of my favourite places, having the large cabin for ourselves and everything we need for a tasty outdoor dinner.

After dinner we go up the hill to the lighthouse Bjuröklubbs fyr which, despite its age, is still active. From here you have a unique view of the sea and, weather permitting, beautiful sunsets.

As the sun sinks lower and lower, the light gets warmer and warmer and it takes a while for the sun to set behind the distant, flat hills in the north.

An hour later it has become darker and the stars are out. The pine trees appear as black silhouettes and the lighthouse has started its work.

The next morning the weather is still clear. A small sailing boat is already out at 6 o’clock. Where does it come from, and where is it heading?

Today is Annika’s and my sixth wedding anniversary and I’m not only blessed to have Annika as my wife, but also glad that we are here together and the weather is nice and the hares are running and the birds are chirping and the butterflies are fluttering around and that we can even have breakfast outside in the sun. But before that: New day – new photos!

Stone field and pines – typical for Bjuröklubb

After lunch, Annika is picking berries while I am walking and climbing to the old lighthouse Bjuröklubb Nord Östra, an abandoned leading light situated by the sea.

I unscrew a hook that locks the metal door, open it and peek in. While the windows still retain their colours, the light source is long gone.

On my way back I meet Annika in the sun. She is still collecting blueberries. Although the warmth of the sun makes it feel like a summer day the bright red leaves on the blueberry bushes show that autumn is near.

Meanwhile, the café has opened. Time to buy some ice cream. After I have finished mine, I try to take photos of the many, many butterflies. Anyway, that’s not easy because I left my big Nikon camera at home and my small Sony camera is a bit picky when it comes to focussing on such subjects. These are the best shots: European peacock (Aglais io) – painted lady (Vanessa cardui) – small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) – red admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

Skiing to Njunjes Mar 22 2026

This article is part of the series “2026-03: Ski tours”.

Monday, 9 March

Last week, in our second week of holiday my wife Annika and I wanted to visit the stugvärdarna – the cabin hosts – of the Swedish mountain cabin Aktse. We had loads of food with us, among others chicken filet.

It is 16 km by ski from the car park Sitoälvsbron. Or would have been if the road to the car park had been cleared of snow. However, when we tried to drive there, the last 13 km of the road were just a snowmobile track not suited for cars. So we had to change plans.

At the Kvikkjokk Fjällstation we could sit inside and use wifi and bathroom to make new plans. We decided to stay there a night and to ski to Njunjes – the nearest cabin of the Padjelantaleden – the next day.

Tuesday, 10 March

After breakfast Annika packed her backpack and I packed my pulka and we started our ski tour to Njunjes. The first part is on the river Darreädno/Tarraätno – by boat in summer, on the ice in winter. More or less the whole river was covered with snowmobile tracks and they were so icy that I put off my skis and walked using spikes under my ski boots.

I stopped and asked Annika: Do we have the chicken filet with us? No, we didn’t, we forgot it in the fridge.

Later the snowmobile trail continued in the forest. Here it was easier to ski despite the warm weather with above-freezing temperatures. It was apparent that there had been not much snow this season and occasionally you could see patches free of snow.

Wet and icy snow, grey weather, a snowmobile track through the forest – I didn’t take many photos of this dull scenery. It seemed to take ages until we finally got a view of the cabins. But first we had to cross wet and icy terrain were we broke through into a few centimetres of water several times. According to the map there is neither a lake nor a bog. Maybe it was a partially frozen meltwater pond.

But then after about 17 km we arrived at the cabins of Njunjes where we were welcomed by the hut warden. The main cabin of Njunjes is a “Fjällstuga 65”, sometimes called Abrahamssonstugan. It was renovated lately and the new wood-burning stove is just awesome!

Our skis and ski skins were soaking wet from the final stretch but at least we ourselves stayed dry, because luckily the forecasted rain came later after we already had arrived.

