Norrsken i Abisko

I det här blogginlägget visar jag bilder på norrsken tagna under en resa till Abisko i norra Sverige i mars 2024.

Första gången jag såg norrsken var nyårsafton 1976-77 när jag klättrade upp på Sveriges högsta berg Kebnekaise. Luften var extremt klar och helt fri från dis. Höga draperier av norrsken svepte och slingrade sig över den svarta stjärnspäckade skyn. Det kändes som om jag kunde ta på norrskenet bara jag hoppade lite högre från den bergskam jag stod på mellan Kebnekaises norra och sydliga toppar. Då hade jag ingen kamera med mig, men i år var det dags att på nytt se norrskenet, den här gången på en mindre äventyrligt resa.

“There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to Heaven”
Led Zeppelin

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Bornholm 2022

Ett litet cykelparadis

Lastcykeln PONY4 i Rønne, Bornholm, Danmark.

Nu när jag flyttat till södra Sverige, har jag bara några mils cykling till färjorna som går till Polen och Tyskland, men också till den danska ön Bornholm. För två dagar sedan var det dags att, för första gången pröva katamaranen med vilken man kommer till Bornholm på mindre än två timmar. Min sambo och jag hade bokat ett rum i den södra delen av ön för att därifrån göra cykelutflykter och chilla. Jag är positivt överraskad över de fina cykelvägarna på ön. Besöket gav mersmak och jag ser fram mot att återbesöka Bornholm flera gånger i framtiden.

Dessa opretentiösa bilder är fotograferade med telefonen och egentligen inte avsedda för ett blogginlägg. Sorry om det blev fler bilder på cyklarna än på ön. Förmodligen beror detta på att vi är mycket nöjda med våra cyklar. 😉

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Cycling from Greece to Sweden

The end of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

The 202020 Velomobile Challenge consisted in cycling with a velomobile through as many countries, states or territories as possible during 2020. It was a personal challenge, not a competition. We were a few velonauts with different plans and my plan was to cycle through 20 countries during 2020. But the roads were closed because of the pandemic and I was only able to cycle through 17 countries. During my trip I first had to leave my velomobile in Poland and then on Crete in Greece, but I had managed to cycle from the northern most point on mainland Europe to the southernmost point of Europe on the island Gavdos in the Mediterranean sea.

My route home from Greece.
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Camping No Problem

Agia Galini

I’m back at the very small cottage on Crete in Greece where I stayed two months at the end of 2020 waiting for the roads to open when they closed due to the pandemic. I had to give up cycling 20 countries during last year and made only 17 countries from Nordkapp in the north and Gavdos island in the south of Europe. This years plans have changed and I’ll now cycle straight back to Sweden.

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Insamlade medel ger resultat

Nytt revir för den andinska katten upptäckt tack vare vårt stöd

2018 genomförde jag en insamling för att rädda svartbrynade albatrosser i södra Sydamerika. Tyvärr ledde inte det projektet till önskat resultat och en del av de insamlade medlen omdirigerades till att stödja forskning om den andinska katten, en unik sydamerikansk art som vi vet väldigt lite om. Den är ungefär så stor som en tamkatt, extremt skygg och starkt hotad. Organisationen Alianza Gato Andino sätter upp kameror med rörelsesensorer i otillgängliga områden där man tror att den andinska katten kan finnas. Tack vare vårt stöd kunde gruppen sätta upp kameror i ett nytt område i centrala Chile nära gränsen till Argentina och Sydamerikas högsta berg Aconcagua. Där har nu ett tidigare okänt revir för katten upptäckts.

Organisationens koordinator Rocío Palacios skriver i ett mejl:
”Jag är mycket glad att kunna informera om att vi tack vare er snabba donation av kameror har kunnat dokumentera en andisk katt i det vackra området Parque Andino Juncal i centrala Chile. Jag bifogar några vackra bilder relaterade till dokumentationen.” (Översättning från spanska.)

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New business orientation

Passion becomes business

Riding recumbent bicycles has become a big passion to me. Therefore I have decided to share my interest in recumbents with others by importing and selling these fantastic bikes.

Tonight I finished the first edition of the website liggcykel.shop. Since this business is new to me, I do not have any photos of my own. But I have been able to publish photos by other photographers on the website. I promise that I will eventually add new images taken by myself.

Here are some translated texts from the new Swedish website.

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Stöd för bevarande av den andinska katten

Slutrapport om insamlade medel

2018 samlade jag in pengar för att rädda en unik koloni av albatrosser på en liten ö i Eldslandet, södra Chile. På ön finns minkar introducerade av människor och de dödar albatrossungarna. Pengarna användes för att köpa fällor som skulle utrota minkarna. Du kan läsa om insamlingen här:
Insamling för albatrosser
Första minkfällorna framme i Chile

I augusti 2020 rapporterade jag att fällorna vi köpt inte fungerade som det var tänkt. Dels var det svårt att få tag på rätt bete för minkfällorna. Dels visade det sig att även kondorer tar albatrossungar och då hjälper det inte att bekämpa minkar. Resten av de insamlade pengarna har därför istället använts för forskning om den andinska katten. Du kan läsa det inlägget här:
Albatrosspengar går till katt

Detta är en slutredovisning om vad pengarna använts till och hur naturvårdsarbetet går vidare.

