Blue Ice

Blue Ice
Originally uploaded by LapplandTimes

Today it was blue ice that caught my attention while standing at a streamlet. Been shooting until my fingers were blue themselves! ;o)

Ice Skating in October

Yesterday was the perfect weather to go ice skating here. Far away from the elegance of figure skating but it was a lot of fun to have the lake all for yourself and to skate in this scenery. The ice wasn't mirror-like this time but that didn't minimize the fun!

Ice Skating in October / Lapland, Sweden from LapplandTimes on Vimeo.

Wintery Pictures

We have a few more pictures for you. Basicly it's been a mix of cold nights with the lowest temperature of -15°C, snowfall at around zero and some melting during the daytime.

We did a couple of nice walks in the snow so far. No need for snowshoeing just yet but some locals were very eager to start the engines of their snowmobiles for the first time this season.We still have too little snow to drive through the forest and although many lakes are frozen already the ice is still too thin to carry a snowmobile.

If it doesn't snow too much the next days there is a good chance to go skating on a frozen lake.

The lake on the last picture is actually frozen!

Every year around this time Anne goes skating on a frozen lake just before the snow will cover most of the ice for the rest of the winter. Very exciting to go skating on a lake and see stones or grass under the frozen surface.

The pictures were taken on different days in different locations. For more information click on the pictures.

View over Piteälven in October

View over Piteälven in October
Originally uploaded by LapplandTimes

A couple of days ago we went for a walk at the Piteälven (The Pite River) only a 10km drive from our house. When you turn right from the E45 there is a forest road going along the river with plenty of resting places right at the river. These places are pretty occupied by campers during the summer time or by locals in spring winter to drive snowmobile over the frozen river, do ice-fishing or a fire on snow to grill sausages or suovas (smoked reindeer). But at this time of the year you have the river all to yourself.

As you can see it was a lovely sunny day. Temperatures around zero, the sun felt warm on that day (almost like spring but with much less snow:) but you could tell by the partly frozen riverside that winter is on it's way...

A Hike to Delliknäs

A week ago we went hiking in the Dellikälvens Nature Reserve at the river Laisan, which is about 50km west of Arjeplog. It's a good day tour when you start from our cabin.

Größere Kartenansicht

It was a 10km hike into the past visiting the historical settlement Delliknäs. We took some homemade jerky (dried moose meat) with us as provisions for the day hike.

The tour started at the river Laisan where you had to go over a bridge and then 5km through virgin forest, most of the time slightly uphill.

It was a grey autumn day. When we arrived in Delliknäs the landscape looked kind of spooky but it somehow fit into the atmosphere of the place.

Delliknäs was established in 1892 and inhabited until the 60s. Hard to imagine how tough life must have been under the climatic conditions. People who made a living through livestock breeding (mainly sheep) and farming.

Some buildings were already collapsed others restored. This would probably the perfect spot to experience real wilderness living. Far away from the next road and amenities. A long way from any luxury really.

In our modern world there is a snowmobile track on which you can travel to the place during the winter. Would be interesting to see what the place looks like then!

The Beginning of Winter

It's been a busy week and if you follow us on Twitter you've probably already heard the news about our first snow here in Lapland at the Arctic Circle.

Yesterday, we drove on snowy roads again after about six months of ice-free roads. Luckily we had changed tires just the evening before cuz otherwise it wouldn't have been much fun driving on this snowy road!

While yesterday it was grey and windy today was a much brighter day and not wet at all in the inland. We had about -1.5°C during the day with bright sunshine. Perfect conditions to go for a short walk on an island near our winter house and take a few winterly pictures.

Finally, the winter season has started! Welcome to Lapland!

A Trip to Båhttsá

Yesterday, we went outside to enjoy the great outdoors near our cottage. This time we decided to walk in the  close-by Ståkke-Bårgå nature reserve. On our way there we met two reindeer herds. We parked at the end of a forest track and  started off into the wilderness. When we arrived at this beautiful lake called Båhttsá we had this wonderful view with hills of 700-800 meters surrounding it. The wind was a bit chilly though and we had to keep on moving to not get cold.

There is also a trail leading to an old farm at the other side of the lake, which we have walked earlier but this time we wanted to explore the other side of the lake. No trail and thick forest were a bit tricky and we got lost at one point even though we had our map with us. Lesson learnt: Better learn to read a compass to take with next time when walking off the trails.

Next summer we want to go canoeing on this lake.

This time I'll add a short unedited video to end with.:)

Autumn Impressions (video)

Anne's autumn video is now available online! Over 8 minutes of Lapland impressions. A pictures says more than a thousand words that's why I let the video speak for itself. Enjoy...

Autumn Impressions from Anne@LapplandTimes on Vimeo.

More information about the video available at Vimeo.

Evening Beauty

Throughout the years we've seen many beautiful sunsets in the north of Sweden but none of them was quite as beautiful as this one. There are no words to describe this beauty.

A Real Biggie

We are still 'in the hunt' for fish to fill our winter stocks. When the water cools down, the whitefish returns to 'our' lake. Together with perch we've been eating quite a lot of it lately. Either fried, grilled, smoked or pickled.

Now we caught this big guy the other day. Take a look!