Umiak I Jul 13 2015

It started like many kayak trips: I put out to sea at the tiny beach Storgrundet without any plans at all. Unlike yesterdays weather forecast it was a nice and sunny day, although not very warm. Since the sea was calm I paddeled along the seaward sides of the islands Storgrundet and Brottören, crossed the Bredskärsviken to the islands Norrskär and Bredskär, continued at the east side of Flottgrundet and headed to Gåsören, probably my favourite island nearby. Some photos:

Red-breasted merganser / Mittelsäger / Småskrake

But much more fascinating than nature, birds and islands was the moment when I looked at the horizon and saw the faint but large silhouette of a big ship. The blurred outline looked more like a fata morgana than a real object. But I wasn’t the only one watching the ship. Two tugboats came from the port to bring the ship into port.

T., whom I met on the Island Gåsören knew the ship. It’s Umiak I, an ice breaker, that can break 1.5 meter ice and still going 6 knots (ca. 11 km/h). Impressing! I do like summer, but I really adore winter and started dreaming of travelling with the Umiak I in winter and cutting through solid ice.

Later today I made a better image of the ship in port.

It’s at least so famous, that it has its own Wikipedia page! I looked at Shorelink as well, to get some more information:

Cargo: 9257 tons copper concentrate
Coming from: Edwards Cove via Brunsbuttel

Of course I had to look up Edwards Cove, too. Never heard the name before. If the internet is right, Edwards Cove is a harbour west-northwest from Nain in Labrador, Arctic Canada. If the ship would go back the same way, I guess I would ask for a lift.

Sundown splash Jun 27 2015

Storberget Jun 21 2015

Storberget – “The big mountain!” A bit more than 90 meters high, which sounds completely ridiculous, if you live in Norway, near the alps or another place that has real, big mountains. But Storberget is a mountain, too, with a lot of rocks, a small ravine and a view on the near Baltic Sea and some islands. And it’s near, just fifteen minutes by car and a walk through the forest.

Midsommer colours Jun 20 2015

Finally it’s summery and warm in Västerbotten! Yesterday the car thermometer showed 20 °C for the first time this year, if only for two seconds. All people were out yesterday to celebrate midsommar. All mosquitos were out as well; there are a lot of them this year because of the wet May. Today I didn’t drive the direct way home but took some detours. It’s like loading the batteries with fresh colours and save them for the winter to come. The photos below are all taken in Kvarnbyn, a nice village near Burträsk.

Just beautiful!

Almost like summer Jun 13 2015

For me it’s not the warmth, that makes a Swedish summer, it’s the colours! Blue sky, green birch trees and meadows with yellow flowers – dry ones with dandelions or very wet ones with marsh-marigold – both are just beautiful.

Wetlands beside the river Skellefteälven

Translations:

English	German
Dandelion	Löwenzahn
Marsh-marigold	Sumpfdotterblume

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.