A short trip to Umeå May 27 2015

I have to admit, that it felt a bit strange to travel to Umeå. For one thing it’s a big town and for another thing it’s south from Skellefteå and that’s not my usual travel direction.

You may laugh at me calling Umeå a big town. Umeå has 80000 inhabitants and that may not sound very much, but the whole city with its many big buildings and streets feels much bigger, especially if you compare it to Skellefteå – the next town nearby – which is less than half as big and appears only a tenth as busy as Umeå.

I stayed over night in a hotel in the 12th floor with a nice view over the town and the river Umeälven. What a pity that it rained almost the whole time.

Today it still rained a lot and I didn’t have any interest in city sightseeing. So I fled the town and took a long walk in nature. That’s much more my cup of tea.

Rainy day at the shore of the Baltic Sea

Travelling back in time May 17 2015

Believe it or not, it is possible to travel back in time, at least some weeks.

Here in Skelleftehamn near the coast the ice on the Baltic Sea, the river Skellefteälven and all lakes is gone and all birch trees are bedecked with green leaves.

Yesterday I had a gig in the Skidstugan Stenabäck – a small ski hut between Norsjö and Lycksele. On the way there I could see the birch trees being less and less green until they were leafless again. As I said – like travelling back in time. But I was even more fascinated by the fact, that parts of the lake Stor kvammarn were still covered with ice.

Just at the driveway to the ski hut some reindeers were hanging around. I saw them again several times this weekend. The group was easy to recognise because of the white reindeer with the pale pink horns.

I stayed over night and so I got the opportunity to make a picture of the incredible evening sky. It looked like clouds burning in slow motion.

Today I took a short tour by car with R. who drove along some forest roads nearby. We saw a young moose standing in the forest and just beside the road a Western capercaillie probably looking for a hen.

Then I took my own car and drove home, not the fast and boring main roads but the smaller ones. I saw four more moose on three different places. Five moose total – a new record, but there all were quite camera-shy, trotted away and hid in the dense forest – one even crossed a small river and even if I couldn’t see her anymore I could still hear her feet splashing through the water.

One photo through the windscreen – just for the records.

Translation:

English	German	Swedish
western capercaillie, wood grouse, heather cock	Auerhuhn/Auerhahn	tjäder

Some images of a short kayak tour May 10 2015

Today I took a short tour from the small boat harbour Killingören, just 650 meters away from my house. After taking the Kejsar Ludvigs kanal – a small channel, that splits the peninsula Rönnskär – I headed to the small island Kalkgrundet, where I landed my kayak. In the shadow of the trees there’re still some patches of snow left – up to 30 centimetres. I guess it’s the leftovers of a huge snowdrift.

I walked round the island and saw a Canada goose swimming nearby. One more step and I saw another one fleeing from land to sea. It was really near but I didn’t see it before it fled. I took some photos and continued my walk. Then I saw the reason why the geese didn’t just swim away: They were nesting. Sorry, my geese, I didn’t know this. I took a very quick photo of the nest and continued walking round the small island. When I was round the corner I peeked back and could see the geese going on land again.

I continued my kayak tour to an old pier at the shore of Örviken. From the distance it looked quite stable, but when I came closer I could see that it was ruinous and many of the wooden logs wobbled in the tiny waves.

I crossed the Sörfjärden and entered the bay Kurjoviken. I could see the bright coloured blossoms of the marsh-marigold (Caltha palustris). I love these flowers and when I was home again two hours later I visited the place from land to make some photos. Here they are:

Nu grönskar det … May 9 2015

I have an “Ohrwurm” – an earworm: a piece of music that lingers in my mind. It’s a Swedish folksong based on a part of Johann Sebastian Bachs cantata “Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet”.

The text starts with “Nu grönskar det i dalens famn” which means “Now it flourishes in the valley’s arms”. And so it is: The birch trees in Skelleftehamn start to open their leaf buds and slowly, but surely nature becomes green again. And now – after much rain in the morning – even the sun came out. We had rain, now we need warmth and nature will explode. Sometimes spring in Northern Sweden is not a season but just a short switch from winter to summer.

Paddling round Storgrundet May 3 2015

Two weeks ago the sea between the island Storgrundet and the mainland was still partly ice covered. Today I paddled round Storgrundet and couldn’t discover any ice left. The view of the blue sea almost looked like spring, but it didn’t felt like spring at all, it was very windy and chilly. When I left the protected bay I tried to make some photos but soon gave up since I was blown back ashore faster than I could take my camera out of its pocket. I only made a selfie on which it’s quite visible that – measured by temperature – spring hasn’t come far yet.

At the outside of the island I didn’t had a chance to release the paddle for a photo, too high were the waves. I regretted soon that I paddled without spray deck, because some of the bigger waves made it into my kayak. The next photo I made in a sheltered bay, where the water finally was calm enough and I could empty my kayak with a sponge (it wasn’t so much water, that came in).

