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

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

15 October

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scotland NC500 – prelude Nov 3 2025

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

Oh my, was is really less than two weeks ago, that my wife Annika and I were on holidays in Scotland? It feels like ages ago! Time to start blogging about our trip that is south from were we live, but still kind of way up north, at least from a British perspective.

11 October – arrival

Half past twelve. I have just landed in Aberdeen, Scotland’s 3rd largest town. Annika will arrive late afternoon, my luggage the next day … . I check in at the Station Hotel and realise that I have reached a rainy realm. At the entrance door you can rent umbrellas. 3 £ for 48 hours. Card payment.

I take a stroll through town and start to take photos.

Soon I realise that in Aberdeen it completely makes sense to take photos in upright format.

Later the day I head eastwards to the Aberdeen beach front. I would have taken my bathing gear if my luggage had arrived in time.

When Annika arrives it has become dark. We eat dinner at the Indian restaurant Namaste Delhi where we have great Indian food. I ordered a salty lassi and got a custom one—off the menu! I however didn’t dare to play the grand piano. A rare view nowadays.

12 October – Aberdeen

After having breakfast in our hotel –cereals, toast, bacon and eggs, beans, haggis, you name it – we take the bus to the Old Town. But before that I try to take a photo of the Marischal College in the center. No, it is not curved like on the photo but even with my 14 mm wide angle lens I had to stitch together six photos to get this colossal building on a single image.

Marischal College (image stitched together from six wide angle photos)

But now: Old town. First the botanical garden, where the Autumn Crocus flowers were in full bloom. Very beautiful and very toxic!

Next stop: St Machar’s cathedral with its Heraldic Roof. Just impressive!

Equally impressive are the huge and ancient trees. We don’t have such trees at home, neither in Umeå, Sweden, nor in Tromsø, Norway. These beech roots I photographed in Seaton Park that lies beside St Machar’s by the river Don.

Old beech roots (yes, the tree is still living)

Next stop: King’s College, founded in 1495 and still part of the university. The wood carvings in the chapel are amazing and the whole place breathes centuries of history.

After a small lunch we take the bus back to the center of Aberdeen, where old and modern architecture live side by side.

We are back at the hotel, but not my luggage. Just minutes after we have entered our room I get a call from the reception. The luggage finally has arrived. Wideroe had failed completely in giving any updates on any communication channel about the luggage’s whereabouts. Now I’m really relieved. We can take the train to Inverness the next day as planned! Now it is time for a nap.

After the nap we want to have a snack for dinner, preferably something that is new to us. We find it in a tiny Georgian restaurant called Oki Doki, where we eat Khinkali for the first time in our lives. Strongly recommended to try it out when you are in Aberdeen!

Georgian Khinkali at Oki Doki in Aberdeen

13 October – Car rental

It is ten o’clock and Leakey’s Bookshop – Scotland’s 2nd largest second-hand bookshop – has just opened. It is a beauty! At least in the eyes of book lovers. It is also overwhelming with its over 100,000 books (including an own section for polar exploration!) and we didn’t buy anything.

We are not in Aberdeen anymore. As planned we took the the train to Inverness in the morning, where Leakey’s Bookshop is located. Here in Inverness we will hire a car and drive the “North Coast 500” (short NC500), a scenic 516-mile (or 830 km) long road trip along the north coast of Scotland. We have eight days.

NC500 (as shown in the Arnold Clark car rental)

We have to walk a bit to Arnold Clark, our car rental. Here we receive our SEAT Ibiza – a perfect car for the many narrow single track roads. It is Annika, who is driving. She has already left-hand driving experiences from three years ago and an additional driver (me) would have costed us £ 120.

And off we go – heading north.

Stay tuned for the next chapter …

Šlobboten Nov 1 2025

Yesterday evening I had the honour and pleasure of joining the musical performance Šlobboten by Sondre Närva Pettersen. As a member of the Tromsø-based Sámi choir Romssa Rástát, I stood on the stage of the Hålogaland Teater, where this extraordinary performance took place last night.

Since I do not manage to find the right words to describe it better, this is the translation of the information I found on the website of the Jazz club:

A magical exploration of Sámi culture and identity.

In this groundbreaking production, Sámi singer and composer Sondre Närva Pettersen—whose roots lie in Ullsfjord—has created a truly unique concept. The performance takes the audience on a journey that blends Sámi culture, Nordic jazz, Sámi hymns, and electronic textures, brought to life by a large ensemble of some of our finest musicians. It also features personal interviews and captivating video art.

On the dress rehearsal I took the freedom to take some snapshots with my mobile, while we waited to go on the stage.

Some of Sondre’s beautiful melodies are still echoing in my mind the day after the concert. If we are lucky, the programme might be staged again. Perhaps next year?