Wednesday, 11 March

On this day we took a rest day. I was up early and went out to watch the sunrise because rain and clouds had disappeared overnight. What a beautiful morning!

The rest of the day we were pretty lazy. While Annika was reading in the sun (and my pulka was drying) I was taking some photos nearby.

Annika is reading and the pulka is drying in the sun

It was quiet, but occasionally we could hear loud rumbles. The southern cliff of the mountain Njunjesvárre was dewing in the sun and the large ice blocks were thundering downwards. This added some drama to the otherwise peaceful scenery.

In the afternoon Annika started to make food. Although we forgot the chicken filet we still had loads of other food, among others feta cheese, peppers, zucchini, and onions, all of them dried at home by Annika in the weeks before. This home-dried food has to be soaked in water for hours, so the resting day was a good opportunity to use it. In the evening we got a very delicious dinner.

Thursday, 12 March

Time to return to Kvikkjokk. The mountains were cloud-covered and it had snowed over night. Just one centimetre or two, but enough to make the scenery look a bit more wintry and more important: to make the icy track a bit smoother to ski. Before we started I fetched water from the river. About 200 metres away the river is partially open and there is a bucket to fetch water with and a funnel to pour it into the canister. I pulled the heavy canister after me back to the cabin. Now there was water and wood for the next guests to come.

Then we packed our things, cleaned the room and said goodbye to the friendly warden. And off we went, taking a slightly different track in the beginning. I only took some photos on our way back and none at all in the forest.

This day we realised again that of course you can ski here, but the omnipresent vehicle is the snowmobile. We met about fifty on our way back. In the last kilometres most of river was more or less covered with their tracks. But then we saw other skiers gliding effortlessly on the other side of the river. We skied there and right: there was a freshly prepared cross-country ski trail that we used until we were in Kvikkjokk.

A zillion snowmobile tracks on the river

A freshly prepared ski trail on the river

Here we picked up the forgotten chicken filet, bought something to drink and put everything into the car. This night we would stay in Solberget, the touristic wilderness retreat that I visited the first time in 2005. We had three-hour car drive ahead of us but it was still early and probably we would make it not only for the dinner but also for the sauna before. And yes – we made it. The smoked reindeer in creamy sauce was delicious!

Sunday, 15 March

Annika was back in Obbola, I was back in Tromsø. I finally fried and ate the chicken filet.

A weekend ski trip to Trollvassbu Jan 18 2026

It’s not the first time that Annika and I have visited the mountain cabin Trollvassbu. This time our friend Christine joined us on this ski trip.

At 10 o’clock we set of, Christine and Annika with backpacks and I with my camera backpack and pulka. And since there is a lot of space in a pulka – for example for all our sleeping bags – we could bring lots food with us for the evening and next day’s breakfast.

Navigating there has never been easier. Since it hasn’t snowed for twelve days the backcountry ski trail was not snow-covered and was very easy to follow. I have taken pictures of all the mountains already last year, but that’s no reason not to take more:

And there lies the mountain cabin Trollvassbu.

At first it was pretty crowded inside, but many were just on a day trip and didn’t stay overnight. Nowadays the head torches are so bright, that skiers can leave in the afternoon as well after it had become dark.

Like many mountain cabins, you heat Trollvassbu with a wood-burning stove and fetch water from the river nearby. It seems to be open all winter.

While I was taking long-exposure shots of the river, Christine was preparing a luxury dinner: reinskav with Spätzle. Reinskav is shaved reindeer meat and Spätzle traditional egg pasta from Swabia in the southwest of Germany. Thanks for cooking, Christine – so delicious!

In the evening it got warmer, and during the night the wind strengthened and turned very gusty. The next day showed that Yr, the Norwegian weather forecast, had been correct: it really had started raining.

After a long breakfast we got ready to leave Trollvassbu and ski back to the car park. This time the landscape looked colourless in the rain and the photos came out nearly black-and-white.

To our relief the wet snow did not slow us down and soon we arrived at the car park apparently guarded by this snowman with the top hat.

