Aug. 26th. Abisko Mountain Station

After three days of visiting friends and relatives in Scotland, yesterday Colin and I started on our way to the trailhead here in Abisko. Last night we stayed in Kiruna, home of a nice church,

the worlds largest underground iron ore mine, with world class waste heaps to show for it.

We did not see these when we arrive at midnight, though there as still some light in the northern sky at the time. We were more concerned with getting into the hotel which was locked up for the night. A shuttle bus from the airport had kindly dropped us of at the door. Fortunately we were spotted, we were in process of trying to phone the emergency contact number, and let in, registered and shown to our room. About an hour and a half later Colin was ready for bed! He had decided to do the accounts.

After a very good breakfast we set of for the train station, only to be sidetracked by a very good outdoors supplies store. By the time we had finished there we had missed the shuttle  bus to the station. So we walked the 3 k there and waited for 2 hrs for the next train. Some of the time was spent examining the map we had just brought.

The train when it arrived was not a new sleek modern one. It was boxy, and had wooden trim on the seats and tables! Still it was smooth, clean and spacious and got us here in good order, along with a good crowd of other hikers.

The mountain station here is enormous. The food good and it’s view north over the lake is superb. 

After lunch and finally (3pm) getting access to our room we went for a short walk . We first went downhill to where a river ran through a gorge. Very pretty with green water. 

Then we went up the hill to a Sami camp – full of different storage structures, deserted for the summer.

It’s been a very pretty day, unfortunately they are now forecasting some rain tomorrow, but we will see.

Dinner tonight was definitely not standard hiking hut fare. More former hotel style. Very nice of course, but calorywise it would not cut it on the trail.