Three bicycle tours on Gotland – Tuesday May 11 2018

This article is part of the series “2018-05: Gotland”.

Today is Tuesday and the day starts as Monday did: with a breakfast on the roof terrace under a blue sky. The air is calm and warm and we want to make a bicycle tour again, this time with e-bikes. At the bike rental we hand back our normal bikes and get our e-bikes which we want to test for two days. Yesterday we cycled north, today we’ll head southwards.

Right south from Visby we leave the main road and enter the Södra Hällarna, a natural reserve.

The ground is dry and the vegetation looks more Mediterranean than Swedish. To the right there are cliffs by the sea.

With a normal bike we could follow the minor paths, but the e-bikes are too heavy to carry. We keep left and land on the main road again. The next stop is a bit special.

No, it’s not the tree houses, even though they look both interesting and beautiful. It’s this:

Here, in a amusement park in Kneippbyn stands the Villa Villekulla, the house of Pippi Longstocking! Everyone who knows the series from 1969 and the two films of 1970 also knows this house, that was used for the outdoor shots of the series and films.

The amusement park is closed – it is still off-season – but the door is open and we are able to creep in to take some photos. Pure children memories!

Some other nice spots nearby: Fridhem and Högklint.

Now we try to choose smaller ways for our bicycle tour but we do not succeed. South of Kneippbyn lies Tofta Skjutfält, a military training area and the ways that Google Maps proposes are blocked by fences or serious prohibition signs. So we stick to the main road, which is a bit boring. But at least there’re possibilities to get food, e.g. in the Suderby Herrgård.

We continue to Gnisvärd. On the way there we see the large stone ships, old graves from the later Bronze Age surrounded by stones in the form of a ship.

And much more is to see, from ancient rune stones to cozy cabins by the sea.

Later we follow a small path to Tofta Strand, a sandy beach. It’s more than 20 °C and it feels even warmer in the sun. Hardly imaginable that I photoed ice and snow less than a week ago. Annika and I take a bath. The water is still cold, but the sun warms us after the bath.

Later: Annika and I are back in Visby and take a stop at Glassmagasinet, “Swedens biggest ice cream shop”. And they do have a huge amount of different sorts of ice cream, anything from dark chocolate with 78% cocoa to bright blue Smurf ice. The best thing is not the assortment, it’s the taste. The ice cream is real Italian ice cream and tastes fantastical! Attention: This place can be very crowded even off-season.

It’s seven a clock. We cycle to the beach, sit down on a breakwater and look at the sun going down. It will take almost two hours until it has sunken down at the western horizon. A rare experience when you live in Umeå or Skelleftehamn, where the Baltic Sea is in the east.

A last photo from our roof terrace. We won’t sit here for long. It has been a long day and we are tired. Soon we fall asleep. Tomorrow: Another cycle tour.

Three bicycle tours on Gotland – Monday May 11 2018

This article is part of the series “2018-05: Gotland”.

It is Monday. Yesterday Annika and I arrived in Visby, Gotland and planned to explore the island mostly by bicycle. It is warm and sunny already in the morning and we have breakfast on the roof terrace of our fantastic apartment, that we’ll have for a almost a week.

After that we pack our backpacks and walk through the old town of Visby to a bike rental outside the city walls.

It is almost 9 o’clock and the bike rental should open soon. There is however a small paper attached to the door, that the rental is closed today. Fortunately it’s not the only one in Visby. We walk again through the beautiful old town to another bike rental at the harbour.

This bike rental is open. Annika and I want to try out e-bikes, partly for curiosity, partly because of “holiday laziness”. Just this day all e-bikes have been rented to passengers of the large cruise ship that we saw on our way there. We decide to rent normal bikes and to reserve e-bikes for the next day. And off we go.

We ride along the sea. We pass the jetty were people use to bath even though the water is shallow.

Then we follow a bicycle path that leads to the beach promenade. It’s the first time in the year that I sit on a bike after the long winter and I enjoy the warmth of the sun. Just t-shirts, zip-off pants and sandals, that’s enough. We want to be as near to the coast as possible. And it is possible even though the path becomes smaller and smaller. We are cycling round stones and over tree roots crossing the narrow path. I have to stop for a photo of the marsh marigold flowers at the beach – one of my favourite flowers.

Sometime there are so many stones that we have to walk our bicycles. And suddenly the way goes up. Many stone steps lead up along a steep slope and we have to carry our bikes. Now we’re quite glad that we don’t have e-bikes which are certainly much heavier than ours.

Annika carrying the bike over the stone steps

A bit later: We have found better and larger ways, mostly minor roads and arrived in Själö hamn where we make a rest. We don’t have anything to eat with us, we trust in the open cafés along the roads. Själö hamn however has neither café nor kiosk. No problem, we just started the tour.

We continue northwards, partly on roads, partly along the beaches (walking the bikes) till we arrive at Krusmyntagården (spearmint farm). Here’s a restaurant and a shop where you can buy herbs and other products. We sit outside and eat the first ice cream of the day.

