Back in Abisko where the summer has arrived we have very warm weather over 20 degrees, blimey a heat wave! I had a good fieldtrip in Västerbotten and arrived yesterday afternoon with the train that took 8 hours from Umeå!! We (Janne, Jenny, I and Alexander) sampled three lakes in total, they were all in the vicinity of Öreträsk about 1 hour's drive from Umeå. These lakes were in the middle of the mire and a haven for the mossies which really got on my nerves to say the least! We had warm weather down there but to protect myself from mossies I still had heaps of clothes on, they are persistent little buggers I must say. It was really beautiful in Västerbotten as you can see from the photo, which is of lake nedre björntjärn. Lots of carrying packs through mires and dragging the zodiac between the lakes but good fun. We stayed in a little cottage near Öreträsk and they have a very temporary lab there in a barn (converted barn into a lab with a homemade fumecupboard he he he).
After the fieldwork I spent one day in Umeå to check out the town and do some shopping before returning back to the wilderness of Abisko. Umeå is a pretty nice town, not very big around 100 000 people live there and I think around 20 000 are students.
Now I have some samples to attend to... but really I wanna be out in the sun as it glorious weather here. I reckon I will go for a run later on and maybe a swim in Torneträsk (or at least a dip in the water will be cold I think). I am practicing for a big running race (10km) that will take place in Kiruna on the 31st of August and apparently the whole CIRC team is participating so I better get fit for this!
Take care
Christin in sunny Abisko