Snowmobile in Arjeplog mountains

As mentioned earlier I'm planning to spend lot of my time up north with my brother and snowmobile.
So just a week back I was up there. Landed late Wednesday evening in Luleå with just enough time to get few hours of sleep before heading 500km further north towards Vouggatjolme, Kärnberg more specifically.
We were unlucky with the weather as it was snow storms most of the time whilst there. Although as we say here in Sweden, 'There is not bad weather just bad cloths' :) Anyhow we were not to be cold as we were bound to get stuck in all that snow that had fallen, more then a meter in some areas.
As you can imagine, if you get stuck with a 200kg beast in a meter of snow and you need to first dig it out and then try to flatten it out so that the track will get a grip.
Even without those issues it's hard and challenging to drive in deep powder in the forest. You need to stay focused, be prepared to turn at any point, regulate the gas and keep up with the body at the same time. I'm making it sound simple, but it is not :)
Despite the storm we had great four days!
Next time I'm heading up is early March, so please keep fingers crossed for better weather which also means more pictures (Wasn't able to use the camera due to snowstorms)
                                                                      

Brother in action

Brother in the powder

Where is the snowmobile

In the woodland

Brother riding up for a steep slope

Side hilling

It has been a while since last time

Hi again!
Yes, it has been a while since I blogged and I blame laziness, the new job and refurbishment ;)
Well now I'm hopefully back even if it most probably not be as frequent as when we lived in England. 
Any way, back to my latest pictures. During Christmas and New Year I was to my newly bought snowmobile that is in northern parts of Sweden, more precisely Kalix. During those weeks I spent the time driving it around in hope of learning to drive a bit better than what I can right now. Unfortunately, it was not much snow along the coast where Kalix is, so we had to take the car and trailer and drive a bit into the country. At least there it was around 40-60cm, enough to play around a bit.
I did try to be outdoors as much as possible to take pictures for the blog and show you the wildlife, but when tempterature creeps down to -25 C the sessions are not long :) Although I managed to catch both waxwings and some sort of crossbill which was fun. I even tried to get some pics of the squirrels with their thick winter coat but it was of course much more difficult. These were a bit more careful and shy compared to those in Botanical Garden in Sheffield.

Already during this week I'm back there again and this time we are off to the Arjeplog mountains for 3 days. Rather sure that the time will just fly till I'm on the flight north, unfortunately probably the time up there as well.
See you soon again with some more pictures from the mountains.
                                                                        
                                                                             

Northern lights

Waxwing

Some kind of crossbill

Same but a female

Female

The shy squirrel

A bunch of waxwings

Krakow, Zakopane, Polen

Many of you were curious where we were going to move, as my wife's 3-year expat contract expires now in early October. It's back to Stockholm!
It has been amazing 3 years here in UK with its stunning scenery, hiking and animal experiences. Before moving here I did not know that UK would be this incredibly beautiful and had so much to offer. I will definitely miss it.
Anyway the flat is going to be packed this Monday and shipped. Which means that it might take a while before I make another post.

Back to this post now. Couple of weeks back we were off to a wedding in Poland, Zakopane. As you might know its a rather popular ski resort in southern Poland.
We landed in Krakow and had a half-day strolling ahead of us. Very positively surprised with that fantastic city with its old buildings, the cathedral and the main square with the market.
In Krakow we tried tradional Polish dumplings (a kind of small pasties) in a cozy little restaurant just around the corner from the main square. Very tasty but to be fair all Polish food is good :) and one of the favourites is Golonka (ham shank).
Later that afternoon we were off to Zakopane with the bus. Very cheap! As everything else is in Poland, for us at least compared to UK or Sweden. To arrive to Zakopane was like coming to an alpine village with all the nice log house and mountains in the background.
One slightly 'negative' part of it was the incredible amount of tourists. Thought this would be inbetween two seasons, but it seems its always peak season there :)
Zakopane region is famous for their smoked cheese which is really good and salty, perfect with the beer. Of course as the rest of that part of Europe, also everything made of wool is a big thing.

