Sunrise winter paddling Nov 25 2025

Three days ago it thawed and stormy weather crushed all the sea ice. The day after, the temperature dropped below zero again. This morning the weather was clear and calm at -12 °C. Time for another morning kayak tour, just like four days ago.

At 7:50 I stood on the leftovers of the old ice that covered the small bay. In front of me – a fresh layer of new ice. How thick may it be? I have the feeling it will not hold my weight.

You see the photo above? The kayak is tilted sideways. That’s not because of the waves or because I’m edging, but because the kayak is lying on the ice. The ice is stable enough to bear us with me sitting in the kayak. I move forward by using ice safety picks that I drive into the ice in front of me and then pull the kayak and myself forward. It’s exhausting, but it works. I have done it many times before. The ice is approximately 3 cm thick.

But then the ice gets thinner and has exactly the thickness I loathe: between 1.5 cm and 2 cm. Then the kayak breaks through and is jammed in a narrow water channel, where it’s almost impossible to use your paddle – no open water reachable – or the ice picks – the ice will break when pulling. Luckily the water channels often tend to widen, so you can kayak back some metres, get some forward momentum using the paddle and break another two metres of ice. That takes a lot of time and extends the distance paddled by a factor of four or more.

But then – finally – I reach open water by the island Lillskär. It took me almost half an hour for less than 300 metres!

Anyhow I manage to reach the sunrise in time. Now the surface of the sea is multicoloured. The back of the waves are reflecting the orange horizon, the front of the waves the blue sky above.

Now I just paddle a short round, because it is a weekday and I have to work. Just some more photos with my mobile phone in its waterproof bag …

Water to the left, thin ice to the right

… before I return home. First it is easy, because the channel that I had broken through the ice is open and I can easily follow it. Then the ice gets thicker again. I’m tired and since the water is pretty shallow I exit the kayak and walk the kayak home. I learn that the ice does not bear me at all. So I break it with my knees or – when deeper – with my rear. I would not dare to do this with my kayaking drysuit, but today I wear my survival suit made of thick neoprene, which is very sturdy.

I reach the shallow part of the bay where I manage to grab a large piece of ice and put it upright. Time to play a bit with the translucent motif in front of the sun.

It is two o’clock in the afternoon when I decide to take another break from my desk to watch the sunset. To make a long story short – I got it. No kayaks involved this time.

Season’s first winter paddling in Northern Sweden Nov 21 2025

While there is a lot of snow in Tromsø, is is only round 2 cm here in Obbola in Northern Sweden. Here it is the coldness that defines the winter. Today I took my kayak and made a small tour on the Baltic Sea which is just outside the garden. With temperatures round -13 °C and a light wind it was pretty chilly. The small bay is frozen and you can walk on it and on the open sea thin layers of ice are building where the sea is calm. Here are some photos from today’s kayak tour.

Protected against the cold air and the cold water

Now the kayak is lying in the floor of the house. The kayak’s steering mechanism was frozen and is currently thawing.

July 2025 – photo supplement Jul 31 2025

No matter whether I blog little or much, there are always photos left, that could be published but weren’t. Today I just show four photos from this month that comes to its end in less than two hours from now.

4 July – Obbola

Just on the eve of my journey from Obbola to Tromsø, when my telephoto lens was already safely packed in the suitcase for next days travel the doe with its two fawns came back. This time they didn’t just passed by but all three stayed in our garden. First the fawns were frolicking around, running back and forth, then they joined their mother and grazed the long culms round the rock in our garden. Meanwhile I found my old telephoto lens and took photos through the window pane. That’s far from being ideal but I didn’t wanted to disturb our visitors peace.

11 July – Tromsøya

One week later I walked home through the forests on top of Tromsøya. Four weeks ago there still had been deep patches of snow, now it was blooming everywhere. Fields of lilac cranesbills, patches of yellow globeflowers and where it was wet und muddy a favourite of mine, marsh-marigold with its bright yellow petals. There is still snow on the mountains, but on the island Tromsøya it is summer.

