30 September 2014

Kayaking on a mirror

A couple of months ago me and Benny took a boat from Stockholm to Ingmarsö and then paddled for a couple of hours in the outer Stockholm archipelago. Even though we got soaking wet in the rain, it was a great experience and we had to come back. This time for two days.
The whole trip. We started in the south-west corner and slept on the big island in the north-east corner. About 30 km in total. By the way, the OSM map misses some islands and some are too big.
After two hours of paddling we found an awesome place for camping but we decided to continue a bit farther. And it was worth it, because we found paradise on Earth: Idskär is a small island of size 500 × 200 metres, so it's only inhabited by trees, birds and spiders. There were no mosquitoes or annoying ants. A couple of meters from our private beach was a luxurious thick soft moss where we pitched the tent (I ended up sleeping outside of the tent anyway).
Our private beach on Idskär with our kayaks.
It was still too early, so we went for a short ride before the sunset. The sunset was stunning.
Saturday was without a cloud and with a slight wind, while Sunday was with clouds and without wind. We had to paddle on a mirror.
We also found a very old wooden ship wreck in need of exploring.
This trip has exceeded my already high expectations. Great weather, a lot of solitude and an awesome sunset. I would like to come back as soon as possible but unfortunately the winter is coming.

As always, full album is on Google Photos.

09 September 2014

Selected moments from Loptoši™ 2014

Our holiday Loptoši™ 2014 to Slovenia and Northern Italy was a great success. Here is a list of highly memorable moments from it.



  • After a long and steep bike ride from Bled we were rewarded with an awesome view from the Talež hut (and cheap and tasty food).
  • We had some more great views from Mala Mojstrovka (2332 m).
  • Petrž, Palo and me tried to sleep without a tent every night. One night in camping I couldn't fall asleep when a fox stopped just 1 meter from me. I woke Palo up: "We are all going to die! There's a fox!" He told me to go to sleep. And so I did. In the morning none of our body parts was missing. Lesson learned: always listen to your older brother.
  • Roman, Veronika, Petrž and me bathed in Soča river that had 8.5 degrees. The fast flow made it colder, similar to wind chill effect.
  • Palo and Roman tried to catch a bug (cockchafer) with a string, so that they could keep him as a flying pet. It felt like being 8 years old again. They failed, by the way.
  • We had fun on the beach while the rest of the world hid before the storm.
    On another beach we had some more fun burying Veronika, while the rest of the world followed us after realizing their mistake from the day before.
  • Some of us climbed their first via ferrata to Paternkofel (2744 m).
  • No Loptoši™ holiday is complete without skinny dipping, because otherwise we would lose the trademark. Besides, who wants to get their swimming suit wet? The lake was conveniently cooled down by ice floes. Still it was 10 degrees Celsius, a piece of cake compared to Soča.
    The lake had an island in the middle of it, a perfect place for artistic photos.
  • We woke up at 4:30 am to watch a breathtaking sunrise from Oberbachernspitze (2677 m).
  • We had our first real-world encounter with llamas.
  • We drank at least 15 litres of Granko (cocoa-flavored milk) in a week.
  • Even though I was the one planning the whole trip, I was surprised that it cost only 230 euros per person (for transport and accomodation for 9 days). After all, the best experiences of the trip were free: ice-cold water, the Alps and the sunrise.

    Check Google Photos for an album merged from 4 cameras including 3 videos. Since this is Loptoši™, beware of too many posed photos.