Steindalsbreen 2025 Sep 18 2025

It is the third year, that I hiked to the glacier Steindalsbreen in the Lyngen Alps. This time I had the pleasure to do the tour with my wife Annika. To make it a holiday we have decided to try to book the cabin Steindalshytta over the weekend. This cabin lies some kilometres from the parking place on the way to the glacier.

Saturday morning we manage to book two beds but we have to hurry to fetch the key in Steindalen, which is 100 km away. There we meet H. that gives us the keys and some info. She tells us we can use the gas driven hotplates to cook. We also learn that there’s hardly any firewood left, but it’s not cold and we have sleeping bags, so no worries. We pay using Vipps, the leading mobile payment system in Norway, then we take the car to Lyngseidet – 25 km away – to buy food.

When we pack our backpacks to start the tour it is already afternoon, but the cabin is not far away.

In the beginning a forest path winds up through a narrow valley. The colours are autumnal – yellow the birches, red the cornel and the blueberries. To the left down from the bottom of a ravine we can hear the river Gievdanjohka.

The path is rising and so is the river. After two kilometres we are almost level.

From there it is not far to the cabin. We go round a moraine and there it is: Steindalshytta. I unlock the door and we peek inside. Looks cosy!

Now we want to cook. This will take the rest for the evening because the gas canister is empty. No cooking on the hotplates, we have to use the wood-burning stove. We gather all the leftover wood from inside and outside of the cabin. There is no axe. Luckily Annika has a knife that is sturdy enough to make some smaller peaces of firewood. The wind is calm, the oven isn’t drawing and it takes almost three hours until the water for the spaghetti is boiling. At least we get a starter: warm shrimps with parmesan that we eat from the huge plastic plates we found in the kitchen. And I found chocolate cookies in the kitchen.

Meanwhile it has become dark outside and soon we get to sleep. We don’t have to freeze. After having powered the stove for hours we have 24 °C in the living room and hardly less in our sleeping room. Good night!

When I wake up the next morning it is raining, but it stops soon and the sun starts to light the mountains in the east.

After breakfast we pack our backpacks and start our hike to the glacier Steindalsbreen. Many things like our sleeping bags we leave behind, because we will go the same way back.

Again we follow the river to the east, then the landscape opens to a broader U-shaped valley. The terrain flattens and hiking is easy.

But we can already see the ascent we have to take. After two steeper passages we stand between two landscapes. In our back lies the mellow valley with its gentle slopes, everything in autumnal colours. Ahead lies a rough and rugged mountain landscape, where grey rocks and stones are the predominant element.

And there it is. The glacier. (Photo Annika Kramer.)

We continue the gravel path. Soon we pass the first of the signs that marks the glacier front some decennials ago. Due to global warming the glacier is melting and retreating every year. It is fantastic to see the glacier and we feel excited, but sad at the same time. First we hike to the glacial lake in front. Will we manage to go round the lake the glacier itself? Yes – and it is quite easy this year.

I have my big camera backpack with me and the Nikon with three lenses. That was made possible by Annika who took all the food. Although the weather is a bit dull it is photo time!

As often I’m not content with my photos and yes, I should have carried my tripod with me. But I’m happy about being there together with Annika. (Next photo: Annika Kramer.)

It is time to go back. This time we follow the river and pass two fields with scientific instruments, part of the project iC3. I have to ask a colleague from the Norwegian Polar Institute what is measured there.

Now the trail leads mostly downwards. We descend the hill, cross the broad valley, enter the forest and then reach the bridge by the cabin again. Here we take a rest and then fetch the rest of our stuff from inside the cabin.

I take a tiny detour that leads on a hill. Here I can see everything together: The huge mountains with their snow fields, the river Gievdanjohka, the autumnal birch forests. Only the glacier is hidden from view.

What a terrific tour we had! The glacier Steindalsbreen is worth a visit, especially in autumn. We drive back to Tromsø and I copy the photos to my computer. Then I check the tracker I used on the tour. As I was afraid I have walked on rock, sand, and mud this year, where last year the glacier covered the ground.

Autumnal kayak trip to Grindøya Sep 11 2025

Fourteen kayaks at the beach on Grindøya

Midnight sun on the Stor-Kjølen Jul 7 2025

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.

Some island, then the open Norwegian Sea

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 …

Sleeping (No, not true – taking a selfie of me pretending sleeping)

… sleep. At least for a couple of hours.

To part II >

Back to winter … Feb 16 2025

The last days it got colder and new snow arrived. Now everything is white and wintry again. Alas, the next period with warm weather and rain is less than a week away, when the forecast is correct.

Some photos from a very short promenade to the ski jump – with active ongoing training – and Skihytta today.

A snowy ski promenade on Tromsøya Jan 12 2025

When I woke up this morning another 20 cm of snow have fallen within the last 12 hours. Looking out of the living room window and through the glass door of a balcony showed snowy landscapes amidst the town of Tromsø.

At half past nine I start a ski tour, right from my place in Tromsø. My photo task for today: show at least a human artefact on each photo, not only snowy trees.

