scandinavia 2 [eng]
Hello dear friends
i am writing to you today from a small café near fulufjället national park. there is wifi and delicious coffee. the first adventures in sweden include wonderful nature, the capital stockholm and the first bulli breakdown...
i hope you enjoy the read...
7/9/22 - 7/16/22
waking up in the sun-drenched bulli, i lie in bed for a while, although sleeping is out of the question. it's a windy day and so i set up the cooker on the big side of the new tabletop and, for the first time, cook my morning coffee in the van. i carry the hot mug and the generous portion of porridge to a bench on the shore of the lake. during breakfast i think about how far i can and want to drive today. sweden is already within reach and so i decide to make today the audio book and driving day. after a round of yoga and a little trip with the folding spade in the forest, i start packing and then follow the small country roads that finally bring me to the funen island...
the further way to seeland, the largest of the danish islands on which the capital copenhagen is located, goes over the gigantic storebælt bridge, for which a car is obligated to pay a hefty 34€ toll.
when i arrived on seeland i muddled my way through small villages in this flat landscape, until i finally did take a short wifi break in the parking lot of a mc donald. a bit worried about the possible customs control behind the øresund bridge, which connects copenhagen with malmø, i hide my tobacco supplies in all sorts of places, like a squirrel.
an impressive crossing and another 55€ poorer i drive through the city center of malmø, cycle paths everywhere, almost completely 40-zone and this first of the swedish cities seems to me very orderly and structured. just in time for my arrival, the sun breaks out from behind the cloud cover on its way to its setting and shines on the cow pastures directly at the sea, behind the industrial areas through which i meandered my way.
with the last of the evening sun i reach a small beach near eslöv with a fire pit and toilet hut. after the bulli is parked almost straight, the search for firewood begins, a tedious undertaking, since apparently different people like to make fires here and there is hardly any old wood to be found. armed with the headlamp i move into the small grove and discover some dead branches, which i can grab and break down with the kitchen towel.
a delicious portion of noodles and the beer I deserved after this almost 500 km tour make me pleasantly tired and I slumber happily wrapped in my blankets.
the morning greets me with a lot of sun and i start the day very slowly, there are also some day trippers with picnic baskets among the bathers and the crickets are busy. after an extensive round of yoga, i pack my stuff and jump quickly into the cool water after i did the dishes.
i follow the streets until i arrive in the parking lot of a mc donalds, you're probably wondering what is he doing there? unfortunately, my data volume for july is almost used up, so i stop for about an hour and use the time and the free wifi to download the complete map of sweden via maps.me and a few audio books. while waiting i study the adac map of sweden i found while cleaning up the car. for tomorrow i decide to visit the store mosse national park and also get an overview of other spots i want to see.
in the early evening i reach a lake near ljungby where i watched a beautiful sunset from the beach with some other van touris. meanwhile i write the monthly summary for my journal, a little late.
awakened by the rays of the sun, which sneak past my curtains, i stagger sleepily out of the side door and start the day with a strong cup of coffee. during the obligatory round with the folding spade, i discover a lot of blueberries in the undergrowth of the tall pines and first i read about how to recognize the right blueberries, then i was sure that they won't poison me, i run off with a pot and collect a large portion of the delicious berries for the morning porridge.
after a little chat with an older couple from mecklenburg, i saddle up the bulli and head towards värnamo. when i finally arrive at the parking lot of the national park, i pack a small backpack and start light-footed on a circuit around the lake in the middle of the largest contiguous moor area in southern sweden. the trek is bulid from wooden boards, it must have been a lot of work to anchor 12 km of these planks here in the boggy subsoil without machines...
Unfortunately, I remembered a bit too late that I forgot to pack some edible provisions in addition to the bottle of water, so I walk the second half of this round hungry and think a lot about the last few months.
at the end of the hike i meet two squirrels near the visitor center. a bit annoyed by the other visitors, who seem to have come here with all their household goods, including dog and kennel, i cruise over winding country roads and unpaved paths through the hills and forests, past some very old farms, until i finally find my wonderful parking space for the next night.
arrived here i can't quite believe that i have the place all to myself. very relaxed start to build a small fire and cook a big load of rice. I also try my fishing skills and try to lure the fish into my pot with a grain of corn, that only works moderately... after a few tries the rod gets caught and I decide to tackle this problem tomorrow because the full moon has risen in the meantime and, lost in thoughts, I look into the fire.
