Four winter days in and round Obbola Jan 9 2022

OK guys, it’s Sunday afternoon and I’m too lazy to write long texts. I just show some photos of the last days where our German friend Medi joined Annika and me on various excursions with some notes.

Thursday, 6 January – skiing in Västermarks naturreservat

+++ Västermarks naturreservat, 50 km north from Umeå +++ a non-commercial forest made us climb over and under fallen trees that lay across the marked loop trail +++ by the trail a wooden cabin +++ time was too short to fire the oven but lighting candles is cozy, too +++

Friday, 7. January – lunch break skiing

+++ right next to our postbox (500 metres from our house) starts Spåret, a 3600 metre long forest trail +++ we use back-country skis to ski Spåret in my prolonged lunch break +++ we, that’s Dirk – guest for two nights – Medi and I +++ -12 °C, but my Anorak is too warm +++ I tie it round my hip +++ on the photo it looks like a skirt +++

Photo: Dirk Thomas

Saturday, 8 January — cross-country skiing on Olle’s Spår

+++ grey weather, -14 °C +++ the trees are covered with snow +++ black-and-white imagery +++ after some days of back-country skiing it’s nice to use cross-country skis on a real trail +++

Sunday, 9 January – Northern lights and sunrise

+++ 1 o’clock in the night +++ I check for Northern lights +++ we are lucky +++ Medi and Annika watch the aurora beside of the garage +++ I take some photos from our garden +++

+++ 8:20 in the morning +++ the Baltic Sea freezes over more and more +++ sunrise colours by the sea  +++ and then in our garden +++ watching sunrise while taking breakfast +++

Still Sunday, 9 January – Strömbäck-Kont

+++ just a short walk at one of Annika’s and my favourite places: Strömbäck-Kont +++ looking at the ice ridge by the sea +++

Still Sunday, 9 January – halo effects

+++ after lunch we are taking Medi to the airport +++ strong and colourful parhelion or sun dogs halos +++ the photo is taken at the airport +++ I am questioned by the security and show the taken photos to prove I’m not a spy +++

Thaw and cloudbursts Dec 17 2021

Why, oh why was the forecast of Yr right? Already a week ago it forecasted a period of thaw and heavy rainfall. And Wednesday it started to rain. Just now I’m listening to another cloudburst bucketing down on the roof.

The snow is gone and the ways and small streets are very icy. When it continues raining like this even the ice may have thawed and washed away soon.

It looks almost like autumn but with a huge difference: It’s dark. The photos above I made at lunch break on my last working day this year.

It’s a pity! Just today my wife Annika will arrive so that we can spend Christmas time together. It would have been lovely with a lot of snow but even though it shall be colder again soon it does not look like we get some.

Whale watching – second try Nov 28 2021

Yesterday Same meeting point, same tour, same boat as 6 days before. But completely different weather! No stormy wind from the north and clouds everywhere, but a clear and starry sky.

And off we went.

It was just incredible how much brighter everything was although it was less daylight than last Sunday. After two hours the island Nordfugløya came into view. A cloud parked itself over the island.

Slowly the colours of the sky intensified and remained colourful the whole short day, because now it was the first day of polar night¹.

It took us round 3½ hours to reach our destination, the sea round Skjervøy. So we had only limited time before we headed back. Already at one, half past one o’clock it started getting darker again.

Eight hours after our departure we had returned to Tromsø.

I have been outside for round seven hours. I didn’t freeze because I was wearing my warmest winter parka. I was inside once to eat a bowl of soup and once when I stood at the ship’s bow and the sea spray soaked the whole foredeck (including me). So I was eager to take a shower not because of being cold but I wanted to get rid of the salt hands and face were covered with.

Resumé: It was a great boat tour and I enjoyed the air, the colours, the light.

And the whales? Oh yes, the whales! Almost forgot them ;-) Well, we saw some of them, mostly orcas and the first fin whale of the season. There were not many whales around and they were quite in a distance, so for photographing whales this tour was not ideal. Too little time and too high the boat decks above the water. I would love to paddle kayak there but I’m pretty sure that I never ever will dare to do that.

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¹ Where I live in Tromsø we technically had 14 minutes of daylight yesterday but already 1.3 km north it was the first day of polar night.

No whales today Nov 21 2021

To the left the Brim Explorer, a boat located in Tromsø for amongst other whale watching. To the right the tourists waiting to be boarded. The boat is fully booked, I am not alone.