The wedding was amazing. Great tasting food served every two hours, and inbetween having a cold cuts table available with everything you can think of. Nothing wrong with that :)

We enjoyed the trip a lot, and will definitely come back as we unfortunately did not have time to hike even though we took the cable car up to one of the mountain top to get to experience some of the amazing nature there.

Until next time..
                                                                          

                   

Cairngorms NP, Scotland

The weekend after coming back from Croatia it was time for next adventure. We have been waiting for good weather and this is one of the trips that we want to do this year, preferably before it gets to cold.
The trip started already on Friday with a drive up to Glasgow, to continue early following morning to Breamar where our hike started from Linn of Dee.
Around 11 o'clock the first day's hike started, planned to be around 13km. Forecast said it would be showers throughout the day, and apparently that means constant rain in Highlands. It was windy and rainy, but as we were approaching the tenting location we had luck as there was a small cabin there. So unexpected and welcomed! We could get dry and not get more stuff wet :) During the evening a couple from Czechs joined us and brought in even more warmth. The second days hike was to go through the most secluded and wildest part of the UK. Weather wise the day started with overcast but couple of hours in the sun came through and it all cleared up. Lucky us as the plan was to climb the three peaks in the area of which the highest was Ben Macdui with its 1309m, the second highest in the whole UK. The other peaks were also above 1000m, so it was a rather tough day for the legs. AS total we walked around 25km that day.
On Ben Macdui we saw some snow buntings which is always a nice break in a rather harsh environment.  I've never seen that kind of bird before. They were not so timid so I actually could take pics from just  1m away.
Third and final day we had only 7km left to the car. It was now flat as we had come down from the mountains the previous evening. Considering all the steep walking up and down the hills and ridges the day before, the flat terrain was appreciated. Now, the route took us through the Scottish pine forest that is a little different from the Swedish once. I do not know why but I like them, maybe just because they're different. On the first day we passed a perfect place with waterfalls and heather, but because it was raining I couldn't take any pictures :( 
Anyhow, it was a amazing trip and well worth all the walking and car driving.

We have unfortunately just couple of weekends left here in UK, but I hope to be able to share with you at least one more post from this amazing country that has been our home for the past three years.
                                                                          

The nice little bothy

 

Mountain lake

 

Salmon river

 
 

Path to the car park

 

 

Caledonian Pine tree forest

 
 
 

One of the tops

 

The view from Ben macdui

 

Snow bunting

 

Another view from the top of Ben macdui

Croatia

Home again after 4 amazing weeks in Croatia. I did a lot of building on the summer house during these weeks and its was worth every minute, the house is looking great.
Of course I also had time for a week of just pure holidays.
During the last week in Croatia couple of friends visited and of course we wanted to both explore but also show some of our best places. One of the places we visited was neighboring Montenegro and the city of Herzeg Novi with its rather nice old town. We have actually never been there ourselves before so it was a bit of a gamble, and surely there is a difference between Croatia and Montenegro, the later being more worn and generally messy.
Another excursion was of course to Dubrovnik with its wonderful old city. While the others were exploring the city (we had been there countless times) me and the wife spent most of the day in a coffee shop watching tourists. To be fair we ate few scopes of ice cream too, which is highly recommended! :)
Beside that, we did some wine tasting on the Peljesac peninsula (known for its strong red wines, mainly Dingac), lots of bathing and eating.
4 weeks passed by too fast as usual.

Dubrovnik

 

Stradun in old town Dubrovnik

 

Old town in Dubrovnik

 

Milky way

                                                                         

One of many nice doors

 

Tengmalm's Owl

Montenegro

Montenegro

mussel farm and nice houses on a island near ston

Milky way

Yummu food, black risotto

Village of Dingac and peljesac peninsula

Matusko wine cellar

Herzeg novi, Montenegro