Annika rings Ingrid, a facebook friend. We make an appointment at the parking place of the Lummelundagrottan – a limestone cave – in an hour. This time we follow “real” roads and soon we arrive at the parking place where we wait for Ingrid . A bit later she arrives and we get to know each other in “real life”.

Ingrid shows us around Lummelunds bruk. In older times there was a water mill and the creek and pond are still left. The ground under the tree is covered with wood anemones and wild garlic.

A bit later we arrive at the huge main building of Lummelunds bruk. Beside of it there’s a tourist shop that among others sells local fossils. I already found two fossils at the beach and learned that it is solitary corals, called tomteluva (gnome hood) because of the form.

We return to the parking place and decide to drive to Krusmyntagården again, Ingrid by car, Annika and I by bike. There we sit outside, eat the delicious food of the restaurant and talk and talk and talk. What a fantastic afternoon: great food, great weather, and great company.

It is already in the evening when Annika and I say farewell to Ingrid and start cycling home. We follow the main road 149 that has a bicycle path. It’s still warm and sunny.

The next day we want to cycle again, this time south.

First impressions of Visby, Gotland May 7 2018

This article is part of the series “2018-05: Gotland”.

And now to something completely different after all that snow and ice.

Yesterday Annika and I took the plane. First to Stockholm Arlanda and then to Gotland – Swedens largest island – where we’ll stay in the Visby – Gotland’s main town – for a week.

Some first impressions from our yesterday’s walk through this wonderful medieval town:

Ice report 5 May 2018 May 5 2018

This morning I took the car to the lotsstation – the pilot station – on the peninsula Näsgrundet and took a closer look at the Baltic Sea. It was mostly free of ice, but the sheltered parts between mainland and the nearer islands were still covered with grey old ice. The rocky shore was partly covered with ice, too and some white ice floes floated on the ice cold water.

During the day it cleared up and the temperatures rose to 17 °C. Seven hours I returned to the same place. The floating ice I had photoed in the morning was gone by now. Had it melted or drifted away? I had to go to another more sheltered spot to be able to make probably my last ice photos in Skelleftehamn this season:

Why “the last snow” and “the last ice”? The reason is simple: Tomorrow Annika and I will fly to Gotland for a week. According to the weather forecast the next week should be warm and sunny, both in Skelleftehamn and on Gotland. I guess when I’m back, all snow and ice – beside of some huge manmade snow piles – has be melted away.

Then I’ll take a bath in the ice cold water and call it “spring bath”!

P.S.:

Snow report May 4 2018 May 4 2018

Winter lovers in Skelleftehamn, you have to face it: winter is over and the snow is melting fast. Almost the entire property is free of snow. There is however some snow left round my house, so let’s check it out:

1. Next to the neighbours garage (45 cm)

There’s a pile of snow next to the garage. Anyway, that doesn’t really count. It’s remnants of a roof avalanche that slid down weeks ago.

2. Behind the garden hedge (33 cm)

There’s snow in the shadow of the garden hedge. Anyway, that doesn’t really count. That’s the place, where I had my personal snow dump.

3. On the garage driveway (47 cm)

There’s an icy pile of snow on the garage driveway. Anyway, that doesn’t really count. That’s the place, where my neighbour dumped the snow when he cleared the snow for me while I travelled around in February and March.

4. On the lawn (2 cm)

There’s a shallow spot of snow in the progress of melting. That snow does count as a matter of fact. No one moved snow to this place, it’s the last real remnant of the long winter 2017/18.

Incidentally, the last photo reminds me of Dr. Seuss’ children book The Cat in the Hat.

This will probably will be the last article about snow for a longer while. I probably won’t find any snow in June, July, or August. Or what do you think?

Skellefteälven in the fog May 2 2018

Valborgsmässoafton 2018 May 1 2018

30 April

Valborgsmässoafton is the last day of April. On this days many people set fire to big bonfires, partly as an event being celebrated with friends, partly for burning last years gardening rubbish (and more …).

This year I was invited by A. and M. who I’d got to know exactly eight years ago on another valborgsmässoafton. They are among my oldest friends in Sweden and I’m very happy that they exist. Their stuga – or summer cottage – is located in Bygdeträsk south of Skellefteå.

This time I come from Umeå, where I spent the weekend. I try to avoid the larger roads and prefer the small gravel roads. Mostly they are in good conditions, only some parts are quite muddy and have deep ruts in the clayey ground. Less and less snow can be seem, but there’s still snow left.

There is still ice on the lakes as well, but it looks soft and grey and near the shore there are more and more open patches. You can still see the snowmobile tracks, a vague reminder of the winter.

Some hours later: I’ve arrived in Bygdeträsk and with the help of A. I manage to park my car without getting stuck in the soft clay of the property (which happened to a craftsman recently). The other guests have arrived, too and – of course – the bonfire is burning!

But what about the hot tub? Wouldn’t it be nice to take a hot bath outside later in the evening? That of course needs some preparations. While M. cautiously tries to split the thick ice block in the hot tub with an axe I put on chest waders to wade a bit into the lake with a long hose attached to the water pump. First I thought I had to chop away ice, but near the shore the lake is just filled with knee-deep slush. Soon the pump starts to fill the hot tub with ice cold water heated by the wood stove.