Now came the most dangerous part of our ski tour: crossing the car park that has transformed into a huge area of wet ice, which was almost frictionless. But no one slipped and fell, and we packed the car with all our wet stuff and left.

The parking place – bring out your ice skates

The weather on our way back could have been much better (and much worse), but it was fun to be out together. Shall we do it again later this winter?

Ski premiere 2026 in Tromsø Jan 11 2026

What do you do when it is Sunday, you sleep until 10 o’clock, have a long breakfast and want to go skiing, but the amount of usable light is quite limited? You take the car to the mainland, park by the Elvestrand Cemetery and ski to the lavvo of Gutta på Skauen (The Guys in the Woods). That’s what my wife Annika and I did today, when we slept until 10 o’clock, took a longer breakfast and wanted to go skiing.

With -15 °C it was significantly colder at the parking lot than in town. It took a while until the fingers got warm when we started skiing.

Behind us: the town of Tromsø on the island Tromsøya. In front of us after 2.6 km: the wooden lavvo.

It is an attractive destination amongst the locals, not only because it is near and the ski track is easy but also because the lavvo is open on Sundays between 12:00 and 14:00. A fire is burning and men – the guys in the woods – serve coffee and hot juice. The “lavvoboller” – the cinnamon rolls – that lie by the fire, you take yourself. Everything is free but a donation is always welcome.

Frozen water bottle from campers by the fireplace

We sat there for a while and then headed back taking a slightly different route. It had become darker and the light had changed.

At the parking lot we put our stuff into the car and I drove back. Around 15 minutes later we were back at the flat in Tromsø, where I took a final photo of the view from the balcony.

The time from deciding “let’s do it” to being back in our flat in Tromsø was less than three hours. Another reason why Tromsø is a cool town to live in.

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 1 – the road trip starts Nov 4 2025

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

13 October

It is one o’clock. Annika has driven the first 70 kilometres in our rental car, and we’ve arrived in Dornoch. We already visited the cathedral with its beautiful stained-glass windows. Now we are sitting at the only table outside the SandStone cafe enjoying the sun. I also enjoy something else: An Irn-Bru, this legendary Scottish soft drink with its bright orange colour. It won’t be the last one the next days.

From there it is not far away to our first beach: Durness beach with its beautiful sandy shoreline. It has some features beyond the usual such as a park with outdoor metal musical instruments or the box where you can lend beach toys.

Dornoch beach: outdoor musical instruments

We continue our road trip, but instead of following the main route we take a detour to the Falls of Shin. It is said that in summer and early autumn the salmons swim up the River Shin to spawn. When they pass the Falls of Shin they have to jump up the rapids. I thought, October was already off-season, but we do not only spot the waterfall but also some jumping salmons. And another species: salmon watchers with their binoculars and cameras with huuuge telephoto lenses. With my smaller telephoto lens I manage to take some photos of a lot of water with a tiny fish. I wonder how the salmons master this waterfall? We have not seen any salmon succeed.

Back in the car we take the road north and pass Lairg. Then we pick minor roads that lead east again. A deer is crossing one of the roads, taking its time.

The sun is setting much faster than in Northern Europe and soon the colours of the scenery become warm. Photographers call this the golden hour and in my humble opinion it is especially beautiful in autumn.

It is not only the golden hour, it is the hour of the pheasants. First we see one here and two there, then some are on the road and all of a sudden a whole flock is blocking the narrow road. completely. They totally ignore our car and I have to exit, running towards them, waving my arms like a madman to shoo them away. Never have I seen so many pheasants in my life.

Near Brora we come back to the main road A9. Another eighteen kilometres and we arrive at the “Song of the Sea, Selkie House” in Helmsdale, our first stay for the night. Just half a day’s drive, and we’ve seen so much already. Now we’re heading to a pub for some food, and before long we’re lying in the huge double bed in our cosy room.

Tomorrow we will continue north.

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