The snowploughs haven’t been there so I can ski on the streets.

The gravel road to the ski jump is covered with snow, but the cross-country skiing trail has already been prepared. I however want to ski off the beaten tracks. I follow a snow covered trail to the pond and take some photos. That takes a bit of time because the light is so dim that I use a tripod. Remember: we still have polar night for some days.

Then I leave the trail. I immediately sink into the fresh snow up to my knees – with my skis on. And so it continues. The skis are under half a metre of loose snow and sometimes I sink deeper with each step. My ski poles sometime sink in the whole way despite the large snow baskets. That makes skiing pretty exhausting. I follow a snow-covered stream that leads my to a jagged terrain with small but deep gullies. Some of them are three metres deep and impossible to cross for me. Where am I? Is this still Tromsøya? I zigzag through the hilly and snowy forest looking for possibilities to cross the gullies which involves pulling myself forward by grabbing trees. But at the same time it is marvellous to ski through the “wilderness” and I have it all to myself.

After a while I reach another path, also deep in snow. But at least I sink in only 20-30 cm into the snow now and I’m glad that I can just ski along.

The way leads up and down and ends on the main cross-country skiing trail that seems to be prepared permanently. I step aside to make way for the oncoming snow plough. I take a photo but the lens is a bit fogged up. It is only -1 °C and everything is damp.

I follow the trail north until I come to the steep slope where I chicken out – as usual. Too steep for me. I go back and make my way to the barbecue place with the nice view on the district Hamna. No foot steps, I’m first today :-)

For a short while I follow the trail, then I turn right and take a trail to Skihytta. That’s a cabin that occasionally serves hot chocolate and cake on Sundays. Will it be open? First the trail is well prepared but then I am in fresh snow again and on the ascending passages I have a pulse like a hummingbird. Step by step and with some short rests I make progress and after a while my “private” path meets another trail that leads to Skihytta. Hooray! There it is.

Unfortunately the cabin is closed. But the good thing is: from here it’s only 700 metres to my apartment. First I ski down through the forest, then I unmount my skis because all the streets have been cleared from snow in the meanwhile.

It was only round six kilometres skiing today, but it took me almost three hours, mostly due to the tiring snow conditions and the time-consuming crossing of some gullies. But taking photos with a tripod slowed me down as well.

Note 1: This was not my only workout today. In the afternoon I had to clear another 20–30 cm snow of my parking lot, that I already had cleared yesterday. Then I helped my neighbours a bit. This was a task I had to do today, because …

Note 2: The weekend brought almost half a metre of snow but now the weather will become extremely ugly. Tomorrow it will rain almost 30 mm and in the rest of the week another 60 mm of rain are expected. So I wanted to get rid of the snow before it gets soaked by that rain.

Thank you for the snow, weekend. I really appreciate it. What a pity that we now get a period of rain and thaw.

Advent season home in Obbola Dec 16 2024

It was four days ago that I arrived in my “home home”, Annika’s and my house in Obbola. And we got some winter weather. First we got twenty centimetres of snow. We took a Saturday promenade to our favourite beach Vitskärsudden which looked like this:

It continued snowing and blowing the whole Saturday but then it cleared up in the night and Sunday morning the sky was clear at temperatures round -12 °C. I waited until 9:20 to watch the sun rise over the sea.

Later that day Annika and I took the very same promenade to Vitskärsudden again but it looked so differently in the sun.

In the night it became stormy. We have experienced some storms here before, but this was the very first time that I couldn’t open the front door at all. It was completely blocked by snow. I had to climb out of the snow-plastered kitchen window and shovel away the compact snow drift that blocked the door.

And this is how our house looked like some hours ago. Now it is clear and calm weather and -14 °C.

Four autumnal pictures Oct 4 2024

It is the first of October. The wind is blowing and it is raining against the large window panes of the Framsenteret, the building where the Norwegian Polar Institute is located.

Rain in autumnal Tromsø (seen from the Framsenteret)

After work I take the bus to the lake Prestvannet and walk home. That’s about 4 to 5 kilometres depending on which of the zillion routes you choose. I prefer the small paths. Rubber boots recommended. It is still raining anyhow it has become colder and more and more sleet mixes with the raindrops. When I cross one of the broader ways the sun peeks through the clouds creating a beautiful light. I really enjoy these walks home and do it twice a week.

The sun peeks through the cloud but still rain and sleet fall down

Today it is three days later. I wake up early and it is snowing, but the roads are dark and wet. After work I’m taking a smaller promenade through the neighbouring forest. Some patches of the morning snow have remained.

On the grass some morning snow has remained

My way back home leads along a small path over one of the bog. The grass is turning yellow and so are the birch trees. Some of them have lost there leaves. The mountain Tromsdalstinden in the background has been snow white for many days. And the weather is pretty fair. A good end of the workweek. Now it is weekend and guess what – it will rain tomorrow.

Bog, autumnal forest, and snowy Tromsdalstinden

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