Sweden, New Year 2026
Skating again, across bays and lakes
The black, blue, green, red and fuchsia lines show our track in the bay near Örviken, on Lake Bodaträsket on 26 and 27 December, and on Lake Falmarksträsket on 28 and 29 December. Shift-click a track link to open it in nakarte.me.
26 December. Gulf of Bothnia.
We came to check the ice in another bay near the village of Örviken.
It had been above zero for two days already, so all the snow had completely melted. We were skating over water.
In some places the ice was safe, and in others very thin.
White (thick) ice alternated with black (thin) ice.
There was ice around the white rectangle, but it was not very thick.
We skated on the "reliable" ice and decided not to take any risks.
Clouds are reflected in the water and in the ice.
In one place near the shore the ice was quite thin and completely transparent, so the pebbles on the bottom were visible. There we crossed one by one so as not to fall through all at once.
We had a great skate!
Lake Bodaträsket.
After skating on the sea we stopped at a lake on the way home.
The ice here was completely different from the sea. It was denser and whiter.
The ice was covered with large puddles, across which a fine ripple ran in the wind. On the shore stood a small house. The owners were drying reindeer skins and entertaining their grandchildren.
The lake turned out to be very large; we did not have time to reach the far shore.
The puddles were sometimes yellow, sometimes pink, but very picturesque.
The most beautiful sunset of our entire trip.
28 December. Skating on the lakes again.
In the morning we decided to check the ice on Lake Varuträsket, right next to our house.
The blue line shows our track on Varuträsket. Shift-click the track link to open it in nakarte.me.
The road was just like an ice rink; it was quicker and easier to get around on skates than on foot.
The ice turned out to be very bumpy and uneven. But when the sun came out, the reeds glowed golden.
We moved on to Lake Falmarksträsket, right by the airport. Magda is checking the thickness of the ice. She could not reach the water.
The ice here turned out to be wonderful!
Lova is enjoying himself.
29 December. Lake Falmarksträsket.
It turned colder. In the morning we arranged to skate again on yesterday's lake, Falmarksträsket.
A little snow fell, but because of the strong wind it was immediately blown away.
Spindrift swept across the surface, but skating with the wind was pure pleasure.
The main thing is not to skate into snowdrifts, otherwise you can get stuck.
Against the wind...
A frozen wave.
