This morning was basically free time in Strömstad. There wasn’t even an expectation to spend it with your colleagues: one of the suggested activities was spending time in the spa. I went walking. I can’t believe I get paid to do this.

Strömstad kommun had a nice information page with suggested walks in the area. I found two that sounded nice, and realized that – if I didn’t start too late – I’d actually have time for both.

Trail #44 was a circular route of 3.7 km in mixed forest. It looked like it might not get much traffic. The signs were ancient, and the splotches of red paint on the trees were sometimes faded enough to look like the remains of a bloody ritual.

Slightly muddy forest. Very quiet, I didn’t meet a soul. (It was a rainy Sunday morning, so…)

There was a fair bit of coastal pine forest, not that different from the nature in Sörmland.

I was very glad I had my digital map to follow – the trail markings were only possible to find if you already knew which way the trail went. Can you spot the dot of red paint here? It’s not either of the dark markings – no, it’s the faded spot just to the right and front of one of them.

The circular route started and ended at a camping ground, which was like a ghost town at this time of the year.

A kilometre of so along asphalt roads through a small neighbourhood of houses, and then I was on the coastal path.

The second trail circled around the small island (or maybe peninsula) of Nötholmen. Looked like an island to me, although it was connected to the mainland with a very short bridge, and at least one text called it a peninsula.

Coastal cliffs with pines and juniper bushes, not that dissimilar from the Stockholm archipelago.

Sortera was with me even here.

What was quite different from the Stockholm archipelago was the coastal fauna. There were empty oyster shells dotting the forest and the rocks, something I’ve never run across around Stockholm.

The walking route on Nötholmen was short, which I was very happy about, because that left me plenty of time for photography. Oyster shells, other shells, sun-bleached bird-eaten crab shells, other small dead sea creatures.

And all this just a stone’s throw from the hotel, so close to Strömstad.