23 July – Tromsøya

17 °C may not sound hot, but when the wind is calm and it is sunny it makes a summer day in Tromsø. A day Annika and I used for taking a bath in the lake Langvannet. There’s a sandy beach over there at this woodland lake and some quite curious ducklings. After the bath we took another way home that led us to another lake. Lillevannet is far from being a lake for bathing but it shows the beauty of Tromsøya’s nature.

Lillevannet, one of the lakes on Tromsøya

27 July – Tromsøya again

A good friend will start a very special trip the following week. She will embark the three-master Statsraad Lehmkuhl and sail from Nuuk in Greenland through the Northwest Passage to Cambridge Bay in Arctic Canada. What a journey! Time to bid farewell with a barbecue in the forest, but before that another hike to Langvannet – 2 km from my place – to take another bath. We met an acquainted duck with three ducklings (last time one of them tried to nibble my toes all the time). Then another duck family arrived with much younger ducklings – still nestlings. While being less curious they were equally confiding and we could take some photos of them. This is my favourite.

A pretty confiding duckling on Langvannet, Tromsøya

That’s all for today. Perhaps I have some photo leftovers again in the end of August but I guess I’ll blog before that. See you soon in the digital world.

Umeå—Arlanda—Tromsø Jul 5 2025

Today I travelled back from my home home in Obbola, Sweden to my work home Tromsø, Norway. Again it had been impossible to book a train – there is a lot of trouble with the Swedish railroad – so I took the airplane once more. I was lucky, I only had to change in Arlanda.

Annika brought me to Umeå Airport and at 8:15 I departed in beautiful summer weather.

First we flew eastwards and I could even see our house in Obbola! It was however too tiny to be photographed by my mobile phone. Then we headed south.

In Stockholm it rained.

In the afternoon I continued my journey. First it was cloudy but in Northern Norway it cleared up and I could see the snowy mountains – yes, there is still quite some snow left in higher places.

At half past six I arrived at my home home again. Back in Tromsø.

A short summer journey in Northern Sweden Jun 28 2025

Annika and I are on holiday and spent this week to travel around northern Sweden by car, mainly to visit friends. Some stopps: Kusfors, Arvidsjaur, Nattavaara, and Gällivare.

Jar museum Rolig & Rusk

We took a short stop at the jar museum in Burträsk. Not to visit the museum, but the small flea market. If you travel in Sweden and love browsing at flea markets, look for the sign “Loppis”.

Smörgåstårta

In Kusfors we visited friends and got Smörgåstårta for lunch. This dish is very Swedish. While its “architecture” resembles a layered cream cake, the taste is savoury and contains ingredients like ham or cheese.

Summer flowers

When there are meadows or pastures in Northern Sweden there are full of flowers in summer. Here you can see for examples dandelions, butter cups, campions, and cow parsley. This patch is by our friend’s house.

A reindeer in the grocery?

Reindeers are typical for Northern Sweden and you have to watch out for them when driving a car. This fellow however is stuffed and stands in the display window of a grocery in Arvidsjaur.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz…

There are many lakes in Sweden and in summer these lakes always come with mosquitoes, especially in the evening. Luckily they are late this year and I could take this photo without being eaten alive.

Old log cabin

We are spending the night at Renvallen Camping near Arvidsjaur. The camping ground is an old farm and some buildings such as this log cabin are pretty old.

Gravel roads

If you think, your car is too clean, use a Swedish gravel road in rain. The back of you car will be plastered with brownish-grey mud that even the strongest rain cannot wash away.

Sandviken beach

Yes, I wanted to take a bath at Sandviken in Gällivare, but my motivation went near zero, when I stood there in the steady rain looking at the shallow water with its gravelly ground.

Fat Tony’s

If you like burgers, you should give Fat Tony’s in Gällivare a try. Both atmosphere and food are great. And if you are there, do visit the bathroom.

Dundret

Just around the corner from Gällivare lies Dundret, a solitary mountain. When the rain stopped Annika and I took a hike there together with our friend Sascha and his malamute Roxy.

Tyre dealer

Stuff standing around in car garages has always its own aesthetics. The reason, why we needed a tyre dealer on our trip will be told another time (although you already may guess it).

