Wild skating in wild nature - in company with tracks from wildlife

Sometimes it’s not the skating which gives the most memorable moments. BUT – the skates bring you to the most stunning environments and experiences. After many days of overcast we were lucky to meet the sun again. A thin layer of snow over the black ice made the skating very easy and enjoyable. The thickness of the ice was between 5 and 7 cm so we had to be aware. Only small parts of the giant lake Unden had ice, so the view from the ice over the navy blue water gave a special feeling of the beauty of nature. At last nature had sculptured the most fantastic statuaries. From start a nice “ice goat” showed us the way out. We hadn’t skated long until we met a couple of whoopees who enjoyed the sun and the open water by an island.

Even if a skater’s dream is shining black ice, a layer of snow shows you what’s going on in nature by all the different tracks. From the very beginning on our way to the lake, a lot of roe deer have had a wonderful meal on twigs from felled deciduous trees. We skated by the shoreline, and there – suddenly – we could follow round, quite big tracks. To our great joy there were trails of lynx. Imagine – the big cat was there yesterday! We could even see tracks from its tail dipping in the snow. It seemed the lynx hadn’t been in a hurry. Maybe it had admired the wonderful icicles – as we did.

Ice drops – icicles – ice curtains – sculptures – fantasy animals

Pine tree paws. Artist: Nature

Finally we could tear ourselves out from ice art and further on to open spaces. The skates slid easily on the smooth surface. BUT – what was that? Another creature who had had as fun as we had. Jumping – gliding – jumping – gliding – jumping – gliding. An otter! After imagining how happy it had been we continued our trip. We didn’t come far until next track stopped us. Traces of mink. This little one had jumped on the ice and dived into the water. We wished all these wonderful signs should have been alive so we could had seen all of them!