i start today with a long lie-in, it's much too quiet and comfortable to set off again straight away... it's also my birthday today and i've been busy for quite a while, accompanied by nice phone calls,I cook a delicious breakfast over the fire. after chatting and eating, i try my luck with the fishing rod again and I am unfortunately unsuccessful again, aquick look at the flyer for the national park helps me to plan my further route based on the descriptions of the other parks that are roughly on my route to the north.
when i finally packed everything, i set a goal for tonight. I've already been to Sweden in 2016, but at that time I was only traveling with a backpack and tent. I traveled by train a lot because my original plan of hitchhiking didn't really work out.
at that time i was in flen, a small town, about 2 hours west of stockholm, where i slept a few nights at an idyllic lake with a rocky tree-lined island. back in the region i look for a parking space near this lake. my idea is to pack the hammock plus sleeping bag in my waterproof duffel bag and then swim across.
arrived at the shore of the lake, i phoned lena for a while and then i packed my clothes in the sack and trudged through the water lilies into the cool, dark lake. swimming goes quite well by lying halfway on the bag and paddling vigorously with my feet. i reach the island shortly after sunset and trudge naked through the embankment to look for a nice place for the hammock and the campfire to dry and warm me. finally, i choose two huge rocks directly on the shore with a beautiful view and nimbly assemble my camp for the night and light the fire with the dry branches of a fallen tree. it's a bit windy and to fall asleep i see the bats fluttering through the night and a few twinkling stars.
unfortunately i don't get that much sleep that night because i don't have a sleeping mat with me and in the hammock one side of my body always gets very cold, then i wake up and turn around...
the morning is cloudy and unfortunately a bit drizzly, but after a small breakfast the sun comes out and i pack my camping gear and my clothes in the duffel bag and swim back to shore. the streets then carry me via a few detours to stockholm, where i found a small parking lot just before the bridge to södermalm island.
i pack my backpack with the rain jacket and start walking into town, i have written a small shopping list and the first thing i do is searching for films for my cameras, from the store its just a small walk to a record store where, after some rummaging, i found a box of swedish jazz records, I choose two that have a nice cover.
i don't know my way around and thought to myself, i'll at least choose according to one criterion and when i go to the man behind the counter he praises me for my choice, i listen to it right away and put two other records back, that i had already chosen, to buy this two old jazz records. he also has three small suitcases with cassettes, they have embossed labels and probably the guy recorded them himself, i choose 4 of the cassettes and payed around 700 kroner.
I continue to a shop of the Stockholm City Mission, where I found a pair of snazzy short red pants and two shirts that, in combination with the Würth cap and hiking shoes, make me look even more like Forrest Gump, who is walking through the desert.
i spend the rest of the evening in a small café organizing some things for which i need wifi. when it starts to rain around 8 p.m. i walk back to the bulli and fall asleep comfortably.
for today i have decided to visit a wonderful museum, in the last semester of wood preservation i read some books on the preservation of waterlogged wood and learned a lot with the vasa. this swedish warship was built in stockholm in the early 17th century and then sank in stockholm bay about 1 km from the port due to planning errors. There it lay for 333 years on the sea floor, preserved by the silt and was then recovered at great expense.
this was followed by 17 years of conservation, during which the water contained in the wood was exchanged with PEG through a diffusion process. this means that the wood is no longer wet, but retains its swollen state, which then makes it possible to exhibit it in a museum.
the vasa is the largest wreck that has been conserved in this way and 98% is exhibited in the original. the wood is dark due to the treatment and the huge ship looks monumental in the middle of the museum, which deals with the 17th century, the construction, the salvage and the victims, among other things. a new part of the museum deals specifically with the women who lived and worked during this time but, as is so often the case in history, are not mentioned otherwise.
excited to finally see it all, after learning so much about it at uni, i'm walking through the city center of norrmalm when i'm complimented by two girls for my new pants.
the way back to the car is extremely rainy and when I pack up I unfortunately also find a 900 kroner ticket for illegal parking. my 24 hour parking permit expired 3 hours ago. That's annoying, but it can't be changed anymore, so I put the new cassettes in the radio one after the other and cruise to john lennon sounds in the direction of Upsala, where I exceed the 50,000 km mark on the bullis speedometer.