Selfie: It’s still quite cold on the sea

Some hours later …

I had a look at “kanotudden” (literally: the canoe bay), a bay of the river Skellefteälven, where the ice is finally gone, too. Almost. There is some leftover ice, mostly crushed to small bits that were jingling and clanging with each arriving wave. But even the small bits were still solid enough to bear a wandering wagtail looking for food.

The canoe club, which is located at kanotudden still seems to be in hibernation, I’ll have to check later …

Valborgsmässoafton May 1 2015

Valborgsmässoafton, that’s the Swedish name of the Walpurgis Night, which is celebrated on April 30, which is today (or has been 15 minutes before). A friend invited me to celebrate valborgsmässoafton with her family in Aspliden and I accepted gladly.

Beside of nice people to celebrate with you need three ingredients for a typical valborgsmässoafton:

1. Good food.

In this case a so called “Smörgåstorta” – a sandwich cake which is a very popular dish for special days as today.

2. A big bonfire.

The bigger the better. It can be quite hard to light a bonfire, because the cut down trees, twigs and branches are mostly very cold and soaking wet.

3. Cold weather, preferably with wind and snow showers.

While the first half of the day was sunny, clouds came in in the afternoon and round 8 o’clock we got our first snow shower. Last year it snowed as well.

Most Swedish people don’t think at all that chilly and snowy weather must be a part of the valborgsmässoafton, put it’s quite typical.

And just an off-topic photo from today. Three whooper swans that I saw today at the same place.

Asia Zircon I Apr 27 2015

Skelleftehamn tonight: The “Asia Zircon I” landed in Skelleftehamn. That’s one of the bigger ships – 190 meters long. The ship came directly from Taicang, China with 4599 tons of wind turbine parts.

Taicang – China, that’s a long trip. My travel bug awakes. Perhaps I should join the crew and travel back to China. I’ve never been there. But the ship continues to Fredericia in Danmark, so I guess, I’ll stay home.

A small sightseeing tour in Norsjö kommun Apr 26 2015

One of the disadvantages of a long journey as I made it this winter is that you cannot meet your local friends for a long time. It felt like ages ago, that I was in Kusfors to visit my good friends Martine and Lasse, that I got to know the very first day when I arrived in Skellefteå five years and some days ago.

Kusfors is 70 km away from my home and it usually takes my exactly one hour car drive. Yesterday it took longer since I made some detours. There’s a nice minor road along the river Skellefteälven which still is partly ice covered – at the end of April!

Skellefteälven – partly still ice covered

Martine, Lasse and I made a short trip to Norsjö and Lasse showed us around. For example the beautiful wooden church:

Or the ski slope nearby. (We where quite lucky that we didn’t get stuck in the rough clay road when we went up and down):

Or the farm shop in Svansele, that is specialised in carrots and is open 24-7.

But my favourite spot and motive was the old abandoned mill near Norsjö – Norrsjövallens kvarn:

I definitely have to visit this place again with more time and better light, probably in the evening, or even in the night time. (Perhaps with some polar light? …)

Addendum: A black and white version of the last motive:

Norsjövallens kvarn – black and white version

Deforestation in Skelleftehamn Apr 18 2015

When I moved to Skelleftehamn in July 2010 I directly fell in love with the nature around. The Baltic sea with the stony shores, the islands and the pine and birch forests. One place I really love is Storgrundet, which is name of both an island and the tiny sandy beach at the mainland. It’s my favourite starting point for kayaking, because you’re into nature directly, but I guess I have to wait some more days until I’ll be able to start there, since the sea is still partly ice covered. Two images of yesterday:

Storgrundet – a beautiful place. The way that leads to it however has changed. Last autumn it was framed of dense forest, now many of the trees are cut down and the way is framed by piles of tree logs. It brings to my mind that almost all forests in Sweden are no wild untouched primeval forests but commercial forests. There’re not only used for collecting berries and hunting moose, but for hugging down trees, too.

Now I’m sitting a bit on the fence – on the one hand I like wooden houses and furniture made of wood and I love to fire a cabin or a sauna with birch logs. On the other hand I really loved the forest around and when I walked cross-country today, I felt a bit sad seeing the clear-felled areas. I’m glad that the terrain is not too easy to enter with forestry machines. There are some really big rocks and many shallow ponds and swamps. I guess that’s why there’re a lot of single trees left. But it’s not the same anymore.

Now, that many trees are gone, you can look much farther and I realised, how many swampy areas were hidden in the woods. Now they are quite visible and they look fascinating and desolate at the same time.

I do not have anything against using the forest and cutting down trees, but anyhow I felt sad, when I walked through the destroyed landscape today.

And the snow? Apr 12 2015

Winter may has gone, but still a lot of snow is left.

All streets in Skelleftehamn have been snow free for a while now, but you can still see the big snow piles from the winter. Some of them are still several meters high and they probably won’t be melted down before the end of May.

Yesterday I was invited by friends to join them in their stuga – their summer cottage – in Bygdeträsk. Some images from the way.

When I arrived at the summer cottage, the property looked like this:

In front the barbecue area and the grasslands, behind the birch trees the Sundet, part of the big lake Göksjön, still mostly ice covered, but you can see the first open patch, where a small stream enters the lake.