Summer Café in Nattavaara

On Monday we passed Nattavaara. Alas, the summer café is closed on Mondays. On our way back it was open and we stopped to ate cake. Different volunteers come up for short stays to run the café and bake cakes. Most of them are from Switzerland or Germany which strongly increases the cake variety in the region.

A stroll through the bog Torsmyran Jun 18 2025

Yesterday I visited the bog Torsmyran again. It has been almost five years since I was there. Torsmyran is a nature reserve that lies by the road E4. You can park there and easily walk on the wooden planks to the observation platform.

I have my long walking stick with me, both mobile phone and camera are waterproof and spare clothes are in the car. I am ready to leave the wooden walkway and take some photos. There are some heather-covered ridges that lead through the labyrinth of peat moss and ponds. Here it is easy to walk. Sometimes there are wet, mossy passages. And there is an old boardwalk crossing the bog, but would you trust it?

So it is not easy to reach some of the motives and for each photo I take there are five others I didn’t because there was no way to get there.

Taking photos takes some time, not only because of the terrain but also because I sometimes wait for a cloud to pass. The intense bog colours in sunshine are incredible.

After some hours of taking photos and finding routes through the maze I go back to the platform and then the car. I gladly change into clean and dry clothes and I think, I should pay Torsmyran a visit more often than every five years.

Mid-June flowers in Obbola Jun 16 2025

Yesterday morning I was out with my camera and a macro lens and tried to take pictures of all the blooming flowers in our garden. Here they are. Please specify them by yourself, because it is my first holiday today and I’m way to lazy.

Welcome, kids Jun 12 2025

Just minutes ago a deer with two young fawns passed the shore by our house. We could the kids jumping around and following their mother for quite a while. They were far away and I didn’t want to go outside to avoid any disturbance. So I took some photos with my mobile through an old field glass. The image quality is abysmal, but hey – I got a photo!

Travelling through worlds Jun 7 2025

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.

From Obbola to Tromsø – home home and work home Mar 25 2025

Thursday, 20 March – Obbola

Annika and I are in Obbola, my “home home”. In the morning we get visitors. Three deer stand in our garden – always alert. Are they happy, that much of the snow is gone?

In my lunch break I am kayaking round the island Bredskär. That’s just 3 km. There is still some ice round the rocks at the shore, but much snow and ice has melted away the last weeks. What a warm winter.

Friday, 21 March

Annika and I take the car to Tromsø. We will make a stopover in Jokkmokk, because the total distance is almost 1000 km. Hejdå home home!

In warm and sunny weather we head northwards to Piteå and then northwest to Jokkmokk. Now we are north of the Polar Circle.

In Jokkmokk we meet a good friend and take a walk round the lake Talvatissjön. Around the sun a halo appears .

Saturday, 22 March

After a good sleep in the hostel Åsgård Annika and I continue our car trip. Gällivare, Kiruna, Abisko. Torneträsk – the 6th largest lake in Sweden – is still completely frozen. Good for recreation such as skiing.

Parts of the road were closed some days ago. You can still see some remains of the snow storm.

Some weeks ago it would have been impossible to drive from Jokkmokk to Tromsø in daylight. Anyhow two days ago astronomical spring has started and the days are as long as everywhere. After hours of driving the sun is low but visible. It illuminates the beautiful clouds. And then we arrive at our apartment in Tromsø, my “work home”.

Sunday, 23 March

On Sunday the weather gets nasty. Max temperature: +9 °C and wind gusts up to 23.5 m/s. Annika and I take a promenade anyhow. With spiked shoes because some of the ways are just bare, wet ice and the friction is next to zero. We arrive at home before the rain. Good luck.

Monday, 24 March

On my way to work I spot the first spring flowers in front of the Tromsø Cathedral. I could believe in spring …

Tuesday, 25 March

… but do know the forecast and it is correct: Snow, snow, snow on the next day. So it looks like in the morning outside of the apartment …

… and so in the afternoon, when I walked home.

Me and the old Anorak I’ve bought 2nd hand

So we did not solely travelled between countries but also between seasons. Anyhow I hope for some more winter days (or weeks), before my seasonal clock will jump to spring mode. Perhaps in mid-May?

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