That means I've ridden just over 30,000km in the last 10 years. I realize how nice it is to be on the road and I think of many more nice short vacations and trips with the rolling pussy cave, as it has recently been called...
i find a place to sleep in the south of upsala, on a lake populated by many birds. after a large portion of gnocchi, i went to bed.
this friday i start my day very slowly, journaling, lots of reading and yoga before getting behind the wheel and heading north. today's destination is actually the färnebofjärden national park in bergslagen. a winding lake landscape with many islands. due to the persistent rain i decide against my original plan to rent a canoe here and start on a short hike at the southern tip of hemoen.
i get a little lost and after half an hour i'm stuck in the middle of the forest, being pursued by mosquitoes. so i stumble through the nettles, over the stones and through the undergrowth, until a while later i reached the shore again and find my way back to the car.
But if that's not enough for today's adventure, about an hour later I stop to take a picture of a beautiful old log cabin when I notice that there's a lot of steam coming out of the bullis' ventilation flaps at the back... the engine temperature isn't there yet in the critical area, but my heart slips into my pants and i quickly look for a way to stop.
opening the completely blocked bonnet requires a lot of moving around and i finally have to realize that the problem was caused by a slightly torn coolant hose. of the conceivable possibilities, this is still one of the most easily remedied, but the challenge remains to find a suitable hose about 25 km from the nearest town. what's more, it's friday evening and of course the workshops aren't open forever.
the first thing i try to do is simply cut off the torn piece, but now the hose is too short. then i actually find an old piece of a hose, but it has a smaller diameter. unfortunately it also tears when I try to choke it over the flask. when i decide to stick my thumb out and hope that someone will tow me to the next town, the first other t3 i have seen since lärz comes towards me in the opposite lane. a very friendly old couple gets out and immediately takes an interest in my problem, they can't tow me away because they have a bicycle rack on the back of their bulli, but when they finally drive on and I'm about to call the adac, they come back and tell me me from a workshop about 3 km down the road.
i grab the hose, my backpack and some pretzel sticks and jump into their bus with them. when i arrive at the workshop i said thank you and wished them a trouble-free journey back home to hamburg. the search for the owner of the workshop begins, which of course is already closed. i ring myself through the village and finally find mike, who explains to me in broken english that he doesn't have a hose, but a special adhesive tape for which he gives a 50/50 guarantee that i can get to the next town with it.
he tangles the broken hose together and when i say goodbye and head back to the street i get new hope. also because i find out on google maps that there are a lot of car mechanics in sandviken and some of them are even open tomorrow on saturday. i hitchhike the 3 kilometers back to the bulli, reinstall the hose and start cruising.
Unfortunately, after 10 minutes the engine gets too warm again and I set up my camp for the night on a small peninsula 10 km from Sandviken.
I fell asleep a bit restless, shaken by strong gusts.
the next morning i drive a bit to a gas station, pause until the engine has cooled down a bit and finally manage the last few meters to the parking lot in front of a vw car dealership on the edge of an industrial area in the north of the city. arrived here i dismantle the hose again, the adhesive tape has dissolved and hang around the hose in sticky shreds. so I start walking through the streets searching for a small workshop whose owner, after searching around for a while, comes back with an old coolant hose, which has a slightly larger diameter, but will still fit well.
i walk happily through the drizzle back to the car and fill up the water tank after installation. Now all I have to do is releasing the air the radiator and reinstall the bed. everything works and a few minutes later i roar on to a bathing spot on the peninsula of sollerön, where i recover from my shock and can do the dishes and cooking.
I don't want to spend the night here, so I head north-west again, it's slowly becoming more and more mountainous here and I follow a large river with rapids and a few hydroelectric power plants for a long time, until I reach the village of Särna around 8 p.m.. a very bumpy path leads me to a wonderful little shelter right next to a waterfall.
i boil some water, fill the hot-water bottle with it and then i cooked a large portion of rice with vegetables. i sit in front of the fire for a long time until i finally crawl into my sleeping bag and fall asleep to the sound of the roaring waterfall.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked the photos and my words about them!
Until next time...
love
pauli
previous posts of the scandinavia trip:
scandinavia 1 ger
scandinavia 1 eng