To make a long story short: it will take eight hours until the water is hot enough for a relaxing bath and I will have fallen fast asleep when the only two people still being awake will start their bath.

Anyway, there are other things to do as e.g. watching the whooper swans on the ice and in the water.

Two whooper swans on the lake Bygdeträsk

Then there is a lot of eating (M. is a great cook and grandmaster of barbecuing) and talking and playing games. Every half an hour someone goes out, adds wood to the oven and checks the water temperature, that sloooowly increases. I become more and more tired but I want to have a bath. At 1 o’clock in the night however I give up. I’m just too tired! I pump up my camping mat in the workshop, unroll the sleeping bag and soon I’m fast asleep.

1 May 2018

After a late breakfast I say thank you and goodbye to the others, jump into the car and head home, again with many detours. I see some cranes, some reindeers and a black grouse (called orre in Swedish) that flies away before I can slow down the car for taking a picture.

Many gravel paths lead through forests. Left and right are old walls of snow that the sun has not melted yet. Leftovers from last winter’s snow clearing.

A normal “first of May” gravel path through the forest.

Again some patches are rutted, some are wet and muddy but no problem, until …

Luckily I see this obstacle in time and manage to drive around this hole in the street. (My car is the red one in the background.) One of the rare opportunities where I’m glad to have a car with all wheel drive.

One hour later I’m home again and I hardly can believe my eyes. Five days ago my backyard was still covered with 30 centimetres of snow, now the snow on the lawn is almost gone and beside of some small white patches brown grass is everywhere! Even though I’ve been living in Sweden for eight years I’m astonished again how fast snow melts in springtime.

Two hours later heavy raining is pouring down. Hej då, vinter!

Spring birds and spring flowers Apr 29 2018

Two days ago I took the car to Umeå, 130 km south from Skellefteå. Last time I was there in January and it was winter. This time it was springtime. Nevertheless, more than half of the ground was still snow covered in Skelleftehamn and Bureå. But while I was driving southwards the scenery slowly changed. More and more snow free meadows and grasslands showed up. The grass is still brown and huge water puddles cover the lower parts.

In Lövånger I saw a lot of birds on the meadows and made a short stop to photo some of them. No great shots but it shows some of the most common migratory birds that already had arrived here.

Eurasian curlew · storspov · Großer Brachvogel

(click on the images to see the bird’s names in English, Swedish, and German.)

South from Lövånger there was hardly any snow left, it remained only in ditches, in the shadow of forests and on some northern slopes – everywhere where there’s less sun. Still the landscape looked a bit dull, for nor the birches neither the other plants had got leaves.

Some hours later. Annika has ended her working day and we walk along the river Umeälven, which is free of ice. Only some small ice floes drift on the surface that mirrors the blue sky.

A small ice floe drifting on the Umeälven

On the other side of the way along the river there’s a southwards slope. And here many spring flowers, not only tussilago are blooming. I counted six different flower types on the walk into the center of Umeå. Here they come:

Alpine penny cress · backskärvfrö · Gebirgs-Hellerkraut

Wood anemone · vitsippa · Buschwindröschen

Lesser celandine · svalört · Scharbockskraut

(again, click on the images to see the flower names. Hopefully there are correct)

The ice weakens Apr 25 2018

At time I use to wake up quite early, today even at 5:30. Probably it’s the sunlight that wakes me up despite of the black curtains and the closed window blinds. I felt well rested, got up and as many times before I took the car to the peninsula Näsgrundet to have a look at the Baltic Sea. The weather was nice (clear sky, -2 °C) and I was curious about the ice situation.

Already from the car I could see that the ice still extended to the horizon and the island Gåsören. The old ice looked greyish and many half-frozen puddles with meltwater were seen everywhere. The ice on land however was free of melting water and therefore still white.

The ice covering the water had started to get the first big holes. They seemed to be only next to the coast so I guess you still could cross the ice to Gåsören, but I wouldn’t dare anymore.

They are still some wintry motives left but it’s quite visible that snow and ice finally are coming to an end.

I took a last look to Gåsören and made a photo with my telephoto lens. Yes, no open water in sight yet! I skied to Gåsören twice this winter. I guess the next visit will be by kayak!

Grey ice between mainland and the island Gåsören

And otherwise?

more and more birds have been arriving, among others northern lapwings and curlews (if I’m right)
the roof of my house has been completely free of snow for two days now
more tussilago is blooming, but the clay-like soil is sometimes so muddy, that you can easily sink to the top of your rubber boots with one single step
still 30 cm of snow in my backyard – I measured right now – but it’s melting rapidly and the ground round the fence and beside of the garage is already free of snow
the ice fishermen have been sitting, crouching or lying on the ice on every single day for the last weeks – yesterday even in the cold rain. They know, that saison is over soon

Although it sometimes hardly looks like it …

Ice fishing in Skelleftehamn Apr 22 2018

Still going on: ice fishing on the bay Kallholmsfjärden in Skelleftehamn. Sometimes the positions of the ice fishermen look to me like modern dance-theatre.