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Greece, A Long Wait

Part of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

During my travels, I get photographed and filmed several times a day. This movie was taken in Gýtheio by Jarlat Hynes.

I was going to travel through at least 20 countries with my velomobile in 2020. It was going to be a straightforward and fast trip. The rule was not to transport the velomobile on a trailer or a truck, only cycle and, if necessary, also use ferries. The lockdowns made it impossible to travel without interruptions. First, I had to leave the velomobile in Poland while waiting in Sweden for several months, and then I had to wait in Greece.

This is a diary in pictures from my time 2020 in Greece. The photos have mostly been taken with my mobile phone and are meant to show you a glimpse of my trip in the country.

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The Adriatic Islands and Coast

Part of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

The Quattrovelo #5. For more information about the Suntrailer see this link.

This is a report in pictures of my trip by velomobile (bicycle) along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea. The big question when I started this leg, was whether I would be allowed to cross all borders, even out and back into the EU. Rumors spread that several cyclists had to make major detours and were often denied passage because of the covid restrictions. My goal was to visit all the countries along the Adriatic Sea.

All photos in this blog entry are taken with my mobile phone.

Click here to see how it went

From Poland to the Adriatic Sea

Part of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

When borders closed because of the corona pandemic, I had to interrupt my cykling through Europe and leave my velomobile in Poland during the summer. At home I organised the Bohus Velomobile Tour visited by ten velonauts. I returned to Kraków in Poland mid August. This is a picture diary of the trip from Poland to Croatia.

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Split

Lost in the labyrinth

Everyone, but the prepared run for cover.

When arriving to Split in Croatia during my velomobile tour through Europe, it was time to start using the camera that had mostly been stored in its case. I let myself get lost in the old towns labyrinth and bit by bit got used to finding the sweet spots of the camera. Since I hadn’t been using it for some time, I had almost forgotten how to play with it. That’s what happens when taking too many photos with the mobile phone.

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Farmer, Velo, Cops + One Child

Longing for the inspiration

Lately, I have been lying low on the photography front and feel a performance anxiety. We’ll see if the inspiration comes back, I hope so.

For those of you who have not followed me on Facebook where some of my photography can be seen, I am here uploading a few photos taken recently. It is very far from something special, but we all have our ups and downs.  😉 

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Looking back at 2019

While waiting to continue the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

I had to pause my cycling tour from Sweden to Greece because of borders closing due to the corona virus. My velomobile QV #5 is parked outside Krakow in Poland. This is giving me an opportunity to go through some photos from last year. I realize that I don’t have so much left to show and that most is about velomobiles. Sorry for that! I will have to make better this year. 😉

Quattrovelo #5 in south east Sweden.
At Nordkapp, the northernmost point of Europe.
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2nd Part of My 202020 Velomobile Challenge

Åland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

As most of you know by now, I am one of the participants of the www.202020.eu. After crossing Sweden, I jumped with the ferry to Åland in Finland. I have already cycled almost the whole length of Finland in November 2019, so from Åland I went straight to Tallinn in Estonia. My aim was to cycle all the way to Greece and south Italy from where I would have taken the ferry to Malta. But when I reached Kraków in Poland, the corona restrictions had caught up with me and I had to decide, stay in the area for what ever time is needed or try to get home and wait there.

Wild camping on the island of Åland, Finland.
Rides made between 29 February and 16 March 2020.

This blog entry is a mishmash of different photo styles. Some photos are informative, others are there because I like them. I hope you can appreciate the images.

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202020

Velomobile Challenge

Photo of me taken by Charlotta Sjöstedt when I started the 202020 Velomobile Challenge on the 22 02 2020.
Preliminary route.

Hi dear friends!

I’m on the ferry from Stockholm to Åland in Finland. I take this opportunity to tell you that I have started my velomobile tour through Europe. I’m one of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge participants.

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Oliebollentocht 2019

Testing a new camera

Velonaut at the Oliebollentocht.
Camera settings f/4,5 – 1/250 – ISO100.
Sigh.
Camera settings f/2,8 – 1/200 – ISO10000. Hard cropped.

I am preparing myself for the 202020 Velomobile Challenge that consists in cycling 20 countries in 2020. Minimum weight is important when cycling, that is why I am testing a new camera, the 257-gram Ricoh GR III with an APS-C sensor.

I have also made a short visit to The Netherlands where I met up with 154 velonauts at the Oliebollentocht. At the end of this entry you can find an amateur video that I made about that encounter. Check also out information about Utrecht that is published in the video description on YouTube.

Read this post and see a video on YouTube →

Final Report Nordkapp

Looking back at the Nordkapp trip and some practical information for velonauts

Me with a heat exchanger on the face in Finnmarken, Norway.

I’m back at home and would like to share some of my experiences from the winter trip with velomobile to the north of Europe. You can also see an interview made by Saukki about my solution to cold feet in freezing temperatures.

But first a short report from my ride Stockholm to the Swedish West Coast.

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Returning from Nordkapp

From the northernmost point in Europe to Stockholm

The Nordkapp – Stockholm route.

I am resting after riding my velomobile 716 km in 3 days from Oulu in northern Finland to Åbo where I took the ferry to Stockholm. I’ll take this opportunity to give you a short report before I continue to my home at the Swedish west coast.

A short film from the very top of Europe.
A few kilometers from the top of Europe.
Read more and see an interview on YouTube →