Fresh snow

We have had some major storms hitting northern Norway in the last few weeks. The snow that came with these storms came horizontal, so most of it blew straight into the sea. But in the last couple of days the winds died down and we had about 50 cm fresh snow. Finally, the old snow was getting very hard and icy. So this weekend we went skiing; nothing spectacular, but still very nice. Below a few photos from the last few weeks.

We hebben de laatste paar weken verschillende stormen gehad hier in noord Noorwegen. De sneeuw die met de stormen mee kwam is rechtstreeks de zee in geblazen, maar de afgelopen dagen was het kalmer en hebben zo'n 50 cm verse sneeuw gekregen. Eindelijk, de sneeuw en skicondities waren niet bepaald goed, maar nu is er poedersneeuw. Dit weekend zijn we dus gaan skien, niets spectaculairs, maar wel mooi. Hieronder een paar fotos van de afgelopen weken.

(Snow) storm 'Ole', strong enough to get a name

Clearing the driveway

Nice snow covered trees

Deep snow, nice views

Finnvikdalen in the sun

View from the pass: virgin snow, no one else around

Sunset colours

January in Tromsø

January is the time of the Tromsø International Film Festival followed by the sun coming back. I always enjoy this film festival and usually see 10-12 movies from all over the world. Some of my favourites this year were Wim Wenders stunning new documentary Le Sel de la Tierra, the Spanish movie Carmen and Amén, and the Japanese movie The Snow White Murder Case. 

We are still waiting for some decent snow. Up in the mountains, the snow is hard and windblown with lost of rocks coming through and I don't really like skiing on this. But it is great for snowshoeing, or even just hiking. It is also getting more popular to go cycling up and down the mountains on the hard snow. Yesterday we tried to get some sun, but the clouds in the south blocked it for most of the time that we were out. We only got a very brief glimpse of it before it disappeared behind the mountains.

Brief glimpse of the sun

Sun light on Vengsøya

And, of course, some northern lights

Extremadura #2: Cáceres

A few more photos of the last days in Spain. One day we visited the monastery de San Jerónimo de Yuste, where the Charles V lived the last few years of his life, near Cuacos de Yuste. And one of the last days we drove down to Cáceres to visit its historical walled town centre, a UNESCO world heritage site. The plains around Cáceres are known for their populations of little and greater bustards, large birds that have been hunted to extinction in many places and which we had never seen before. So on the way to Cáceres we took some smaller country roads through the plains to try to find them. We were lucky, Tony managed to spot a small group of greater bustards, but no photos, they were a bit too far away for that.

Monastery de San Jerónimo de Yuste

Monastery de San Jerónimo de Yuste

Looking back to Cuacos de Yuste, with Sierra de Gredos in the background

Plaza Major, de main square in Cáceres, just outside the old city walls

The entrance to the walled city

Plaza Santa María

Street with the city wall on the left

Iglesia Concatedral de Santa María

Overview from the church tower

Cáceres is also known for the many nesting storks. Even in winter there are still some white storks around.

Moorish cistern underneath the Cáceres museum

Christmas in Extremadura, Spain

We are spending Christmas in the Sierra de Gredos region, 2 hours west of Madrid, where we have rented a cute little cottage. It is a great location for hiking in the Gredos mountains, birdwatching in Monfragüe national park and visiting interesting historic towns like Ávila and Cáceres. Apart from thick fog the first day, we have been lucky with the weather, bright and sunny every day so far, so it is a nice break from the winter darkness in Tromsø.

Ávila

View from the cottage

Griffon vulture in Monfragüe

Castillo in Monfragüe

Landscape around the cottage

Villanueva de la Vera

Hiking in the Gredos mountains

Gredos mountains

Sunrise from the cottage

Pink winter colours

The days are getting quite short, but the sun will still be up for another 2 weeks. It is the time of the year that we get the beautiful winter colours, pinks and blues in the north and orange colours in the south. No whale watching for us this weekend, if the herring behave the same as the last 2 years then the whales will still be here for another 2 months. Instead a short hike in the snow up a local hill.

De dagen worden nu snel korter, maar de zon is hier nog wel voor 2 weken meer. Het is de tijd voor de mooie winterkleuren, roze en blauw in het noorden, en oranje in het zuiden. Dit weekeinde geen walvissen kijken voor ons; als de haring zich hetzelfde gedraagt als de afgelopen 2 jaar, dan blijven de walvissen hier nog 2 maanden. In plaats daarvan een korte wandeling door de sneeuw.

Tony enjoying the view

Still some sun light on the mountains on Ringvassøya

The whales are back

There were reports that the whales had come back again to the fjords around Tromsø, so we drove out to Grøtfjorden yesterday to have a look. And yes, we saw groups of humpback whales and killer whales in all directions! Fascinating!

Ik had gelezen dat de eerste walvissen weer gezien waren in de fjorden net ten westen van Tromsø, dus we zijn gisteren naar Grøtfjorden geweest om te kijken. En ja, we zagen groepen bultruggen en orkas in alle richtingen! Prachtig!

View towards Tromvik with some whales and whale watchers in the distance

Very windy around the mountain peaks, snow blowing around Store Hollendaren

Skjomen

One weekend early September we drove down to the mountains just south of Narvik, in Skjomen, to look at some abandoned copper and gold mines. There are roads that go high up into the mountains for the maintenance of the many dams and tunnels for the hydropower. In summer these roads are open for the public providing easy access to the mountains. We drove up late on Friday night and once we found a campsite in the dark and put up our tent we were treated to a fantastic northern light show. The vegetation at sea level was still green, but high up the mountains at 800-900 m the autumn colours have started.