Before leaving an announcement: The crew will try its best but it’s not granted that we reach the waters where the whales are. Anyone is free to leave and given a full refund. Most people stay and so do I. First of all I’m not surprised, as another tour operator already cancelled today’s tour. And then I just want to be a day on the water. Whales of course would be a nice extra.

To the left Tromsøbrua, the bridge that connects Tromsø with the mainland. To the right the safety on board drill, that everyone had to join.

And then we’re off.

To make it short: What we didn’t get today was whale sightings. What we got today was rough weather in the open parts. The boat was rolling and pitching like a cork in the waves. More than one passenger got sea sick. The unpredictable movements of the boat and the dim light under the grey sky made photographing a bit adventurous. Several times I was forced in and one passage even the doors were locked. The rest I was outside, partly taking photos, partly just looking around and letting the wind blow around my nose.

Fisher boat followed by a flock of seagulls.

Conclusion: an awesome tour even without whales. If you want to participate as well: take your warmest clothes with you. And those of you that just want to stay home and look at some whale photos may read my article about Whale watching in Andenes. Enjoy.

Note to myself: Tromsøya –Ringvassøya/Reinøya – Vannøya – Nordfugløya – Arnøya/Laukøya – Skervøya/Kågen – Lyngen – Reinøya – Tromsøya

Tønsnesvarden Nov 13 2021

On Tuesday we got some snow in Tromsø. On Wednesday it already has melted away. But last night a bit of snow arrived.

Today I chose a shorter tour from my book “På tur in Tromsø” (On tour in Tromsø) because I just wanted an easy hike, not a full-grown mountain tour. The weather agreed with me.

By the sea only a bit of wet snow and sleet covered the ground but already 50 meter higher the gravel path was covered with 10 cm of snow. Deep tyre tracks were carved in the snow. This part of the tour was very easy. Just follow the road up until you reach the radio unit on the Tønsnesvarden (281 m) and try not to slip, because under the snow there are some icy patches.

This summit has a big radio station on its top. Even in the increasing snow fall is was quite visible. Now I walked through 20 cm of snow. After an hour I arrived at the radio station, where I met the creator of the deep tyre tracks: A six-wheeled ATV.

It wasn’t cold but a windy. It snowed more and more and the wet snow glued itself to my jacket. On my way back I left the main road and followed a small path on my digital map on my iPhone. I stopped in a forest of birches with thin and long stems. I loved the motive, but my Nikon camera gave up in this wet weather. The lens was fogged up in the inside and in the dense and wet snowfall I didn’t dare to change lens. One photo worked out ok anyhow:

Soon I realised that some of the paths drawn on the map did not exist in reality (at least not in winter) while others that exist were not part of the map. So I went cross-county through pathless terrain, partly dens forest, partly wetlands with many small streams to cross. It took only 15 minutes until I reached the other gravel road leading down again. Now the iPhone was in charge for making pictures.

I followed the path down. With each metre altitude I lost there was less snow on the ground and the snow fall became more and more sleet. When I arrived at my car my anorak was soaking wet. Having seat warmers in a car is a great feature after such a tour.

For the records: 6.5 km, round 300 metres in altitude. Temperature round 0°C.

Appendix 1:

When I show pictures of mountain tours and hilly hikes it is easy to forgot, that Norway has not only mountains but the sea, too. This is an iPhone snapshot I took from some metres from my parked car. What you cannot see is the mountains of the island Kvaløya, 3.8 km away. They are hidden in the snow clouds.

Appendix 2:

What do you do with photos taken with a fogged up lens? You start to experiment. I mean, the photo is spoiled anyhow. But the result of today’s experimentation turned out nice in my opinion.

After autumn comes winter? Nov 8 2021

This article is part of the series “2021-07: Back in Tromsø”.

Two days ago I took a promenade to take some autumn photos. I soon broke of the walk because the asphalt was partly frozen and slippery as hell. It was a mistake to leave my spikes home.

On my mountain tour yesterday I both experienced autumnal and wintry conditions. And I had spikes for my boots with me. While I had been writing the blog article yesterday it had started snowing and that’s how it looked today.

My first snow in Tromsø this season. Yay! 8–10 cm had fallen and while I walked to work it started to snow again. Temperature was below zero and the snow was fluffy. It was fun to walk in the snow.

Looks like winter, doesn’t it? But if the forecast is right it will get warmer again already tomorrow afternoon and rain a lot in the night. A short pleasure.

A hike round the peninsula Klubben Oct 3 2021

This article is part of the series “2021-07: Back in Tromsø”.

