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The first port of call of course was max, which for any avid fast food fan is well worth a trip to Sweden for, where we grabbed a coffee and refilled our thermoses from the free coffee machine (a very unSwedish thing to find, which means when you do find it you tend to make the most of it). 350 km later and we were met with Lake Vänern - Sweden's largest and Europe's 3rd largest at a casual 5,648 square kilometres. For a bit of recent news, about a week later there was an old Viking ship discovered lying on its bottom, surrounded by a further 6 within a 100m radius. That must have been an epic battle/party. On the shore of the lake is Läckö Slott, which translates to Lake Castle so no prizes for guessing that one. And without the afternoon sun beaming majestically upon it it's impressive enough, so you can only imagine how it was at eight in the evening, with nothing to disturb it but a family of swans and the voice in your head screaming "THIS PLACE IS INSANE!"
As we'd stopped for lunch further up the lake to chill out in the sun, it meant we were running out of time to find a campsite before dark. It was already 10pm (don't worry this is still plenty of time before it gets dark) but we were on a mission to catch the sunset so we continued to drive along abandoned metal roads right out onto a peninsula until we had to ditch the volvos and continue on foot. So with just a track to guide us, and the light waning faster than a kid's mood after Christmas, we jogged our packs through the forest until we burst out into this; possibly the most beautiful spot in Sweden.
So we sat perched on the rock and with nothing but silence as company watched the sun dissapear beneath the glossy film of the lake in one eye, and the moon take its place in the other. This place was paradise. Now all that was left to do was pitch the tents - or so we thought - until we found a thatched roof hut hiding back into the woods which was destined to house 9 tired travellers, although the size of the root I had for a matress meant I ended up just sleeping outside under the trees. No complaints.
We woke the next day to the sound of moose, which continued as we made our way back to the trusty volvos - John attempted to do some old-skool moose spotting by scaling a tree but it proved to be a fairly flawed technique. Then the pilgrimage to Goteborg continued with, well, the arrival at Goteborg. So after successfully navigating the parking building (trust me this was a tough one) we explored the city on foot. Although this doesn't sound particularly demanding, and neither did it to us the day before, it turns out that staying up all night playing guitar by a fire then walking round all day in the sun actually takes it out of ya. But not so much so that I couldn't be impressed with the beauty of this city, even if it does reach a new level of Swedishness by charging one to enter the park to sit on the grass. And I thought paying for the toilet at burger king was bad enough.
Gothenburg city street
In Sweden it is legal to pitch your tent anywhere in the entire country. Anywhere, except the peninsula that we dug out on the map to spend the second night. So our foolproof plan quickly got demoted to a drive round the entire peninsula (on the coast north of Goteborg) at 11 at night in search of a spot. Then we found it, only to learn that the only way across to it was via ferry that left 15 minutes before. Thus the demotion trend continued as we scouted beaches and forests far enough away from houses to not cause a problem, gradually making ourway northward up the coast. The beauty of Sweden in summer is that it never really gets dark so the race to pitch ones tent doesn't technically exist, it's just a nice thought to have, and in this case one which for us we definitely didn't have. We settled on a birdwatching carpark between road and sea, with a 2m grass verve upon which to throw a fire together for some tortilla pizzas and to chuck up a couple of tents. Then a couple of hours later we realised that the empty car parked alongside us wasn't empty after all, but contained a couple of birdwatching 'people' from Poland who had the same idea (until they realised they had to share their patch with 9 other people. Gutted.)
The roadtrip crew
The following day, one car left for Norway, and those of us who had to get back to Uppsala left in the opposite direction. Then it was just a matter of sitting back and watching the country roll by for the next six hours as we traversed Sweden. Rolling hills painted in vivid green, interspersed by patches of deep green forests, and scattered with dark red houses is a scene that never gets old, and will serve as the perfect reminder of this wicked country. I was even fortunate enough to spot a moose with a couple of calves off the side of the highway; my checklist for Sweden was complete.
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| Goteborg Road Trip |
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