#onceaweek tour 5

Today I didn’t choose a mountain top but a small coastal promenade as my #onceaweek tour. I took the car to the village Lyfjorden on Kvaløxya and went round the peninsula Klubben. I love hiking up mountains to get the view but at the coast you get views for free ;-).

One of the things that still impresses me is how tiny some houses look standing in front of huuuge mountain faces that often look like vertical walls.

A wooden house in front of the Stuoravárri

Klubben lies in the Kaldfjorden (the cold fjord). On the other side lies the mountain Store Blåmannen (1044 m) – always an imposing view.

The birches on Klubben had only some yellow leaves left. Since it was quite windy (15 m/s on the bridge to Kvaløya) they will be bare soon. Soon the autumnal colours will be history for this year.

Although this tour was marked as green (easy, for beginners) you still had to watch where to go. Sometimes the path was boggy but mostly stony and I had to watch my steps.

A quite loud noise, like someone inhaling loudly through the teeth interrupted me. I looked for the sound source and spotted a whale quite nearby. Although I had the camera with telephoto lens in my hands it took me a second before I managed to make a photo of the dorsal fin just before the small whale submerged again. I saw it two more times but in quite a distance. The photo is poor but the experience to spot a whale just by chance from your Sunday afternoon walk was extraordinary.

I continued my walk but now the path had vanished and the ground was only rocks. Did I miss the path? Possibly. I checked with the map app of Norgeskart and realised that the way was a bit higher up. I went and climbed up the steep slope but did not find any path. Higher and higher I ascended until it was clear that the map wasn’t as accurate as assumed. Probably the rocks were the path.

I didn’t want to descend that slope again and so continued to ascend it until I met a small gravel road that led to some houses – the first modern and cuboid, the second traditional with a grass roof.

Soon the area had become less steep and I could cut short to the coast again.

On the way back I took an extra stop in Finnes, Kvaløya . The small reindeer herd that I’ve seen there several times was still grazing. Probably they live there.

Today’s tour was only 4 km (elevation gain and loss round 250 m) but I cannot say that it was less fun or less exciting. I have however to admit that it was much less exhausting than the mountain tours. Training effect: ±0.

Autumn colours on Kvaløya Sep 19 2021

This article is part of the series “2021-07: Back in Tromsø”.

The first polar light of the season Sep 17 2021

This article is part of the series “2021-07: Back in Tromsø”.

Is the polar light shy? It was quite bright, when I peeked out of the window of my tiny room in Tromsø. It got pale when I took pictures at the bay Telegrafbukta. And it got really bright after that while I was returning home because clouds had been gathering.

Anyhow, it’s the first polar light of the season 2021/22 and therefore worth photographing.

There was another light at least as fascinating as the polar light. Plankton that was washed ashore. This plankton was bioluminescent and glowed blue-turquoise. I have a real ugly photo for the records. When this a common phenomenon I’ll try to take better photos some other time.

Grense Jakobselv Sep 4 2021

This article is part of the series “2021-08: Northern Norway”.

The border station between Norway and Russia

This sign marks the only Russian–Norwegian border station. In February 2018 I crossed this border to Russia together with Annika and two friends. This time we stay in Norway and I take just a photo of the sign.

Our destination today (which is 30 August): Grense Jakobselv, a small border village. As the road to Hamningberg the road there is opened only in summertime and we never have been there before.

It starts like a typical car trip. The road goes along the Jarfjorden and a large lake. In Vintervollen the road turns right and we see the barrier that closes the road in winter. It is open. Now the road leads over the mountains. The rocks here are the oldest in Norway with an average age of 2.9 billion years. I’m not a rock expert and so I take a photo of a birch instead of a random rock whose type and age I cannot determine.

We reach the small river Jakobselva. This small and shallow river is special because here it marks the Norwegian–Russian border. The pink salmon (also called humpback salmon) do not care, they are busy to go upstreams and not all fish succeed.

We continue to the village Grense Jakobselv. For me the biggest surprise was the chapel. In my view every northern Norwegian church is made of wood and painted white. Not the King Oscar II Chapel (built 1869) that is made of stone.

While I wasn’t properly prepared about the church I knew something else: There is a sandy beach. It is at the very end of the road. Annika and I take a bath. Water temperature is about 11–12 °C. It feels quite strange to change clothes for a bath while you can hear the Norwegian army practising shooting.

As many minor roads in northern Norway the road to Grense Jakobselv is a dead-end road and so we have to drive the very same road back. After having been back we get something we have missed on the journey so far: an afternoon nap!